Messages in the Wizard of Oz

One of my economics textbooks had a sidebar that explained the whole plot of Wizard of Oz as an allegory for the US economic policy of the time. I could give you the version as I remember it but first I'll try and dig up some links

[quote]Originally posted by stupider...likeafox:
<strong>One of my economics textbooks had a sidebar that explained the whole plot of Wizard of Oz as an allegory for the US economic policy of the time. I could give you the version as I remember it but first I'll try and dig up some links</strong><hr></blockquote>

It mainly dealt with the debate between having a gold standard vs a silver standard. The yellow brick road represented the gold standard and the "ruby" slippers were actually silver in the book.

<a href="http://www.ryerson.ca/~lovewell/oz.html" target="_blank">http://www.ryerson.ca/~lovewell/oz.html</a>

[quote]The Economics Behind The Wizard of Oz

The movie The Wizard of Oz has become a classic, as has the book by L. Frank Baum, on which the movie is based. Few people who enjoy the story, however, are aware of its underlying meaning, in which Baum outlines his views on a monetary controversy which raged in the United States at the time the book was written. This article deals with the topics relating to monetary policy and the gold standard, as outlined in Chapters 15 and 16 of Understanding Economics .

Baum and Bimetallism
The author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, was involved in an important American political debate at the end of the 19th century. At the time, the United States was part of the worldwide gold standard, whereby the country's money supply was limited by the amount of gold. When a depression in the US economy in the early 1890s led to high unemployment and falling prices, the radical Free Silver Movement (the Silverites) responded by calling for the end of the gold standard. The Silverites believed that the gold standard put too many restrictions on the US government's ability to rectify the depression, since all money was redeemable for a certain amount of gold. For example, an expansion in the supply of paper money would have led to a drop in its worth relative to gold, automatically causing a drop in its supply as profit- seekers redeemed paper money for gold.

The Silverites called for the widespread use of silver coins, in addition to the gold- backed money already in circulation. This new monetary standard, called bimetallism, would have increased the American money supply and, according to its supporters, would thereby lessen the severity of America's economic downturn. On the other hand, Republicans and conservative Democrats wished to maintain America's gold standard, and argued that the bimetallist proposal would cause inflation. The battle was at its height in 1896 when the Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate. The famous closing of Bryan's winning nomination speech reflected the passions of this monetary debate: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."



Oz and the Gold Standard
Baum, who sympathized with the Silverites, wrote The Wizard of Oz after the failure of Byran's crusade for silver coinage. The book's hidden story highlights the potential dangers for Americans of retaining the gold standard. While Baum's allegory is a complex one, its outlines can be quickly sketched. Dorothy, the heroine, symbolizes mid-America at its best -- honest and open- hearted. Uprooted by a tornado, she is enticed to follow a yellow brick road to the fantasy-land of Oz (an ounce of gold). The Scarecrow she meets symbolizes the Western farmer who thinks he has no brain but turns out to be more capable and intelligent than he realizes. The Tin Woodman who joins them represents the American worker whose grinding labours have left him, at least for a time, rusted and heartless. And the Cowardly Lion who tags along depicts none other than William Jennings Bryan, the leader whose lack of courage finally caused him to betray the pro-silver cause.

The group reaches the Emerald City (Washington) and, once they have donned green-tinted (money-coloured) glasses, enter the opulent Emerald Palace (the White House). After various adventures involving the Great Wizard and the Wicked Witches (who represent various pro- gold political figures), Dorothy and her friends return to Oz, where they unmask the Wizard as an imposter. Dorothy is then able to return to the security of home by clicking her silver (not ruby, as in the movie) slippers.

Seen in this light, the moral of Baum's story is that the dishonest claims of the pro-gold forces will finally be unmasked. To a large extent this predictions has proven correct. While the populists were viewed in their own day as simplistic cranks, their wariness of the gold standard, especially during economic slumps, is now supported by most monetary economists.

Source
H. Rockoff, "'The Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of Political Economy 98 (August 1990), pp. 739-60.

The proposal of the Silverites can be analysed using the Keynesian model of monetary policy, even though this model was developed decades after the US debate over silver coinage. Based on the concepts found in Chapter 15 of the text, outline the effect that a new silver coinage would have had on (a) real output, and (b) the price level in the US economy.
One interesting characteristic of a bimetallist standard, as proposed by the Silverites, is that the monetary values of the two metals in the standard (for example, gold and silver) must be in the same proportion as are their market values. Otherwise, speculators will exchange one of the metals for the other with the country's central bank, until all of the central bank's reserves of one of the metals are exhausted. Outline what would happen if, for example, the market value of an ounce of gold is 50 times the market value of an ounce of silver, while the monetary value of an ounce of gold is 45 times the monetary value of an ounce of silver. <hr></blockquote>

[ 11-29-2002: Message edited by: BR ]</p>

hey, BR's being constructive in a FCiB post, and Im disappointed, I thought FCiB had uncovered some satanic messages in The Wiz.

