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an in-depth analysis of the wiz (1978) and solange’s when i get home (2019)

welcome to the most tranquil place on the world wide web. 

today we’ll be exploring two of my absolute FAVORITE works of art in existence and i am glad to be sharing this piece with you. for black history month in 2021, i wrote a brief article for simple wednesday, where i analyzed the connections between THE WIZ (1978), a reimagining of the wizard of oz through the lens of black american culture and solange’s WHEN I GET HOME (2019), a multimedia visual and auditory experience that in many ways mimics the archetypal subtext woven into the fabric of THE WIZ (which you can read here). so, i wanted to dive a little deeper and revisit that concept with fresh eyes and new perspective after having embarked on yet another hero’s journey! let’s dive in!

i’m someone who is all about timing and doing things or experiencing things at the right time. and i don’t mean that i’m not spontaneous and a little chaotic… i mean… after all, i’m an aries and i really don’t have no chill. but what i do mean is that i never force anything or at least i try not to. especially when it comes to consuming and digesting art. whether it is a film, an album or an art exhibit. i don’t force myself to watch it, listen to it, or experience it just because everyone is telling me that i should because it’s so amazing. if anything, things that have excessive amounts of hype surrounding it make me want to wait even longer before i give it a chance. im not sure why i’m like this but it works out for me and i’ll tell you why. 

because i take my time with everything i do i always find that when i do finally sit down and listen to an album or watch a movie everyone is raving about, it’s always at the PERFECT time for me on a spiritual, mental and emotional level. i always get exactly what i need and had i rushed into it before, i probably wouldn’t have found resonance and many points would have went over my head. now i haven’t always been this way lol, i credit this to my taurus rising and all the taurus’s in my life these days. THANK Y’ALL FR. y’all have helped me to prioritize rest and for that i’ll be eternally grateful. naturally i’m someone who would prefer to just go, go go but after experiencing months and sometimes years of paralyzing burnout i’ve realized recently that i HAVE to take my time and use it productively to get things accomplished but to also take time to reflect and relax. there’s a lesson in this for someone and as we continue to break down the constructs of this capitalistic society, more and more of us will break the cycle of running ourselves down just to make a quick buck. but that’s another conversation for a different day…

i grew up a bit of an outsider because as a kid i had never watched THE WIZ. i didn’t watch it in grammar school, middle school, high school or college tbh. it wasn’t until i was in may 20s that i watched it because around the time when THE WIZ was making its rounds in childhood homes of the 90s, i was obsessed with the live action CINDERELLA (1997) starring brandy, whitney houston and whoopi goldberg. those were my beauty icons as a young girl and i was extremely obsessed with whoopi goldberg in the 90s because she reminded me so much of my gramma. i would watch SISTER ACT 1 and SISTER ACT 2 starring lauryn hill and sheryl lee ralph for those months when i didn’t get to see my gramma and seeing whoopi would comfort me. they look like they could be half-sisters or first cousins, so i just missed THE WIZ train because CINDERELLA was on repeat every day of the week. i abused the hell out of that VHS hitting rewind as SOON as the movie was over. to this day i still remember the previews that would show before CINDERELLA actually came on. and because i hadn’t watched THE WIZ, there were so many references that my peers would make that i couldn’t comprehend because i was out the loop. 

i didn’t actually watch the wiz for the first time until i was 24 years old. it was january 2020, just before all hell broke loose. back when i still had a sliver of hope for the future (LOL i’m kidding) i am hopeful and i pray to god everyday that he provides each and every one of us a little bit of hope and something to look forward to. but when i did finally watch it, i sobbed. it was the most emotional and spiritual experience i had ever had while watching a movie and the parallels to dorothy, played by none other than diana ross, an iconic aries queen and my life were uncanny. the first being, dorothy was also 24 in the film and was being plagued with the opportunity to leave the nest and seek something greater than the reality in front of her currently. if that wasn’t exactly my life, i don’t what was. and by the end of the movie when i saw lena horne preaching that good word, i couldn’t compose myself. i cried tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of confusion, regret, love… i felt the full spectrum of emotions because how have i lived my entire life seeking something that i always had within me? it made me feel such empathy for myself because i had no clue what i was doing to myself… but i also couldn’t blame myself or anyone else for that matter because only NOW have i finally discovered the truth.  you’re probably wondering, what is the truth? the truth is that,

