All most all types of literature are classified in some type of genre. There are many genres out there from Non-Fiction to Science Fiction. Movies are no exception, they are classified in genres to appeal to the audience that is interested in that particular genre. The Wizard of Oz is a full-length film that is classified in the Fantasy film genre. During the course of this short essay, genre theory will be explained, a short summary of the Wizard of Oz will be supplied and three convections will be explained that contribute to the Fantasy genre during the movie.

The word genre comes from the French word the means "kind" or "class". It has been widely used to classify many works of literary devices, including: music, books, and films.

Typically, film genre is the "Use familiar story formulas, character types, settings, and iconography (visual imagery with symbolic implications), all of which lead viewers to have certain expectations about what the movie will be like before actually watching it" (Goodykoontz and Jacobs, 2014, Section 4.1). Genres have changed over time, but there are a few that have remained constant throughout the history of films: Westerns, Gangster, Mysteries, Film noir, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romantic comedy and Musicals. Most movies have elements of other genres within them, making them crossovers and many times they may contain subcategories.

The Wizard of Oz is a movie that is classified in the Fantasy genre, but is one of those films that would crossover with one or more other genres. The Wizard of Oz could be classified in a subcategory of a fantasy musical because throughout the movie, the characters sing songs that advance the dialogue of the movie. The Wizard of Oz is a long time classic, based on the book of Frank Baum, and first produced in 1939. The Wizard of Oz is about a girl named Dorothy and her dog Toto who are transported "Somewhere over the rainbow" (Fleming and Vidor, 1939, Video File) to the Land of Oz After killing the Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy wants to go home and begins her journey to the Emerald City to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. Along the way she meets three friends that help her get there, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. In the end, she kills the Wicked Witch of the West and is transported home.

The American Film Institute defines the Fantasy genre "As a genre where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world" (American Film Institute, 2014, para. 5). There are many elements in the movie The Wizard of Oz that would attribute to the classification of a fantasy picture. "At the heart of fantasy is magic. . . .Fantasy film imagines and realizes the magical and its synonyms: the impossible, the marvelous, the wondrous and the miraculous" (Martin, 2014, pg. 59). With that being said, there are many elements of "magic", such as, in the scene in which Dorothy arrives in the Land of Oz and comes out of the house. The audience sees a beautiful bubble approaching Dorothy. As it is approaching it is getting bigger and bigger and then stepping out of the bubble is Glinda, the good Witch of the North (Fleming and Vidor, 1939, Video File).

Another important component to the Fantasy genre is that it should include things that are not possible in the "real world". There are many components of that in The Wizard of Oz. There is the characters of the story, the talking, walking, singing and dancing characters of the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. These types of characters would never be seen in the "real world". Other characters as well, such as the army of the Wicked Witch of the West, which consists of flying monkeys. To the knowledge of the world, monkeys do not have wings and cannot fly.