THE WIZARD OF OZ WAS ONLY MINIMALLY ABOUT KANSAS Frank Baum wrote the book in the last part of the 19th Century. It was written during the throes of the gold/silver greenback struggle. And the book was written around these events. • The yellow brick road was the gold standard. • In the book, the slippers were silver, not red, and represented the silver standard. • Dorothy represents the everyday American people who, metaphorically speaking, had been swept away to an unfamiliar circumstance by gale-like forces beyond their control. • Emerald City represented the “greenbacks”, the political segment that supported unbacked paper money. • The Wizard, who runs Emerald City, was the politician who appears to be powerful and wise, but is in fact, a foolish man behind a curtain, who is trying to frighten and control regular people. • The Scarecrow, stuffed with straw, was the American farmer. • The Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, the leader of the silver movement, who was characterized by his critics as indecisive. • The Tin Man represents American Industrial interests. • The Wicked Witch of the West stood for the American West. • The Flying Monkeys were the displaced Native Americans of the West. In the novel, the leader of the monkeys tells Dorothy: “Once we were a free people living happily….this was many years ago, long before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over the land.” Footnote: If you have a copy of the “Wizard of Oz”, you can start Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Some say it will keep with the movie. And even the words from Dark Side will fit. You decide. To me it seems to be total coincidence...until I start toking. Then it matches up PERFECTLY! Go to the following link to experience this: youtube/watch?v=MDz2cNL1vuM
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 05:21:19 +0000
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