[SKRIVA] TWOZ Vs LOTR

(Skrev det här för en engelskspråkig lista. Men det kan nog vara intressant på SKRIVA också. Det är en jättebra film - jag hoppas ni såg den! Jag borde kanske ha tipsat, men å andra sidan är ni vuxna och läskunniga och kan nog se TV-tablåerna själva. --AE)
Swedish TV last night showed this wonderful move, "The Wizard of OZ" (TWOZ, from now on) from 1939. It is surely one of the greatest musicals of movie history (the songs from it are legendary, for instance!) as well as a pretty good children's movie (though I remember I became a little bit scared sometimes, when I first saw it as a little kid) and also a decent fantasy movie. Though one could also call it an sf movie: the Wizard is clearly a mad scientist, the Tin Man is a robot and the Emerald City is a futuristic metropolis à la Frank R Paul. But while enjoying this classic film (as one should; it is very well done!) I began to wonder. I began to think about another well-known story: JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). My googling suggests that Tolkien began with his first sketches of LOTR in the late 1930's, at the same time as TWOZ was released (1939). I don't know if Tolkien saw it, but it wouldn't be unlikely since the film was a world-wide success, and if you're interested in fantasy stuff it would have been natural to see it. Here're a few things I have to say about the parallels between TWOZ and LOTR:
Both are about a quest. Frodo is like Dorothy; he wants to destroy a ring, she to find her way back to Kansas; both has a magical thingy (ring and ruby shoes). Both form a "fellowship", with seven in one case, and five (incl the dog Toto) in the other (five and seven are both somewhat "magical" numbers). The Munchin town is like Shire and the munchkins are like hobbits. In a scene in TWOZ we encounter living trees - ents! There are two wicked witches (the east and west witch), which could be compared to Sauron and Saruman. The Wizard himself is like Gandalf. The good witch could perhaps be Tom Bombadil. The orchs are like the small army of the wicked witch. The witch flies herself on a broomstick and has flying "monkeys" - nazguls. Emerald City is like Minas Tirith. The people of Emerald City are like the elves. Dorothy has problems getting into Emerald City at the gate - like getting into Moria in LOTR. The dog Toto is like Sam, and takes a decisive action at a critical moment (exposing the wizard), just as Sam does in LOTR. In the end everyone in TWOZ are given awards and honours, just like in LOTR where everyone get nighthoods etc. The key to solving the problem in LOTR is fire from the Mount of Doom, and in TWOZ it's - water (which makes the witch melt). And so on. There are probably more parallels to spot. While it would be unfair and silly to claim that JRR copied TWOZ (his LOTR clearly has its own merits, and lots of stuff that don't match), it wouldn't be impossible that he saw the film and was subconsciously inspired. 
  What do you say?

--Ahrvid
Ps. I thought I was perhaps the first to spot these parallels, but oviously I'm not. Here's a web page I found through Google, with some parallels: http://www.weirdload.com/oz-arda.html (some may differ from my suggestions). 

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