Intissar Greene

Reigning Cats and Dogs

Author L. Frank Baum created an endearing group.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz translated well to film and over one billion¹ people have viewed the motion picture.  Through young eyes, the characters were engaging, magical, and spooky.  When observed through the academic lens of a dynamic communication framework, however, they appeared less magical, but retained charm.  The group: Dorothy, Toto, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and The Cowardly Lion journeyed toward a main goal – to visit the Wizard of Oz.  Focusing on fairly opposite types, Toto and The Cowardly Lion, this paper examines how their patterns of communication, group dynamics, leadership, and goals, work within character interaction and environment to affect the group in context. 

Toto was mostly silent.  Even though Toto could not traditionally converse with the group, the other members treated him as an equal participant.  Toto’s communication approach was non-verbal since he communicated by using barking sounds and gestures.  For example, when Dorothy heard (but did not see) the speaking Scarecrow, she said, “Who said that?”  Toto answered her by barking and pointing his body toward the Scarecrow.  She understood, and responded by explaining to him that scarecrows do not talk.  Toto’s communication style was enthusiastic, shown by consistent tail-wagging and sprightly gait.  Due to a refined sense of the kairotic moment, he brought the group closer to its goal by expressing himself at the right place and time.  The little dog’s language was not dependent on explicit verbal messages; he interpreted subtle cues.  Toto was a product of a high-context culture.

Toto’s task, maintenance, and individual roles reflected his unique flair and personal preferences.  He was an initiator, suggesting ways to solve problems.  When the entire group cowered because a lion blocked their path (goal), only Toto stepped up to offer a resolution in the form of tenacious barking.  Later, after flying monkeys abducted Dorothy, the Scarecrow asked the group “Where do we go now?”  Only Toto initiated action, and barked a path to the Witch’s castle for the others to follow.  Nevertheless, the dog was a deserter.  He frequently withdrew from the group in favor of wandering off to the side, investigating new cornfield smells, exploring paths not defined, and disappearing.  Yet, the film showed that the group accepted his side trips as a norm because no one constantly called for him.  His episodic aloofness did not detract from the main goal because he kept up with the group’s changing movements, attended to the actions and sounds of others, and offered solutions. 

The group was comfortable with shared leadership.  Toto approached personal leadership from a situational perspective.  When a particular circumstance found the group with no leader (and in need of one) Toto became an autocrat.  As the other members lay wounded in the forest, without Dorothy, and in need of direction, Toto took charge.  He communicated to the others, “We need to change the goal, find Dorothy - follow me this way, now!”  Near the ending of the film, as the group trembles in the presence of the “Great and Powerful Oz”, Toto’s intuition alerted him that there was something hokey about a particular curtain.  The group had reached their goal to see the Wizard, or had they?  Again, he took charge.  He saw that the other members were in a fantod state, so he decided to open the curtain.  In doing so, he revealed to the group that new goals were probably in order since the Wizard was not really a wizard after all.  Toto was not afraid to divulge unpopular information.  Like many leaders, he used instinct and intuition to assess group goals.

Toto pursued individual goals, but he had no hidden agendas.  His personal aims, occasional stroking from Dorothy and freedom to wander, were modest.  This did not detract from the group’s main goal.  In reality, it is not clear if Toto fully appreciated the group’s goal to see the Wizard.  Toto, unlike the other group members, had no want from the Wizard.  Baptized by Dorothy’s presence, he was quite happy with the journey itself.  His communication style and demeanor reflected this.  No slave to destination, the little dog was a Zen force, the curious one who investigated the question: “Where does the maroon brick road lead?”  Meanwhile, as Toto contemplated deep questions, a lion waited in the Enchanted Forest. 

The Cowardly Lion had the most fascinating patterns of communication.  Rather than engage in paired conversation, he preferred to broadcast his comments to the entire group.  Many of his comments (accompanied by inflated gestures) took the form of questions.  The Lion asked questions for fearful, selfish reasons - not for group edification.  When he saw the Wicked Witch’s skywriting maneuvers, and her castle with marching guards he asked, “Who her?”  “Who her?” and “What’s that?”  “Who are they?” What he really meant was, “I am concerned for my safety.”  Even so, the Lion was not cowardly about taking his share of talking.  In the scene where the group discovered that his bullying bravado was a swindle, the Lion spent a great deal of time sobbing and disclosing his condition.  His overall communication style only hindered the group by the fact that they had to take extra time to listen and calm him down.  They did not seem to mind; underneath it all, the chubby-faced Lion was neighborly. 