No offense, but I always liked the fact that when Dorothy finally came face to face with god, she found out that she already had everything she needed to succeed. That the answer was within herself, not anyone or anything else.

As George harrison once said, the farther one travels the less one really knows.

[quote]Originally posted by MarcUK:
<strong>hey, BR's being constructive in a FCiB post, and Im disappointed, I thought FCiB had uncovered some satanic messages in The Wiz.</strong><hr></blockquote>

To quote Meatloaf:

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

[quote]Originally posted by bunge:
<strong>No offense, but I always liked the fact that when Dorothy finally came face to face with god, she found out that she already had everything she needed to succeed. That the answer was within herself, not anyone or anything else.

As George harrison once said, the farther one travels the less one really knows.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, the god is all just bells and whistles and completely unnecessary part is cool too.

The Wizard Of Oz is used in some books on film analysis as an example of ways that films have different levels of meaning, and for an example to use for different forms of interpreting.

for example:
in Film Form by Bordwell and Thompson, it is used to diagram the way that one can read Film Form to get at film Meaning with different levels and get these different meanings:
1). the bare-bones, explicit meaning
[quote]in the Depression, a cyclone takes a girl from her family's Kansas farm to the mythical land of Oz. After a series of adventures, she returns home <hr></blockquote>The explicit reading tells who what where basically.

2). the implicit meaning
[quote]An adolescent who must soon face the adult world yearns for a return to a simple world of childhood, but she eventually accepts the demands of adulthood <hr></blockquote>The implicit reading, involves interpretation, reading into the film for meanings beyond the explicit. Often, people read the implicit meanings in search of the intention of the filmmaker: 'what were they trying to say' etc. This reading often looks for themes, ie growing up, or imagination, or no-place-like-home self-centeredeness or etc.
This form is still interpreting the film from within the realm of the film: in other words it is telling the meaning within the world of the narrative, or content of the film.

3). the symptomaitic meaning
[quote] in a society where human worth is measured by money, the home and teh family may seem to be teh last refuge of human values. This belief is especially strong in times of economic crisis, such as that in the US in the 30s <hr></blockquote>
but also
the above is a particularly shallow form of symptomatic reading, but basically this form of reading is not just a reading of the film from within the story of the film, but looks at the film within a real historical and social horizon of meanings.
It looks at the film as a SYMPTOME of certain conditions.

Many film theorists see that films represent the desires of the viewing audience: they collectively come to see what they want. Another form of symptomatic reading of a film is to see the film as satisfying a cultural desire, a cultural WISH FULLFILLMENT, and therefore it sees film as a kind of cultural and collective DREAM.
So, many symptomatic interpreters read films as they would apply a psychoanalytic interpretation to a dream. This is often very fruitfull and shows some strange truths about what it is that we, as a culture, truly desire.
What a symptomatic reading is doing is, it is looking at the film as incomplete in its ability to account for its meaning without relating that 'meaning' to its context.
The whole idea of symptomatic meaning is pretty profound, it basically shows that there is no such thing as an unbiased, a priori meaning to a phenomena. . . . not only is the film contextualized within its horizon of meaning but also the interpreter is contextualized within their horizon of meanings, historically, personally, psychologically etc.

I also think that there is a forth level of reading, that which I would call the theological reading. But that is difficult to talk about . . . needless to say it doesn't happen often. I would say that madmen and prophets brush against this level occasionally. And, also to say that it is a deepening of symptomatic reading taking context, the interplay between audience situatedness and filmic context and history together till it becomes a living entity, a plasma of the interpeting entity that is the mystic body of christ . . .
ahhh but not what you 'christians' are talking about though . . . . <img src="graemlins/surprised.gif" border="0" alt="[Surprised]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

[ 11-29-2002: Message edited by: pfflam ]</p>

what was the name of the movie again ? I know it's from Lynch, but what's the name of it?

was it Blue Velvet ?

That movie is Wild At Heart.

It fits strangely among his other films, but is still pure Lynch greatness!

thanks!

[quote]Originally posted by Matlock:
<strong>That movie is Wild At Heart.

