Tools of Characterization

Characterization in The Wizard of Oz

Actions

The Wizard of Oz isn't a subtle film, and the actions the characters take tell us everything about who they are. The Cowardly Lion dives out the window. The Scarecrow thinks up solutions to their problems. The Witch…well, the Witch basically acts so awful to everyone around her that even her employees are glad to see her go. What you see is what you get as far as characters go in Oz, even if some of them are hiding behind the curtain. And if you want to know who they are, watch what they do.

This is especially true with the good guy/bad guy divide. The Witch's actions are all self-serving. She can't keep her hands off of Dorothy's shoes and everything she does is designed to get Dorothy to turn them over. Contrast that with Dorothy and her friends, who always look out for each other and think of other people first. That's what separates the champions of virtues from the puddles of melting goo on the floor in this here movie.

Personification

We went back and forth on whether to call this "Occupation" or not, but since "Lion" doesn't really qualify as an occupation, we went with this one instead. The Scarecrow is a scarecrow, the Tin Man is made of tin and the Wicked Witch spends all of her time being the best Wicked Witch she can be. (Apparently, it involves a lot of evil laughter and billowing smoke.) Generally all of the characters act as their names/titles suggest. The Scarecrow, for instance, flops around in his dance moves, while the Lion punctuates a lot of his dialogue with roars and growls. It's a long way from subtle, but this movie never pretended to be.

Location

Dorothy lives in Kansas, and has all the bearings of a simple country girl. She longs and yearns for more, but her simple dress, homespun politeness and lack of experience with talking trees lets us know a lot about her. Similarly her companions exhibit extraordinary characteristics (for starters, none of them should be able to talk) but because they come from the merry old land of Oz, their outlandish attributes feel right at home. How does a man made of tin have a soul? Because he's from a magical land where anything is possible, silly!

Speech and Dialogue

The witch cackles and issues idle threats. Dorothy expresses her point of view strongly, but politely. The Lion stammers and shivers. You can tell a lot about someone in what they say, or in this case how they say it. Their delivery and cadence says a lot about who they are, even if the dialogue weren't sending up obvious flags. It doesn't get much more villainous than "I'll get you my pretty… and your little dog too!"

In a few cases, characters are putting up facades, or only pretending to be something they aren't. (The most obvious case is the Wizard, but the Witch's Winkie guards do a pretty big 180 at the end). In all those cases, you can see the change in their dialogue and delivery. The Winkies stop growling and suddenly become soft-spoken, the Wizard slips into his compassionate huckster role. So deceit doesn't run that deep, and when it does, you just have to listen to the words to figure out how the characters have changed.