The QC Weekender: The Dark Side of Oz

It’s a great time for gay film! AfterElton.com just released a list of the 50 greatest gay movies of all time. It was based on a poll, so you may disagree with the rankings (is Brokeback Mountain really ranked number one? Sure, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are hot and it was one of the first mainstream gay films, but c’mon…). But at least their list shows there are a lot of gay film icons to watch and appreciate.
Luckily, we also have another upcoming gay film floating down the mainstream, Gus Van Sant’s Milk. There’s already talk of Oscar buzz and since it’s based on a true story, the film’s potential social and political resonance will be all the more satisfying. We wanted to post the older, ground-breaking 1984 film, The Times of Harvey Milk here on QC, but the YouTube video disabled embedding. So if you want to watch it all for free, you can enjoy the film in 10 parts on YouTube.
However, we’ve embedded another gay film great for you this weekend… with a twist! You can’t think the words “gay film” and “icon” without eventually running into some friends of Dorothy—no, not the bears singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at the local piano bar—we mean the scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion. For years, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz has been hailed as literary genius. Some people call it “the first American fairy tale,” others speculate that it’s a political allegory about the American populist movement. No matter your take, you can’t deny, the 1939 film is an undeniable masterpiece. A beautifully made musical with great acting and an important message: Sometimes you have to leave home to find it.
Fans of film and of Pink Floyd have long known about The Dark Side of Oz. That is, you can listen to the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon while watching the 1939 film, and see many startling coincidences. Some disagree about whether they match up as all the hype would suggest (they more often don’t). But Dark Side of the Moon is an amazingly emotional and musically complex album that bears hearing from start to finish. Played concurrently with the film, the movie’s theatrical tableaus, lush landscapes, and human drama take on an even more epic importance and melancholy that may make you fall in love with the film and album all over again. We hope you enjoy.

One note: sadly, the below clip plays through Dark Side of the Moon only once, excluding the movie’s entire second half. If you have a CD player with automatic repeat, the music continues to sync up for the film’s second half too. If you want to watch The Dark Side of Oz in full, you can learn how to sync up the film and movie here.