While reading the section of the textbook about the election of 1896, it was interesting to read that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum is considered by some to be an allegory for the struggles of the Populist party. I’m sure all of you know the story of the Wizard of Oz from childhood, the tale of Dorothy and her slippers traveling the yellow brick road in order to get back to her beloved home. However, I never considered that the story had more layers than just being a classic, heartwarming children’s book. In 1964, historian Henry Littlefield was the first to theorize that the book represented the political and economic struggles in America through an article called “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism.” Since then, many other people have weighed in to analyze Baum’s work.
One popular theory is that Dorothy’s silver slippers (they were silver in the book but were ruby in the movie) are a symbol for the Populist parties call for the minting of silver money. In Littlefield’s article, he analyzes that the “Silver shoes [are] walking on a golden road; henceforth Dorothy becomes the innocent agent of Baum’s ironic view of the Silver issue.” This demonstrates how Dorothy represents the American farmers who are calling for free silver, while the government adheres to the gold standard (yellow brick road). The Emerald city also represents Washington DC and President Mckinley where the government supports Wall Street and the gold standard.
One can spend copious amounts of time analyzing the story to find metaphors, but the general consensus is that the story does have a hidden meaning that corresponds to American politics, regardless of what Baum’s specific views were. There are still debates over whether Baum was pro-Populist or anti-Populist because the book can be interpreted in endless ways. In my personal opinion, I do not think that it matters too much what the exact nuances of Baum’s opinions were, it is just interesting to learn about how such a well-known and seemingly one-sided book was a form of social commentary.
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I really enjoyed this post! This was a concept I had never even thought of or considered before. I really like that you included multiple theories and perspectives from people at the time to create a more accurate theory of what the movie may had been depeicting. Your summary really brought the whole concept together very well and helped make a semi complicated subject seem more straightforward and easier to understand.
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ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog post and how it brought light to something many usually don't think about. I was curious to see if there were any other interpretations of The Wizard of Oz that have been written about and I was surprised to see that many have interpreted the Wizard of Oz in different ways. In addition to the social struggles of the late 19th century, some have argued that it has a more religious meaning where the Emerald city is the holy city of Jerusalem and that the song Over the Rainbow alludes to the end of the tale of Noah's Arc. On top of this, people have also argued the opposite in that this is a more atheist tale about feminism, developing human attributes without God, and godless super-naturalism. In the end, we will never know what Baum truly intended but it's fun to see how a children's book was interpreted in many ways.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140819-the-wizard-of-oz-hidden-meanings
This is a really interesting post! I've watched the Wizard of Oz several times and I have known the general story for so long, but I have never heard of it's connection to populism prior to this. I like how you included some examples of symbolism in the book because it was intriguing and made me want to do more research. Something that wasn't mentioned in your post but I thought was interesting was the symbolism of the Scarecrow and the Tin man. Supposedly the scarecrow represents farmers, and the Tin man the factory workers. What especially stood out to me was that when the article mentioned the tin man as being "Dehumanized"and "turned into a machine". I think that this really connects to factory workers because they had little to no rights at all, and had to work in harsh conditions and for long hours. Overall this was a really great post that was fun to read and also inspired me to read more about the topic!
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This was such an interesting blog to read! It's so strange to see how a story/movie from my childhood could be perceived in such a different way in the context of what we are learning in class. I also stumbled across another symbol of the Wizard of Oz story when researching this topic online. In the blog i read, it explained that the wizard in the classic tale was a symbol for President McKinley because he was also a leader who no one really saw and made commands behind a curtain. Overall, I think you picked a super cool topic and drew really interesting parallels between the era we are learning about and parts of the childhood story. Well done!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/the_wizard_of_oz