From 1992: Salman Rushdie writes about his “very first literary influence.”
I wrote my first story in Bombay at the age of ten; its title was “Over the Rainbow.” It amounted to a dozen or so pages, dutifully typed up by my father’s secretary on flimsy paper, and eventually it was lost somewhere on my family’s mazy journeyings between India, England, and Pakistan. Shortly before my father’s death, in 1987, he claimed to have found a copy moldering in an old file, but, despite my pleadings, he never produced it, and nobody else ever laid eyes on the thing.
The weakness of Auntie Em and Uncle Henry in the face of Miss Gulch’s desire to annihilate Toto leads Dorothy to think, childishly, of running away from home—of escape. And that’s why, when the tornado hits, she isn’t with the others in the storm shelter and, as a result, is whirled away to an escape beyond her wildest dreams.
The other major difference is harder to define, because it is finally a matter of quality. Most Hindi movies were then and are now what can only be called trashy. The pleasure to be had from such films is something like the fun of eating junk food. The classic Bombay talkie uses a script of appalling corniness, looks by turns tawdry and vulgar, or else both at once, and relies on the mass appeal of its stars and its musical numbers to provide a little zing.
The Kansas described by Frank Baum is a depressing place. Everything in it is gray as far as the eye can see: the prairie is gray, and so is the house in which Dorothy lives. As for Auntie Em, “The sun and wind . . . had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.” And “Uncle Henry never laughed. . . . He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots.
I remember, or I imagine I remember, that when I first saw the film Dorothy’s place struck me as a dump. Of course, ifbeen whisked off to Oz, I reasoned, I’d naturally want to get home again, because I had plenty to come home for. But Dorothy? Maybe we should invite her over to stay; anywhere looks better thanI thought one other thought, which gave me a sneaking regard for the Wicked Witch: I couldn’t stand Toto! I still can’t.
Leaping ahead to Oz, it becomes obvious that this opposition between the geometric and the twisty is no accident. Look at the beginning of the Yellow Brick Road: it is a perfect spiral. Look at Glinda’s carriage, that perfect, luminous sphere. Look at the regimented routines of the Munchkins as they greet Dorothy and thank her for the death of the Wicked Witch of the East.
Anybody who has swallowed the scriptwriters’ notion that this is a film about the superiority of “home” over “away, that the “moral” of “The Wizard of Oz” is as sentimental as an embroidered sampler—“East, West, Home’s Best”—would do well to listen to the yearning in Judy Garland’s voice as her face tilts up toward the skies. What she expresses here, what she embodies with the purity of an archetype, is the human dream of—a dream at least as powerful as its countervailing dream of roots.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Brittney Griner asks fans to write letters to Paul Whelan in RussiaIn an Instagram post, Griner said the letters she received while in detention helped “to not lose hope.”
Read more »
Brittney Griner pens thank you letter, urges supporters to write to Paul Whelan“Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Because of you I never lost hope.” Brittney Griner posts an open letter thanking fans for their support and urging them to write to Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia.
Read more »
New owners hope to write next chapter for beloved Benson bookstoreFor Star subscribers: Two years after the death of founder Winn Bundy, the Singing Wind Bookstore and ranch near Benson have been sold to a new owner who hopes to reopen one of the Southwest’s most unique literary landmarks.
Read more »
Brittney Griner pens thank you letter, urges supporters to write to Paul WhelanBrittney Griner on Wednesday posted an open letter thanking fans for their support and urging them to write to Paul Whalen, an American detained in Russia.
Read more »
Brittney Griner urges supporters to write letters to Paul Whelan in prisonTwo weeks after Brittney Griner's release from Russia, the U.S. basketball star called on her supporters to redirect their advocacy to focus on Paul Whelan.
Read more »