“home is knowing. knowing your mind. knowing your heart. knowing your courage. if we know ourselves, we’re always home, anywhere.”

that line of dialogue hit me like a ton of bricks and it being in the last act of the film really made the experience THAT much more worthwhile for me. while i was watching the film, i picked up on a lot of things and related them to my life and how i have lived a life where i allowed myself to believe i was incomplete and that there was something or some place that existed outside of me that could fill that void. but at THAT moment, after the wiz is revealed to be nothing more than a flawed and deeply insecure man, who didn’t have the strength to get back home, we have this moment of illumination where we realize that we could either be like him… a coward or embody courage and have faith. glenda affirms that with her sweet, sweet song. sidebar: i have this deep affinity for lena horne. she paved the way for a new generation of representation in cinema and like many aries placements, had to take on all the arrows and swords like a true warrior because she knew she had a purpose. she also reminds me soooooo much of my great-grandma, we call her granny granny and she’s a taurus. lena is a cancer sun, scorpio moon and aries rising and like many scorpio moons, has endured SO MUCH. but transmuted her experiences into successful empires and legacies and for that i will always adore her, her work and her contribution to society. as you read more of my articles you will see that i really am just a collection of all of my influences and i am proud of that! now, back to THE WIZ. 

i don’t think that if i watched THE WIZ at any point before i did, it would have hit the way that it did. i think the reason it resonated so much was because of the point in time that i decided to sit down and really take it all in. i was in my room, LED lights set the mood, weed rolled and it was the perfect vibe. and so many factors came into play to make THE WIZ happen and the fact that the creators kept saying that diana ross was too old to play dorothy and that dorothy couldn’t be a girl in her 20s is just CRAZY to me. when the reality is that the dorothy archetype is ageless and genderless. the hero’s journey knows no limits and its never too late to go after what is rightfully yours. the only reason they let diana play dorothy was because she told them that she could get get michael jackson to be in the film and that was enough for them to take a chance on her and i’m so grateful for this entire series of events occurred because… WOW. this illustrates the greater and bigger picture on how all these little intricate moments can come together to create a transcendental experience that will change many people’s lives forever. i sure wasn’t the same after that and every so often i rewatch THE WIZ and let it reveal to me the secrets and answers to the questions that i most need to know.

before we get into WHEN I GET HOME, i quickly want to highlight some archetypal symbolism that is present in this film. i write an article series called “Historical Archetypes & Myths in Film & TV” and in this series i explore historical myths and archetypes in film and TV. these historical archetypes and myths are any of the following, astrology, tarot, cultural myths & folklore such as (black/indigenous american, african, roman, greek, asian, polynesian, etc) and with this series my goal is to really show the connections between the stories that we love and ancient archetypes by providing practical breakdowns and scene by scene analyses that really change the way you watch film and tv forever! i encourage you to read our previous breakdowns here, because we lay a bit of framework and terminology that will help you better retain and understand what we’ll explore next.

so in the wiz, there are many archetypal storylines and character arcs at play, a few of them being present in the major arcana of the tarot. the fool, the two of swords, strength, the hanged man, the star, to name a few. today, we’ll explore the the fool and the two of swords but if you all are interested i can write about this film A LOT more so just let me know.

before going any further, i want it to make it clear that EVERY film and television show you have watched revolves around the fool tarot card. the fool journey is the hero’s journey and the hero is the protagonist of the story. they are the main character. so every main character of every film is the fool. they are living in an ordinary world and at around 15 minutes into the movie are propelled forward by a call to action that catapults them into an extraordinary world where they are on a journey to get what they want. before the call to action, someone or something is always going to prompt the main character to go after what they want but its up to them to decide if they are going to and even if they say “no”, there will be an event or experience that forces them into it because if they don’t go for it, the movie is over and boring. we don’t want to see people living their miserable and meek lives. we want excitement and we want something to inspire us to do the same!

