Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz...

one and the same story?

VS.

Fundamentally, by comparing the Wizard of Oz to Star Wars, you will find that they are really pretty much the same story... don't belive me? Well... let's analyse both stories in the same manner anthropolgists use to analyse folk tales, myths and fairy tales, seeing as these two movies are American fairy tales.

First, we have to define both movies as fairy tales. The both do all of the following:

  • Present an existential dilemma clearly and in a simplified manner. In both cases good vs. evil.
  • Good and evil are embodied as charaters, Dorothy vs. the Wicked Witch of the West, Luke vs. Darth Vader.
  • There is nothing particular about the hero, or any character for that matter. Both Dorothy and Luke seem to be generic kids, and could be just about any one of us.
  • Improbable events are taken as though they were common. There is nothing al that odd that the house should be floating through the air, or that you can tap into the force. It just kinda is.
  • Fairy tales very often deal with themes that plague the minds of children, abandonment, abuse, and, in this case: leaving home.
  • Fairy tales also almost always present the message: If you persist against adversity, you will succeed.
  • No particualr demands are make on the viewer. You are to simply enjoy.
  • Happy endings.

    Now for the actual comparison:

    Setting: both start in an arid setting.

  • Tatooine
  • Kansas

    Main Charater: There is a major difference here... sex. But you will see later that this difference accounts for many of the diffrences in the two movies.

  • Luke Skywalker
  • Dorothy Gale
    note that both first names are fairly common and short, and both last names are descriptive of the character. This is a common trait of many fairy tales... 'Jack' from Jack and the Beanstalk, 'Little Red Riding Hood'... etc.

    Both movies deal fundamentaly with the issue of children leaving their homes. In traditional fairy tales, many times father and mother are presented manifested in other forms to make projection of feelings on to those characters easier... For example: A child might have trouble hating a mother in a story who did evil things to her children because they don't want to believe a mother can do this, so very often we see a wicked step mother instead. To make the issue of leaving home easier, in both stories, Mom and Dad are replaced by Aunt and Uncle. Because, let's face it, when you're a kid, it's inconceivable to leave your Mommy and Daddy, but leaving Auntie and Uncle is more palatable.

    Both Luke and Dorothy live with their Aunt and Uncle.

    Both have a primary relationship with the same sex parental figure.
    Due to the sex difference, there is a major difference in what this relationship is. For Luke, it is a distant relationship, but for Dorothy, it is a very loving and warm relationship.

    The other parental representives are switched in function as well.

  • Luke: Father figure is split into three: His real father (good, dead at the begining), Darth Vader (evil, survives), Ben (good, dead at the end)
  • Dorothy: Mother figure is split into three: The Wicked Witch of the East (evil, dead at the begining), Glinda (Good, survives), the Wicked Witch of the West (evil, dead at the end)
  • Luke: Mother figure is Princess Lea. In fairy tales, the mother figure is very often represented as the princess, who then needs rescuing by the young hero from the evil "father" figure (Darth Vader). This has alot to do with the theory of the Oedipus Complex that every boy's fantasy is that his mother is the unwilling captive of the father and really wants him instead. This common theme in fairy tales is most often present when the hero is a male.
  • Dorothy: Father figure is the Wizard. In fairy tales , the father is often represented as either an unreachable, unapproachable monster who makes unreasonable demands on the child, or as an ineffectual man who has no power to stop the "inevitable". This theme isn't really sex related, but most often the father is a wimp when it is a female hero that must overcome the obstacle.

    The needle that threatens Princess Lea and the broomstick that Dorothy must retrieve both serve the same purpose in regard to each individual sex related theme.

    Leaving home: each has a similar situation while leaving thier home.

  • Luke follows R2-D2 who is fleeing from Darth Vader
  • Dorothy follows Toto who is fleeing the Kansas manifestation of the Wicked Witch of the West.

    it has also been pointed out that the name Toto easily becomes too-too (two-two... R2-D2)...

    Trio of Companions: to accomplish their tasks, each of our main charaters needs three things:

  • Wisdom: embodied by Han Solo and the Scarecrow (both of them, pretty human)
  • Love: embodied by C-3PO and the Tinman (both of them 'tin men')
  • Courage: embodied by Chewbaca and the Lion (both of them furry)

    Minor characters:

  • Storm troopers and flying monkyes are all faceless nameless threats that work for the principal evil charater.
  • Sand people and apple trees are both bits of the natural world that attack the hero/heroine.
  • Don't Jawas look and sound alot like munchkins? My professor said that they serve the same purpose, but I don't know what that is.

    The Death Star and the Witch's castle are both dark, and gloomy inside and out,the rebel base and the Emerald City are both very green.

    The objective:

  • Luke wants to be like his father, in other words to return to his roots.
  • Dorothy wants to go home, to return to her roots...

    How it is accomplished: both use supernatural intervention that is in the form of an unseen power that they have possessed the entire time:

  • Luke uses "the force" to become a Jedi
  • Dorothy uses the power of the Ruby Slippers to return to Kansas.

    And so you see, there are many simalarities between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz.

    Thank you to Dr. Elise M. Brenner for the information and insperation to write this page, and correcting my spelling. Coyote vs. the Bullheads, two out of three falls, winner takes all... :)

    And thank you to JD who has brought it to my attention that the information contained in this essay originates from an essay titled "Structural Similarities in Popular American Myths" by Kottak.

    If you would like to make a complaint or comment about anything you have read here today, please feel free to email me at simogene@hotmail.com. I have recived many intellegent responses to this essay since it's been up, of course... it never occured to me to post them untill now.... Here is one particuarly thoughtful response to the Star Wars/Wizard of Oz connection.