My gram at the beginning of the movie Wizard of Oz was the fence around the pig sty in the farm. As the movie progressed, Dorothy lands in Oz and sees the munchkins for the first time. The munchkin land has a garden where really tiny wooden fences separated flower beds. It seemed interesting to me that the first fence held pigs(stinky) whereas the second fence held flowers(fragrant).
Later on, she and her friends walk along the yellow brick road. The road passes through different terrains like meadows, forests, etc, but the road is same throughout, as if it was just a ribbon unfurled on top of the land. It seemed to me like an invisible fence separated the road from the land around it. Also, the good witch told Dorothy that she would be safe as long as she stayed on the yellow brick road. So that means that there was some invisible power looking after her which could help her only if she stayed within the boundary(fence) of the road.
Towards the end of the movie when Dorothy and friends reach the Emerald city which is surrounded by a high wall, which i likened to the fence. Here, the fence was hindering her rather than protecting her.
Later on, she and her friends walk along the yellow brick road. The road passes through different terrains like meadows, forests, etc, but the road is same throughout, as if it was just a ribbon unfurled on top of the land. It seemed to me like an invisible fence separated the road from the land around it. Also, the good witch told Dorothy that she would be safe as long as she stayed on the yellow brick road. So that means that there was some invisible power looking after her which could help her only if she stayed within the boundary(fence) of the road.
Towards the end of the movie when Dorothy and friends reach the Emerald city which is surrounded by a high wall, which i likened to the fence. Here, the fence was hindering her rather than protecting her.
The selection of the fence as gram opens up some rich connections--in particular, I like the opposition you end up pointing to between protection and hindrance. (As director David Mamet reminds us, cinematic structure follows the same laws as the structure of dreams--including instantaneous/retroactive transitions between opposite states.) The retroactive component is the next (and trickiest) point of inquiry: In what ways does the Kansas farm get structured as a space that's on the one hand both native to one's identity (and in fact waiting for us even prior to birth) yet on the other hand only possible to inhabit by way of return?
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CS