Wizard of Oz and Populism

Factual Questions
1

I was recently told that Baum had written The Wizard of Oz as a parable in support of Populism. The Emerald City is Washington, the Wizard a deceitful president, the shoes (silver in the book, for those of you who haven’t read it) salvation, the yellow (gold) brick road a false lead… And so on.

It makes some sense, but I was a little dubious, so I browsed the net for answers. I came up with David Parker’s page as the most reputable-looking source. Though he presents some evidence debunking the Populist claim (originally laid forth in 1964 by Henry Littlefield), he doesn’t provide much of an answer.

So I turn to the teeming millions. The book is too loaded with symbolism for it not to have some deeper meaning. Anyone know the straight dope on this?

thanks
-ellis

2

I know this was answered by Cecil in one of the books, but I can’t find it now. Any help?

Basic answer, it’s a kids story. If you look at anything long enough you can come up with some analogy.

Don’t forget the yellow brick road being the Gold standard and the silver shoes being the salvation of Free Silver.

3

I’d heard that it was about Free Silver.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

4

Telemark, I disagree. I firmly believe that the author always has an allegory, or a simple meaning he/she is trying to get across. I personally agree that The Wizard of Oz is about populism, it makes a lot of sense to me. But I’m sure it’s about SOMETHING. It’s NOT a simple children’s story. I learned the hard way that nothing is ever simple.

5

Is the “Wizard of Oz” a Satire of the French Revolution by Cecil Adams.

6

According to a macroeconomics text (Mankiw 4th ed., 178-9), it is indeed about the campaign for the bimetal standard to combat deflation in your 1896 election:

No mention of Diana Ross though.

7

That’ll teach me to refresh before posting. Thanks bibliophage.

8

emerald city- a populist tract purportedly promulgated the idea that, to feed sheep when you have no grass to give them, feed them wood shavings and put green glasses over their eyes.

tin woodsman was not simply a worker, but rather all of industry. in the book, he started as human, but because of a curse placed on him by the east witch he gradually lopped off all his body parts, finally ending with his heart. manufacturing had lost its human center.

i forget what the wicked witches of the east and west represent.

9

I think the Wicked Witch of the East was supposed to represent the little Pepsi girl. The represented Nick Mason, the Scarecrow Rick Write, Tin Man, Gilmore and Dorthy is Waters. Toto is a token tribute to Sid.

10

Damn that witch! The Lion represented Nick Mason.

11

I, too, once had the idea that it was an allegory. I brought up the subject on alt.fan.cecil-adams a few years ago, and snopes himself did the best job of disabusing me of the idea.

A couple of points that make the populism allegory seem doubtful are:

  1. Baum had never written political allegories, and didn’t seem to have populist leanings in his other writings.

  2. No one came up with the idea that it’s an allegory for 60 or 70 years after it was written. No one at the time, Baum himself never mentioned it. A high school class hit upon the idea in the 1960s IIRC, and it’s been reported as fact more and more since then, but without any further proof than that there are certain coincidences.

12

At point you can clearly see the dog mouth to Dot “Have you got it yet?”

[/obscure Floyd ref]

picmr

13

I ran across this site some time ago that discusses the change from a dual metal standard to gold as the crime or 1873 and goes on to discuss the Wizard of OZ. Even if the WoOz connetion is bogus this guy has some good insights into the background.

14

Well, yeah, sure, but the 1939 movie with Judy Garland is clearly an anti-communist allegory.

The movie just drips with it, but I’ll give a few examples. Miss Gulch tries to take away Toto, to the sheriff; clearly indicating state-ownership. Dorothy wears RED shoes, a notable change from the silver shoes in the book, and we know that Communists were reds. She walks along a yellow brick road, a clear allusion to the yellow peril represented by Chinese Communism. (The fact that the movie came out in 1939 and China didn’t go communist until 1947 or so, is just more proof of what an insightful allegory the movie is!)

The Scarecrow is clearly the U.S. government, unable to scare away the Russian scavanger crows. The Tin Woodman with no heart is France, and the Cowardly Lion is obviously England (national emblem). The Munchkins are Germany; the very name Munich-kin, means German-related, under Nazi rule at the time, the yellow brick road spiraling is a reference to the Nazi swastika. None of those countries can stand against the red slippers and yellow road. All are helpless against the poppies (red again, and a symbol of how the communists align with the drug-dealers to mislead American youth).

The opposing wicked witches are West and East, so even though the witch of the East (Russia) might be killed, the witch of the West (communist treachery and infiltration into western society) remains a threat. Note even the Wizard’s pun about “You liquidated her”, referring to the massive liquidations that were common under the Communist regime in Russia.

The broomstick of the witch of the west (“A new broom sweeps clean”) is a reference to ineffective political campaigns in the west.

Well, I could go on, but hell, I’ve already got more evidence of an anti-communist allegory than anyone ever came up with for a Populist allegory.

Moral: Any work of art has levels and depths of meaning, especially if you want to take it to absurd levels.

15

The flying monkeys? Cubans? You’ve got a point there but it might be a good idea to have them cut your dosage. :smiley: