and her little dog too

[opensummer]

notasupervillain  was asking about technologies that led to social justice and cmcmck  offered the bicycle as an example which I +1’ed. That would have been the end of it except I was thinking about the Wizard of Oz for some reason and I couldn’t connect the thoughts but knew they were related.

Thanks adhd.

Thankfully, I put together this morning, and think it’s interesting enough to share. I think the Miss Gulch was put on a bicycle deliberately in the Kansas sequence as a visual shorthand for the sort of woman who rides a bicycle- nasty threatening spinsters. We see her on the bike before she ever opens her mouth and wonder if that was signaling to the (1930s) audience what sort of person she was supposed to be.

During the twister we see Miss Gulch transform into the witch of the west and the bike transform into a broom, which visually links the two. It makes some sense, both are means of transportation for independent women but guess I’m wondering if that coding was deliberate? Any thoughts?

Bonus round: I’m racking my brain for a b&w or an older film where a female character appears on a bicycle besides the Wizard of Oz and while I'm pretty sure I've seen a photo shoot with Audrey Hepburn on a bike I can't remember any films before the sixties where there's a positive representation of a woman on a bicycle.

Comments

[cmcmck]

And you subscribed too! :o)

I've requested back and opened mine up for you as it is kept partly f-locked for reasons which will become apparent as you read.

[opensummer]

yes ma'am! I figured you probably have some interesting things to say!

Thanks for the subscription and access! I went back and gave you access today though I'm planning on rarely using the f-lock.