Lessons from the movies

Today’s post is inspired by my friend Luann’s latest blog post, where she draws analogies between the lessons she has learned on her own cancer journey and the lessons inherent in the classic Wizard of Oz movie. When I first watched this classic 1939 Judy Garland film as a child, I didn’t realise just how many life lessons were contained in this story. Now, years later, I realise what a powerful story it is for all times.  I can see the lessons to be learnt in Dorothy’s journey as  she struggles to overcome the turbulent twisters on her journey and the lessons she learns from the cast of characters she meets along the way. I have even found a website dedicated to the practise of “ozology”  which states that “the simplest truths of life are often the most profound and most important, and though the simplicities of the Wizard of Oz may seem platitudinous, they are all that we need to understand ourselves and the world around us.”

The characters of Dorothy and Toto, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wizard of Oz and such iconic images of the yellow brick road and Dorothy’s ruby slippers have all become part of the our cultural imagination.

There are so many scenes and metaphors to choose from, but for me one of my favourite lessons is contained towards the end of the film, where Dorothy misses her balloon flight home, starts to cry, but is then told by Glinda, the Good Witch, that with those ruby slippers, she had the power to return home the whole time. The answer was literally under her nose or on her feet to be precise. Like Dorothy,  we are all more powerful than we think and the answers we seek are always within.

So how about you? Have you learned any profound life lessons from the movies? Please share your own stories of movie inspiration with us.