What is the deeper meaning behind the Wizard of Oz?
Frank Baum’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” upon which the movie is based, was a political allegory for American politics at the dawn of the 20th century. Dorothy, the Kansas innocent, represents the nobility of middle (and Midwestern) America; the Tin Man is industry, the Scarecrow is agriculture.
What is the message of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?
The predominant theme of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is self-sufficiency. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion all seek external magic to give them qualities they already possess but fail to recognize.
What do the witches in The Wizard of Oz represent?
The Good Witch of the North represents northern workers, and the Good Witch of the South represents southern farmers. This provides a contrast between wicked industrialists from the west with the railroad moguls in the west.
What do the flying monkeys represent?
According to some writers, the Winged Monkeys of Oz represent Native Americans in the West in the late 1800s. Baum himself had clear attitudes toward American Indians and some of his earlier writings about Indians are very similar to his descriptions of the Winged Monkeys found in Oz.
What does the yellow-brick road symbolize?
The Yellow Brick Road symbolizes the gold standard. “The phrase ‘gold standard’ is defined as the use of gold as the standard value for the money of a country. If a country will redeem any of its money in gold it is said to be using the gold standard” (What is the Gold Standard?).
What do the silver shoes symbolize in The Wizard of Oz?
In the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s shoes are red. But in Frank’s 1900 novella, her shoes are silver. And they are silver, economic historians have suggested, because they represent half of the bimetal standard, and that when they walk on the road, The Yellow Brick Road, to Oz, they unify silver and gold.
What happens when Dorothy clicked her heels?
The Dorothy of 1985 (semi-Dorothy of 1939) takes place six months after the first adventure in Oz happened. The story eventually explains that when she clicked her heels, she accidentally lost the Ruby Slippers on the way back to Kansas. They just “fell out of the sky one day” as she was so anxious to get home.
What does the tornado symbolize in the Wizard of Oz?
In the story, a tornado takes Dorothy from the dreary, barren land of Kansas to the beautiful and abundant Oz. This symbolizes the wealth possible with the addition of silver to the gold standard.
What does Dorothy learn at the end of the Wizard of Oz?
In Dorothy’s big speech about the lesson she’s learned, she tells Glinda: “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”
What do the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz represent?
What do the Ruby Slippers symbolize?
In the movie, the slippers represent the little guy’s ability to triumph over powerful forces. As the item that she – a simple teenage farm girl from Kansas – steals from the dictatorial Wicked Witch and ultimately uses to liberate the oppressed people of Oz, they’re nothing less than a symbol of revolution.
What does the Wizard of Oz symbolize?
However rather than simply representing an individual politician, like the Cowardly Lion and William Jennings Bryan, the Wizard symbolizes the office of the president itself.
Is “The Wizard of Oz” a religious book?
In his essay, Littlefield writes, “The Wizard of Oz has neither the mature religious appeal of a Pilgrim’s Progress, nor the philosophic depth of a Candide… Yet the original Oz book conceals an unsuspected depth.”
When was the Wizard of Oz written?
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum and followed by the iconic cinematic masterpiece starring Judy Garland in 1939, has remained one of the most enduring and popular stories over a hundred years later.
Why is the Wizard of Oz called an anti fairy tale?
Described as an “anti-fairy tale,” this envisioning of The Wizard of Oz emphasizes the whining by the lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man, not to mention the awkward clanking of the Tin Man’s metal. Dorothy’s triumphs over the wicked witches are complete accidents, yet she’s hailed as a world-beater.