Feanor Posted October 28 Posted October 28 (edited) It's crazy how The Wizard Of Oz came out in 1939, just before WWII even started, and is still beloved, referenced, watched and widely recognizable almost 90 years later. I'm seeing Halloween costumes of the characters online, references on Agatha All Along and ofc Wicked is about to be everywhere too soon. I feel like Titanic would also be a contender for most iconic movie of all time, but given how it's much more recent (in relative terms) than Oz, the latter kinda still has the edge for now. Is The Wizard Of Oz the most iconic movie ever? If not, which movie do you think is it? Edited October 28 by Feanor 1
Mitsouko Posted October 28 Posted October 28 There's no "most iconic movie" just like there's no most iconic word of any language. But yes, The Wizard Of Oz is iconic.
swissman Posted October 28 Posted October 28 It's certainly way up there. It would be hard to prove it but I can't think of any that better fulfil the criteria than this.
byzantium Posted October 28 Posted October 28 In the cannon of film the Wizard of Oz is securely there. However there is no "most iconic film". There are only "most iconic films". I think Star Wars IV, Jaws, Titanic, and The Sound of Music, are all there too.
Junipero Posted October 28 Posted October 28 Fritz Lang's Sci-Fi 1927 film "Metropolis" is arguably more influential(but not as popular). Zendaya's robot outfit was inspired by the movie, Beyonce was inspired by it. Madonna's "Express Yourself" copies it, etc... 1
swissman Posted October 28 Posted October 28 (edited) I don't agree that there cannot be a most iconic film. It's nearly impossible to say for sure what it is, but it's not impossible that there is one (if only we could prove it). To say so would be to think that all super iconic films are equally iconic. "Most" is a qualifying word. Technically it is possible. Some films may be iconic just for one reason, one character, one scene, a poster, a soundbite, a song. Others are iconic from top to bottom, like Wizard of Oz, where every character, setting, song, and visual is almost on an equal level of iconography as the rest. "Iconic" isn't some impossible adjective that could never be proven, either. "Iconic" as it is applied to a film would mean that the film is widely known, celebrated, easy to identify, etc. Though it may be very difficult to officially prove, let's say you had the means and access to do so, if you surveyed every person on earth and gave them hundreds of film stills, lines from scripts, images of costumes, sounds, headshots of the cast, etc. and then asked them to identify what film it belonged to, technically whichever films were most easily and readily recognized would be the more iconic films. Unless there is a tie, you pretty much have your answer. I'd say that Wizard of Oz also edges almost everyone else out for the fact that it's been iconic for 85 years. So automatically the amount of iconicness (if we are measuring it by shared recognizably) is at a scale greater than an iconic film released more recently. Edited October 28 by swissman
swissman Posted October 28 Posted October 28 How many films can have their seventh billed character be one of the most iconic characters of all time? A few, maybe, if that character by luck becomes iconic.
Vixen Eyes Posted October 28 Posted October 28 idk if there is a "most" but this is certainly top 5 if there was a list! 1
DAP Posted October 28 Posted October 28 It's certainly better than some of the other big films of the period like Gone With the Wind.
swissman Posted October 28 Posted October 28 Iconic aspects of the film: Its technicolor (it is often widely, wrongly called the first color picture) Judy Garland as Dorothy, launching one of the most iconic careers in all film history including but not limited to her outfit, her hair, her acting, etc. The Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch both of whom have inspired the book, then the play, then the soon-to-be hit film Wicked The ruby red slippers The yellow brick road The munchkins The Wizard himself The script "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore", etc. The music (Somewhere Over The Rainbow, which the American Film Insitute named as the #1 greatest song in film history) Its lore (there are tons of rumours and conspiracy theories about it) And then you have huge, iconic offshoots. The iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon is intrinsically linked to the film. The terms "friend of Dorothy" to denote someone gay comes from this film. Somewhere Over The Rainbow has become an iconic song in Patti LaBelle's career too. There has been MANY film adaptations and/or sequels based on the popularity of this film including the classic The Wiz (very iconic) and the more recent Oz the Great and Powerful (not so iconic). There has been a stage musical version by musical icons Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. And visually and thematically it is one of the most potent and often used references. And we could go on... 1 1
bad guy Posted October 28 Posted October 28 Movie ever? Tough to say but it's definitely the most iconic musical ever.
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