MovieChat Forums > The Wiz (1978) Discussion > Thank God this was made in the 70s

Thank God this was made in the 70s


Because if it was released today we would literally never hear the end of it here. An all-black Wizard of Oz 😱 the anti-woke crusaders would be bumping this shit like there’s no tomorrow, poor wee Elliot Page wouldn’t even get a look in!

I wonder what made people in the 70s accept it as part of the changing times and move on? More balls, less internet is my guess.

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Dude, I was thinking exactly this! Can you imagine the reaction if it were announced today?

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I know, it would cause an internet meltdown of epic proportions!

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It is time now for this movie to finally be given its due respect and take its place as the greatest movie ever made.

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I don't know about greatest movie ever made. But it's definitely up there for me. It's campy, groovy, creepy, fun. My local theater company just did The Wiz in 2019 right before the pandemic hit. It was great. and it makes me sad so many great songs were actually cut from the movie.

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Can't you feel a brand new day?

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Well let’s not go nuts.

It sure has its problems but being an all-black remake certainly isn’t one of them. It was made and the world didn’t end, funny that over 40 years later some of us are still losing our minds over things like this. Almost seems like a regression in public attitudes in some ways, but as I said I think the advent of the internet plays a big part. It has given us all free reign to complain about all manner of unimportant shit.

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The difference is back in the 70s, the creators wanted their own version of the story and made it so. A completely new production with their own set designs, costumes, choreography, music (the music is amazing) and all that. They made the story their own and it worked because not only was it a monument to black excellence those artists can be proud of but they also made something other races can completely enjoy without it coming off like a lecture or something they weren't welcome to partake in. What people do now in to 2020s is just take what already existed and black wash it. For example: Disney's little mermaid live action movie. It seems like they are just casting POCs for the sake of diversity. They aren't changing anything else about the time period, music, look to make it fit. 'Well it's a fantasy!' people say. Sure. But it's a known classic that people are VERY familiar with. Now, if they made a completely new version of the story where the main characters aren't based off the iconic cartoon, then it's a completely different story. I would LOVE to see various classics 'Wiz'd' up. But modern entertainment just isn't that creative anymore.

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I haven't bought, "Well, it's a fantasy!" since they made sure to cast all black actors as the lions in The Lion King. Clearly, they knew that it would be important to maintain the African-ness of the film, which I can't really fault them for; that's a good way to dig into the possibilities of the show. But, apparently, it's not important with Denmark.

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A live version of "The Wiz" was shown on national network TV, I don't recall any shitfits from the Moviechat racists.

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This was directed by a white guy, so the radicalized Democrats would be sending him death threats. Glad libs are seeing that diversity movies happened long before they were born, though.

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HUNH?

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I loved this movie. I loved all the changes and diversity. It was part of the landscape back then. I don't know what happened since the 70's, but we've gone backwards for sure.

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