and THE WIZ is no different. it starts with a family dinner and her family trying to set her up with a fineeeee successful black man BUT she’s comfortable where she is. she doesn’t want to leave her comfort zone and if it was up to her, she would have stayed home. primary reason, there’s a BLIZZARD outside. so if it wasn’t for todo running out the backdoor while she was taking out the trash, living her ordinary life, the tornado wouldn’t have swept her off her feet and transported her to THE WIZ dimension. you see what i’m getting at here?

so now dorothy is in the extraordinary world. she’s all alone and has no one but her dog and needs to walk down the yellow brick road to reach the emerald city. she’s singing “soon as i get home…” as an affirmation that home exists and regardless of which way she goes, she’ll get back home. along the hero’s journey, everyone meets allies and enemies and one of the first people she encounters is a friend, the scarecrow, played by none other then michael jackson. a true STAR and virgo. vedic leo fasho tho. and when she meets the scarecrow, he is strung up and doesn’t even realize that nothing is holding him back but himself. its actually quite sad because that type of mental prison is so common for many. this archetype that’s being presented to us is the 2 of swords but also the hanged man. the 2 of swords because when you really analyze that card, you see that no one is forcing her to hold those swords against her will. and all she has to do is put the swords down and take off her own blind fold and see that she is safe. the hanged man because the scarecrow is strung up and seeing things from the wrong perspective and it isn’t until dorothy gives him some insight as to what other possibilities exist for him, where he becomes illuminated to the truth. you could say the crows were his negative thoughts and negative self talk manifested externally but regardless he allowed external perceptions to creep in and inform the reality he lived.

now, let’s get into WHEN I GET HOME. solange broke the internet when this dropped and she blew all of our minds with this fluid cosmic jazz, gospel-esque sound and the short film that accompanied it to really bring the point back home. when we look at the hero’s journey its a circle and a circle doesn’t have a start or an end except for when you are drawing it. so when solange speaks of when i get home, like dorothy’s “soon as i get home” mantra, its an affirmation that “i’ll be back.” i’m embarking on a journey of trust and allowing god to move through me and guide me along the way. I AM A WITNESS, the last song on this album confirms that. 

“you can work through me. you can say what you need in my mind. i’ll be your vessel. i’ll do it every time. and i won’t stop til i get it right…” 

she opens the album with THINGS I IMAGINED and i will ALWAYS remember hearing that first time. i was high in my bedroom (there’s a theme here) and closed my eyes and let solange’s smooth voice take me to a new dimension. and before we go any further i just want to state on record that THIS is what magic really is. she made an album so powerful that when you sing along you reprogram your DNA. you reprogram your thoughts and neural pathways. singing “I SAW THINGS I IMAGINED” on a loop gives me chills every time because its so true but also affirms that those things we dream about are coming to fruition, too! 

DREAMS is one of my absolute favorites from this record. it is literally powerful and i don’t know many artists of this day and age other than jhene aiko who is intentionally putting healing frequencies and love into their music. if there are others, PLEASE let me know because i would love to be wrong. as each song goes by the lyrics themselves present to us an opportunity to integrate and ACT on the new knowledge and awareness we have downloaded while listening to this album but the transitions and the commentary throughout also make you want to move differently. i remember being so inspired by this project and to this day its in my daily rotation. 

it dropped on the last day of black history month in 2019 and for months it was one of the only albums, beside victory lap by nipsey hussle that i really listened to that year. nipsey passed about a month after WIGH dropped and it was almost like listening to it on a loop for that entire month helped emotionally prepare me to come to an understanding around his death… his passing really BROKE the city. it broke the world and to this day we feel that absence but to carry the torch is an obligation and a source of pride for us.