      The Lion gave a master presentation of his self-centered roles.  The ultimate confessor, the Lion presented a cavalcade of personal traumas to the group.  Later, he put ample emphasis on himself, not the group goal.  When Dorothy explained to the Emerald City doorman that it was “very important to see the Wizard”, and the doorman refused them, the Lion was dejected because he “just got a [hair] permanent for the occasion.”  His elitist point of reference rarely took into account the feelings of any other group member.  In fact, when the doorman finally granted the group permission to see the Wizard, did the Lion congratulate the other group members?  No. Instead, he vibrated himself into an operatic colloquy about what he would do when the Wizard gave him what he wanted!

The Lion was dramatic.  His introductory scene showed us that he was quite capable of aggression.  Nevertheless, the Lion lacked assertive leadership skills.  As the group moved toward the goal, he provided little direction and command for the purpose.  He preferred to abdicate power and responsibilities to the group.  For instance, in an attempt to foil the castle guards, the Tin Man declared that the Lion would lead the plan.  The Lion (overcome by role strain) moaned, “Talk me out of it!”  He did not even want to lead his own mind.

Despite his qualms, the Lion kept moving with the group.  Unlike Toto, the Lion had something to gain from reaching the goal of seeing the Wizard.  However, the Lion nearly abandoned his commitments to himself, the group, and the goal.  In a scene where the members walked a long corridor to see the Wizard, he babbled to the group that he “would wait outside” and that he “wanted to go home”.  His weak cohesion might have been an indicator that he was more interested in satisfying a personal goal by following the group for emotional therapy purposes.  Perhaps the main reason the Lion stayed with the group’s quest was that he was simply too afraid to walk anywhere alone.

The Lion’s introduction to the group began with a violent confrontation.  His behavior when meeting Toto was deplorable.  Because with the others he might have a true fight on his hands, the Lion decided to pick on the smallest group member, Toto.  At the peak of their interaction, the Lion resorted to threats and name-calling by saying to Toto, “I’ll get you anyway, peewee.”  The episode put a damper on the members’ morale, and stalled the group’s journey toward the main goal.  Since the other members invited the Lion to join the group, the fact that he and Toto did not hold personal grudges made the group’s emotional environment comfortable for the duration of the journey.  However, Toto had other environments to negotiate. 

The Land of Oz was an uncanny place where witches floated (and melted) before one’s eyes, and hostile apple trees talked.  Toto had an easier time with the setting since an Oz cornfield was nearly the same as a Kansas cornfield and one may speculate that he had his unique way of dealing with contrary trees.  Nonetheless, the Wicked Witch added stress to his surroundings by proclaiming that she would “get…[Dorothy]…and [her] little dog too!”  Antagonistic physical and mental environments (such as his being kidnapped and restrained inside a picnic basket) did not wear down Toto’s leadership processes or cadence; it simply delayed the group’s main goal attainment. 

The Wicked Witch intended to halt the group by instilling fear.  Her terrorist displays emotionally affected The Cowardly Lion more than it did the rest of the members.  Conversely, the attacks made the other members more determined and the outside conflict promoted group cohesiveness.  For the Lion, however, the hexes were harrowing.  The negative environment energized his self-serving roles, and compromised his drive toward the main goal. 

Not all of their environments were ugly.  The group benefited from an ethereal Good Witch who, like Toto, had a keen sense of knowing the proper time and place to take action.  In particular, so that the group would not forever sleep in a field of poppies, she altered the environment and made it snow.  Group morale remained untarnished because there was enough food, water, beautiful scenery, and even a beauty parlor!  In seeing the Wizard, they reached their goal and each took with them their own slice of “home”.

Returning home or reaching a treasured end is a recurrent theme in literature and film.  Although L. Frank Baum created a children’s story, deeper study revealed lessons in the fundamentals of small group interaction and goal attainment.  A more courageous sub-text analysis reminds us that it may also serve the goal to acknowledge a bit of dog-like instinct; for even today, wicked witches and counterfeit wizards’ carry on attempts to steal one’s verve.

 

Notes

¹Figure reported by John Fricke in a Wizard of Oz videocassette pamphlet.  Turner Entertainment Co.  1939 Fiftieth Anniversary 1989.  1995.  Page1.