It fits strangely among his other films, but is still pure Lynch greatness!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Lot's of Wizard of Oz references in "Wild at Heart"...one of Lynch's best films...

I own The Wizard of OZ on DVD. Wow.

Apparently if you play Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon to it, it fits in with the movie. Right after the MGM lion roars from what I hear. Of course, after some mind-enhancing candy anything will sync-up to the Wizard, possibly including but not limited to: Michael Jackson's Thriller and STYX-Greatest Hits. Just make sure and wait until Dorothy meets the Tin Man to play "Mr. Roboto".

<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

The message in the Wizard of Oz is that if you start accidentally killing people, you'll make it home from wherever you are.

[quote]Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
<strong>The message in the Wizard of Oz is that if you start accidentally killing people, you'll make it home from wherever you are.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Especially if the state you're in doesn't use the death penalty...

And the Pink Floyd thing really works; it's sort of creepy.

The house with dorothy and toto are caught up in a whirlwind...(often associated with travel to the spiritual realm or alternate realm) they land a in world very different than the one they left...lots of perepherals but the main issue is.....how to get home...for dorothy, the 3 characters she meets are on a quest to go to the emarald city, and receive something from the almighty wizard...

parralels...yellow brick road.....streets that are golden in heaven
emerald city...........the new Jerusalem, the city of God
the wizard..............God

the 3 are looking for 1. a heart (compassion, feelings, internal attributes, love)
2. courage (the abscense of fear)
3. a mind ( ability to reason and work things out)

Dorothy is looking for direction....

It's interesting that the bible tells of salvation through Christ who sacraficed Himself and shed His blood for our forgiveness, and that through Him we have peace with God....He gives us a new heart....one that is softened, He renews our mind, that we may process things using Godly wisdom, and He gives us power and authority over the kingdom of darness, in 2 Timothy 1:7 it says: "we have not been given a spirit of fear, but rather power, love and a sound mind...
Our direction to our eternal is through Christ for , Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, none comes to the Father but by Him....It is the shed blood at Calvary, spilt for our salvation that these important life issues are resolved.

It's interesting that as the 4 arrive to the city...the wizard is exposed as a phony, and the 3 are told they already have what they are looking for within themselves...and Dorothy can go home just by clicking her red shoes...red is also the color of blood...Jesus' blood.... coincidence...I don't think so...

What I see hear is an undermining of what is true in life...

we do not have the power within us....God is real and He truly loves His creation...that's you and me, Jesus did pay the price for our wrongdoings....we can be born from above or born is Spirit, He is the answer to all we need and through our trust in Him we have eternal life...we shall not perish.........
and to confirm all this, 3 days after his torturous death, He rose from the dead....

John 3:16 says: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life.

The seeds this movie planted in the minds of many of the viewers have bourne their fruit, and bit by bit we are becoming a godless society...the media attack continues everywhere you look...compromised core values...a society built on self gratification through consumerism..and so on....

When they took prayer out of the schools, crime went up....not hard to see that one...

So let's get back to basics....God is God, I'm not...He has purpose for each on of us....if you really want the truth, seek it with all your heart, with humility and see what happens...
The bible says...if you seek the truth, the truth will find you and make you free...

God bless each one of you, and I welcome comments and/or further dialogue.....jonz

[QUOTE=pfflam;203534]The Wizard Of Oz is used in some books on film analysis as an example of ways that films have different levels of meaning, and for an example to use for different forms of interpreting.

for example:
in Film Form by Bordwell and Thompson, it is used to diagram the way that one can read Film Form to get at film Meaning with different levels and get these different meanings:
1). the bare-bones, explicit meaning
[quote]in the Depression, a cyclone takes a girl from her family's Kansas farm to the mythical land of Oz. After a series of adventures, she returns home <hr></blockquote>The explicit reading tells who what where basically.

2). the implicit meaning
[quote]An adolescent who must soon face the adult world yearns for a return to a simple world of childhood, but she eventually accepts the demands of adulthood <hr></blockquote>The implicit reading, involves interpretation, reading into the film for meanings beyond the explicit. Often, people read the implicit meanings in search of the intention of the filmmaker: 'what were they trying to say' etc. This reading often looks for themes, ie growing up, or imagination, or no-place-like-home self-centeredeness or etc.
This form is still interpreting the film from within the realm of the film: in other words it is telling the meaning within the world of the narrative, or content of the film.

3). the symptomaitic meaning

Ah, 10 year old zombie thread attracts discursive Christian allegory enthusiast. Priceless.

Yep!