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The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

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21–30 of 113 posts

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#21
I suspect for most of this, they were just trying to be funny or weird rather than intending this symbolism/meaning to come across to the audience.

One of my economics textbooks contained an explanation of the theory that the yellow brick road was a reference to monetary policy (gold standard), but that theory seems to have been heavily challenged (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_T...).

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#22
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

If you follow up this claim even very superficially you'll find it's not really 'widely recognized' but rather the oft-mentioned, curious theory of one person.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#23
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Oz-tray-lee-ah" Edited to reflect a pronunciation, not necessarily a correct or accurate one, from which it's easy to derive 'oz'.

Nobody says it with a z sound, always an s.

...and nobody says "oz" when they mean to say "ounce". These are literal liberties, which fit either way, I think.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#24
One think I didn't realize until my daughter and I read the book together: in the book there were two good witches, the witch of the North (the first one Dorothy meets after landing on the witch of the East), and the witch of the South (the one that tells her she can use the shoes to get home). The movie combined the two characters. Then they had to come up with a reason why the good witch didn't immediately tell Dorothy to click her heels together and go home. In the book, only the Witch of the South knew this.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#25
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

How far we've drifted as a nation.

People then seemed to realize the danger of fiat money, yet The Federal Reserve Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913, when most lawmakers had already left the Capital for their home states -- and it passed on a simple majority of those present vote. The Federal Reserve (a cabal of international banks that is not part of the US Government) seized control of the US monetary system and their policy of deliberate inflation has eroded purchasing power 97+% (50% reduction since just 1970!). Even though the constitution still describes the value of a dollar as a specific weight of gold, like most other things in that document it is ignored.

Private ownership of gold was decreed to be illegal just 20 years later -- Presidental Executive Order 6102, signed on April 5, 1933, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States" was designed to prevent an internation run on our (drastically less valuable) dollar. Silver was removed from the coin in 1965, completing the transition to fiat money.

President John F. Kennedy voiced support for returning America to the Gold Standard. He was assassinated soon after. His Vice President, who assumed the Presidency, wasn't so foolish as to express support for that idea.

Now it seems to be a spending free-for-all, as if there is no concern whatsoever for the peril that debt (national or private) presents.

What a dangerous time we live in. "Ignore that man behind the curtain!" Who, then, was Glenda, the Good Witch meant to represent?

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#26
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought Oz was a reference to Australia. How did Aus come to be called Oz, the land down under?

"Oz-tray-lee-ah" Edited to reflect a pronunciation, not necessarily a correct or accurate one, from which it's easy to derive 'oz'.

They actually pronounce it “straya”.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#27
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

Worth noting: the slippers were originally Silver (as a parable for the silver standard), but changed to Ruby for the movie

Mainly because silver doesn't look nearly as cool on color film :)

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#28
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

If anyone hasn't read the book... It seriously is one of the best kids books ever written. It's short. You can read it in like 2 hours or less. It will take you right back to childhood. 100% worth it. Cannot recommend it enough.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#29
post #22
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

If you follow up this claim even very superficially you'll find it's not really 'widely recognized' but rather the oft-mentioned, curious theory of one person.

I thought this interpretation was pretty widely recognized. I had encountered it before I read Graeber's Debt. (Don't remember where. It had been years earlier.)

His treatment was just a recap of what I already knew or at least was familiar with.

Re: The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz

#30
post #6

From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic system that would allow the free creation of silver money alongside gold. … [O]ne of the main constituencies f…

How far we've drifted as a nation. People then seemed to realize the danger of fiat money, yet The Federal Reserve Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913, when most lawmakers had already left the Capital for their home states -- and it passed on a simple majority of those present vote. The Federal Reserve (a cabal of international banks that is not part of the…

> President John F. Kennedy voiced support for returning America to the Gold Standard. He was assassinated soon after.

He also voiced a million other things that you might as well pin his assassination on, if you're so willing to jump to conclusions.

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