Frank Baums, The Wizard of Oz is undoubtedly one of the most popular films made. Even though it was released in 1939, almost three-quarters of a century ago, the film continues to entertain audiences and speak to them in a personal way. The question that comes to mind when analyzing this film is: what is it about this film that gives it such timelessness? Reflecting on the film's timeless qualities, it seems clear that the plot is one of the things that allows it to maintain its relevance. First and foremost, the plot of The Wizard of Oz is timeless because it is an excellent example of a heroic journey, both in a literal and cinematic sense. This journey of self-awareness is a metaphor for growth, which is something we all try to discover at some point in our lives. To fully appreciate the meaning of the plot it is necessary to fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell has identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the film meticulously sticks to these stages. For example, the first stop on the hero's journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure involves the author portraying the protagonist in his ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and performing ordinary tasks so that the author can introduce the reasons why the hero needs the journey to develop his character or improve one's life (Vogler 35). The purpose of this play is to show the audience what the protagonist's life is currently like and what areas of their life are in conflict or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is drawn into another world, full of adventure, danger, and opportunity to learn what needs to be learned. T... half of the card... are similar in both her ordinary world and her special world, and she has to work throughout the rest of the film to resolve them. The Wizard of Oz can be analyzed in many different ways, but the depth of the plot is what gives this film its timeless qualities, making it a favorite even today, and one can't help but notice how much this film was cinematically advanced for its time making it truly a masterpiece. Works Cited Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. New York: New World Library, 2008. Dartmouth University. "Glossary of Motion Picture Terms". November 21, 2011. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/humanities/film.shtml#glossary.Vogler, Christopher. The writer's journey. Studio City, CA: Michael Weise Productions, 1998. The Wizard of Oz, The. Dir. Vittorio Fleming. Perf. Judy Garland, Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger. Warner Bros., 1939.