wizard of oz = populism?

LipStick said:
That sounds like nonsense, but claiming that symbolic/allegorical/metaphorical/thematic elements dont exist in prose and poetry is quite foolish.
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Actually, I specifically did NOT say that.

"symbolic/allegorical/metaphorical/thematic elements" are an important, almost essential part of any type of poetry.
 
Golgac said:
Did she play Dark Side of the Moon while teaching about this?
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he* no, he's a very wierd guy, he hates the counter culture and i think all music, but also hates all things conservative. an he's convinced he's a real historian, not a high school history teacher.
 
LipStick said:
That sounds like nonsense, but claiming that symbolic/allegorical/metaphorical/thematic elements dont exist in prose and poetry is quite foolish.
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Its also important in movies. Watch Casablanca and tell me there werent very strong allegories for America's reluctance to enter the war.
 
TimTheEnchanter said:
so, my slightly off kilter ap us history teacher just spent 2 hours explaining how the wizard of oz is an allegory for the reform-minded, silver-loving movement of the late 19th century.

in short, dorothy and the march represents coxey's army, the monkeys are native americans, the lion is william j bryan, tin man is factory worker, the scarecrow is farmers, the ruby slippers somehow mean the silver standard, and the list goes on.

anyone else heard this rabble before? it seemed extremely superficial and out of context to me, and, even if it is true, its a waste of fucking time for people who have to pay 100 bucks to take a test in a month. [/pussyrant]
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dunno if it's been mentioned but the "ruby slippers" don't stand for shit.

the real shoes were silver in the books.
 
Tribalbob said:
I find that when people go back and assign meaning to books, they're probably full of shit. 99% of stories are not deep allegorical metaphors. it only has what hidden meaning you bring to it.

same with movies. it's what i really hate about the modern idiot liberal art loving freaks these days. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
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You're wrong! It's a phallic representation of the self-destructive nature of man!
 
Tribalbob said:
I find that when people go back and assign meaning to books, they're probably full of shit. 99% of stories are not deep allegorical metaphors. it only has what hidden meaning you bring to it.

same with movies. it's what i really hate about the modern idiot liberal art loving freaks these days. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
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rofl I always say that to people
 
TimTheEnchanter said:
he* no, he's a very wierd guy, he hates the counter culture and i think all music, but also hates all things conservative. an he's convinced he's a real historian, not a high school history teacher.
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That reminds me of somebody in this thread that thinks that they are a real literary scholar, not a high school student.
 
ive heard several good cases for the notion that the wizard of oz is an allegory for populism.
 
TimTheEnchanter said:
so, my slightly off kilter ap us history teacher just spent 2 hours explaining how the wizard of oz is an allegory for the reform-minded, silver-loving movement of the late 19th century.

in short, dorothy and the march represents coxey's army, the monkeys are native americans, the lion is william j bryan, tin man is factory worker, the scarecrow is farmers, the ruby slippers somehow mean the silver standard, and the list goes on.

anyone else heard this rabble before? it seemed extremely superficial and out of context to me, and, even if it is true, its a waste of fucking time for people who have to pay 100 bucks to take a test in a month. [/pussyrant]
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have you been living under a rock for the past 20 years???
 
A writer named Henry Littlefield pretty much came up with this idea in 1964. Frank Baum was not very involved with politics and showed no sign of supporting populism.
 
It's a fairly popular theory, I heard it in high school and college history classes. It's more of a coincidence than anything I think; or if Baum did intend to make certain parts of the story similar to aspects of the populist era, it seems likely that he didn't write the whole story with this in mind. A pretty good look at the similarities:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_392.html
 
My Motion Picture Appreciation professor explained to us how she got a term paper about how the Wizard of Oz is about a womans struggle. How the Black & White world is the real part of the womans struggle and tornado is the beginning of a major orgasm. When she finally gets to Oz she explodes and is free. Then she comes to the realization she was really dreaming and woman are still though of as 2nd best.

My professor was a female and it's a true story.

The female that wrote the paper got an A.
 
i agree that some bullshit about interpretations and symbolish foreshadowing etc. gets thrown in when the author did not intentionally have it there... but im pretty sure that the wizard of oz thing is 4 real... the slipper thing change is cus they were diff color in book i think? took ap us hist n we went over this been a while tho
 
My history teacher told me the same thing. It's all pretty much been said: the silver slippers on the yellow brick road represented the bi-metallic standard Bryan proposed when he declared "America is crucified on a cross of gold". I can't see you spending more than five minutes to cover it though.
Not that it helps you on the test, but the movie slippers were red just because it looked good on camera.
 
Yea a lot of its bullshit. Then they try and make themselves feel so much smarter than you because they pointed out these things from the movie and you didn't. I mean you could say that Dorothy represented Hitler because the ruby slippers were jews and she stomped on them and hit them together symbolizing violence. I mean WTF.
 
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I'm sure some of you understand what I mean.
 
eatKiwi said:
i agree that some bullshit about interpretations and symbolish foreshadowing etc. gets thrown in when the author did not intentionally have it there... but im pretty sure that the wizard of oz thing is 4 real... the slipper thing change is cus they were diff color in book i think? took ap us hist n we went over this been a while tho
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I sincerely hope you speak better than you type.
 
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