“i can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations. too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers…”

if you haven’t yet watched WHEN I GET HOME, i encourage you to check it out because watching the film and listening to the album you really get an entirely different picture. JERROD hits different when you see the film because there is the wonderful scene where solange is dancing in the presence of the divine. they are in the void and its like watching praise and worship. i would say that void space is the symbolic and figurative “HOME” that she is returning to. to reference the article i did for BHM 2021, i highlighted the cultural aspects of THE WIZ and WHEN I GET HOME in relation to the black community and solange took the time to highlight those of us who are often erased and overlooked with this project. with the film she showcased the beauty in all the magnificence and how multifaceted the black community is. just like the brightest shining diamond. ALMEDA was a stand out track for me when i first heard it and i get still chills when i listen to it. mainly because the NOTHING WITHOUT INTENTION interlude right before it highlighted the duality of black women lol. yes, we are ratchet, classy, sexy, funny, and will tell a lame n*gga about himself in an instant but we are also spiritual AS FUCK, intentional and make magic on the daily. i remember one day i was rolling through LA listening to ALMEDA on full motherfuckin blast and it was rush hour. there was this older black man in the car next to me and i could tell he was listening intently to the lyrics. when we finally got to the light, he gave THE NOD and in that moment i just smiled to myself like “yes!” :) 

the entire rollout for when i get home was GENIUS. it had been a couple years since she dropped her last project A SEAT AT THE TABLE which will always be a classic in my book and the streets was feinding for new solange. i won’t lie. she had been posting IG lives and sharing snippets for months and i just knew she was coming. then one random day, she told everyone to meet her on blackplanet.com and she took us all the way back to 2007 and curated a digital gallery of photos that showcased black culture, specifically in the south and houston, tx. she had us all creating new black planet accounts and i still got the app downloaded on my phone lol. a few days later the album dropped on apple music and i was literally blown away. like i had a whole out of body experience while listening to this album and watching this film. i was AMAZED and literally so impressed by solange’s artistry. she is another one of my big inspirations and i LOVE everything she does!

WIGH is quite different from ASATT and it got mixed reviews when it first came out because people didn’t really understand exactly what solange was saying with this album. i’ve heard people say it was too repetitive and boring even… and i can’t agree with that because i’m familiar with mantras and affirmations so when i first heard it i was excited that she decided to take this kind of approach with her album. solange had a lot to say with ASATT. ASATT is a cultural dialogue and conversation regarding success and representation in the black community. its about ownership and autonomy. pride. joy. and creating space for that. WIGH continues that conversation but it is far more subtle and takes a more psychological and meditative approach to it.

a few months after the release of WIGH, solange debuted an extended directors cut of the film and it was available to watch on the criterion channel for nearly a year. this is a huge milestone for any filmmaker because the criterion channel is not netflix or HBO… it’s literally the upper echelon of streaming services and its catalogue is full of the most iconic and high brow works of cinema ever made. not just any movie gets added to the criterion channel catalogue, so that shows you how incredible the WHEN I GET HOME film is from a cinematic perspective. it’s truly a masterpiece!

“i just wanna wake up to the sun in saint laurent, 100,000 one the fronts hella blunts. i just wanna wake up like a thot on yacht or in a rolls thats rented, windows tinted, we call that big spending, big spending. i’ma get back on my feet, gimme a minute.. i’ma feel this in my thighs like he been in it… i just wanna wake up on CP time.” 

EXACTLY. BINZ is another one of my favorite songs on this album because solange just fucking gets IT. ya know? this album is perfect for “manifesting” because she’s really dropping so much game and a real-life play-by-play on how to get back home. how to back into the good graces of the divine. back on track toward your destiny. THAT is what this album is about. how to embody divinity. how to be the walking embodiment of faith. how to do nothing without intention and when you move with pure intentions and a pure heart, everything works out for you. 

WHEN I GET HOME shows us how to recommit to our purpose, our selves, our creator and trusting that what god has planned for your life is greater than anything you could have ever imagined. and even tho you see things you imagined and they become real, god’s imagination is far greater than our own.

until next time, 

xo.