Week 1: The Wizard of Oz

Writing Assignment: Write a blog post (350-500 words) that discusses the proposition that the Hunger Games is like the Wizard of Oz. Consider the question whether or not all American fairy tales are like the Wizard of Oz.

I have never read or watched any of the Oz series in my life. I’ve heard many good reviews on the storyline, so I gave it a go at reading and audiobooks. I have to say that from all that I’ve read, the story is a very classic, very wonderfully written piece of work. It’s considered cliché, but that’s what I love about it, because no matter how cliché it may be, the story itself will never get old. Only because this is also an American Classic.

As we discussed in class about how the Hunger Games was a more modern version of the Wizard of Oz, I slightly see the similarities on how they relate. Looking at it from afar, the Hunger Games often is described as a survival story. Clearly it is, but it isn’t just that. There’s a lot more than that once it’s looked at and compared, especially to the Wizard of Oz.

I know that the characters are taken away from their comforts of their home; In Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is taken away from her home in Kansas into the Land of Oz, and The Hunger Games when Katniss instead of having the option to stay safe in her home place, bravely sacrifices herself as a replacement for her sister Primrose. Even though The Hunger Games is a lot more modern in comparison to The Wizard of Oz, they still roll on the same line of a main character thrown into a different society by themselves. Having aid from the right people, and trying to avoid the wrong. They both find helpful friends along the way, but in The Hunger Games, it’s a lot more different because there’s more logic and reality involved. Death is a lot more prominent because it is a reality in The Hunger Games rather than the Wizard of Oz. Instead of being like Katniss fighting for her own life in this horrifying game that she is placed in so she can return home, Dorothy has a handful of friends that she meets along the way, and for her, it’s pretty much a journey to find the Great Wizard Oz so she can find her way home to Kansas.

These stories are different and similar in their own ways, but I feel like not all American Fairytales are like the Wizard of Oz is because of contemporary ideals and views. Especially through media, people would be more likely to see a hardcore version of The Wizard of Oz rather than an original, mainly because that’s what strikes people more nowadays is the intense, “WOW!” effect most movies show.