Over the Rainbow (Symbol)
Dorothy Gale is bored by her life on the farm, and she lives in a world literally without color. Longing for a more exciting life, Dorothy sings the now-classic American standard "Over the Rainbow" about her dream of going somewhere more exciting than Kansas. The notion of going "over the rainbow" becomes symbolic of going on a journey to escape her boring life on the prairie, to find a life that has a little color. As the song states, "skies are blue" and "dreams come true" once one gets over the rainbow. In this way, traveling over the rainbow represents a person's deliverance from an under-stimulating life, their transport to a place where dreams and the imagination have full reign.
The Ruby Slippers (Symbol)
After Dorothy's house falls on the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda the Good Witch gives her the dead witch's ruby slippers, beautiful sparkling red shoes that the Wicked Witch of the West has always coveted. While we know that they are very magical, we do not know exactly why or how. Throughout the film, they represent Dorothy's specialness in Oz, and her purity in the face of danger and evil. When the Wicked Witch of the West tries to take them later on in the film, she is electrocuted, unable to take them from Dorothy. In this way, they symbolize Dorothy's immunity to the Witch's corruptive evil. At the end of the film, Glinda tells Dorothy that all she has to do to travel home is click the heels of the slippers together and remember home; here, the slippers take on a different symbolic meaning, representing Dorothy's powers to transport herself home whenever she wants, and the fact that she has had access to her desires all along.
The Whole Story as an Allegory for the U.S. (Allegory)
While this was not confirmed by L. Frank Baum, the author of the book on which the film is based, many scholars and interpreters of the film believe that "Oz" itself can be read as an allegory for the political and social structures that were at work in the American West in the 1890s (when the book was written). In one interpretation, made by historian Henry Littlefield, the various fantastical objects in the book represent the debate around monetary policy. The yellow brick road, according to this interpretation, is meant to represent the "gold standard," while Dorothy's shoes (originally silver in Baum's books) were meant to represent silver.
Another interpretation of Oz as allegory, created by Quentin Taylor, suggested that each of Dorothy's companions represent different social groups. The Scarecrow represents farmers, The Tin Man represents industry (namely steel workers), and the Lion represents William Jennings Bryant, a populist American politician.
The Wicked Witch (Symbol)
The Wicked Witch of the West is the villain of the film, but she also comes to represent Dorothy and the other characters' deepest fears. She is a kind of shadow for the rest of the brightly-colored world, cloistered away in a dark castle in her "loneliness" as she puts it, while the other characters sing and dance merrily. The Witch represents fear, danger, and corruption, and her cackling and generally terrifying antics would strike fear into anyone's heart. The Witch's symbol resonance increases when she proves so vulnerable in the end. After a small splash of water ends up destroying her completely, we realize that even though the Wicked Witch is fearsome and terrifying, she is far more vulnerable than we would expect.
Home (Motif)
Throughout the film, the subject of home—leaving it, coming back, appreciating it—comes up again and again. At the start, Dorothy feels trapped in her home in Kansas; she is in a legal battle with a powerful and vengeful neighbor, she cannot seem to fit in with the practicalities of farm life, and she longs for adventure. She sings "Over the Rainbow," all about her desire to escape from home, to go somewhere that is unfamiliar. As soon as she gets to Oz, however, she changes her tune, and all she wants is to go home. As soon as she encounters the colorful world of Oz, she realizes how much she misses her home and the loving Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. The desire to go home, to appreciate what one already has, becomes a thematic motif in the film, and everything that Dorothy does in Oz is in pursuit of returning home.
