[The original text comes from "Object Relation Psychotherapy" (Sheldon Cashdan, translated by Lu Xiaohua, etc., published by China Water Power Press) Chapter 9 "Object Relation Psychotherapy Materials in Literary Works". 】
Of all the split stories that have been made into movies, perhaps the most powerful is "The Wizard of Oz" (The Wizard of Oz). The film version adapted from the novel by Frank Baum contains a very complicated description of the division, which is more modern than classic fairy tales and even some adult division stories. Like the classic story, "The Wizard of Oz" contains many elements that can be found in split fantasy-missing mothers, witches (two actually), good fairies (Glanda), and a duel of life and death. However, compared with any movie or story we have encountered so far, the information about the good and the bad contained in The Wizard of Oz is more profound and sharp.
One of the messages appeared at the beginning of the story, that the house that took Dorothy to the city of Oz fell on the evil witch of the East and crushed her to death on the spot. If this is an ordinary fairy tale, perhaps the story has ended here. All Dorothy needs to do is find a way to go home. But soon the Wicked Witch of the West appeared. She was the sister of the Witch of the East. She was determined to avenge her younger sister and find someone who killed her younger sister.
The plot at the beginning of the story contains the message: evil is not so easy to get rid of. Not only does it exist everywhere, but it also suddenly appears in different disguise. It is not enough to get rid of one witch, another witch may be lurking nearby, ready to take her place. Just as those elves were temporarily freed by the death of the evil witch in the East, Dorothy only temporarily escaped from the evil in her life.
But before the evil witch of the West could hurt Dorothy and her friends, the good witch of the North, Granda, appeared. Granda is a kind fairy, she is very similar to the fairy godmother in "Cinderella". She also has special abilities. She gave Dorothy a pair of magical red shoes, which were claimed by the bad witch to be hers. The fairy tells Dorothy that these shoes will take her to an emerald city, where a magician lives, and he can help Dorothy return to her hometown of Kansas.
From the point of view of object relations, the red shoes are obviously a transitional object. Like the doll in "La Vassilisa", when Dorothy leaves for Emerald City, the red shoelace gives her a sense of security. Vasilisa's mother gave Vasilisa the doll before she died; Granda also gave Dorothy the red shoes before she disappeared. In both stories, the object protects the child when the maternal protector is not around the child.
At this point, "The Wizard of Oz" is a relatively easy-to-understand split story. Although there is a double dose of bad early in the story, the power of good and bad is clearly portrayed. When Dorothy travels along the road of life (yellow brick road) and meets three characters who eventually accompany her to Emerald City, the story becomes more complicated.
The first character Dorothy met was the Scarecrow. The scarecrow without a head feels very useless because he can't think. It thinks that if it has a head, it will become very smart. The second person she met was the Tin Man. The problem with it is that it does not have a heart. But this does not refer to the organs in the body, but the ability to experience feelings. "If I had a heart," it said, "I would become more gentle and gentle, and a little sentimental." The third and last character Dorothy encountered was the cowardly lion. What it lacks is courage.
The characters Dorothy encountered along the yellow bricks were not fictional characters based on her imagination alone. They are part of her inner world. If we look at them carefully, we will find that each character represents a "bad" form that Dorothy—perhaps most children—want to overcome. Children want to be smarter, they want to be able to feel, and they all want to be braver. Children who think they are stupid, children who think they are incapable of feeling, and children who think they are cowards will inevitably feel that they are bad and unsatisfactory. On the way to Emerald City, it is not so much that Doris is helping the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion to coexist peacefully with their "defects", but rather that Dorothy is actually trying to coexist peacefully with her own defects.
As soon as these four arrived in Emerald City, they found that the magician was not as capable as they had always thought. He tells Dorothy that before he can share any of his secrets with Dorothy, Dorothy must first steal the witch's broomstick to him. Although feeling a little frustrated, Dorothy and her three friends set off again. This time they were heading in the direction of the witch's castle. The story once again presents the climax of the struggle between good and bad. With the help of friends, Dorothy tried to destroy the witch. The "bad" is conquered, and the good forces win again.
But this battle is anticlimactic. They still haven't won a real victory. Dorothy's friends still didn't get what they wanted. They returned to the magician. The magician gave the Scarecrow a diploma (Doctor of Thinking), gave the Tin Man a heart-shaped clock (a new "heart"), and gave the Lion a "courage" engraved on it. Medal with lettering. But when the magician awarded these prizes, he pointed out that these things were just a superficial representation of what they were really looking for. In fact, the things they have been looking for are in each of them and have always been there.
This is a lesson Dorothy learned in Oz, and it is also the knowledge she brought back to Kansas. Her travels made her understand that if she wants to overcome her own personal shortcomings, she must find it in her own heart. The root of badness is not on the outside, but on the inside. If life is to continue, people must deal with these issues. In the end, Dorothy’s victory was a victory over herself. Of course, if we ever hope to successfully pass the yellow brick road of our own lives, then all of us, including children and adults, must accept this.
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