Hidden symbolism in The Wizard of OZ

The Symbolism Hidden Within The Wizard of OZ

The Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum, is not a mere child's story.

What is "Oz" a symbol for? Ounces.

What is measured in ounces? Gold.

What is the yellow brick road? Bricks or ingot bars of gold.

The character known as the Straw Man represents that fictitious, ALL CAPS, legal fiction - a PERSON, the Federal U.S. Government created with the same spelling as your birth name.

Remember what the Straw Man wanted from the Wizard of Oz? A Brain!

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I found this the other day and thought it was a great theory. I have never liked this movie.
I've watched it about 3 times in my 33 years of existence and have been creeped out each time.
An American classic...not in my book.


[Edited on 12-23-2003 by darklanser]

Now come on, pulling at the wonderful story of the Wizard of OZ, I am sure as I have read in many places that the original concept of OZ came from looking at a set of filing cabinets, one side was A-N and the other was O-Z, not some diabolical attempt at symbolic messaging

I think the writer needs to go ask the Wizard for a brain.

Okay... that's terribly unkind of me, but this airheaded speculation by someone who rather obivously hasn't read ANY of the Oz books just begs to be whacked with the cluestick. There's not one book, there's a bunch of them. Furthermore, it's pretty obvious when a book has a symbolic meaning.

Take the Chronicles of Narnia, for instance. You'd have to be pretty unfamiliar with human culture to miss the fact that Aslan is symbolically Jesus and so on and so forth. And while you can argue about the symbolism in a single book, by the time you've got 20 books the symbolism will be pretty obvious.

No, this is ranting by someone who's seen the movie and gone no further.

Is one of my favorite modern stories for archetyping the elements of ALL stories...

Clearly defined elements of loss, goal, journey, opposition and twist... and the PSYCHOLOGY!!! Wow.

Books have been written on the Id, Ego and Superego of Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion.

An external manifestation (in subconcious dream state) of one's own inner guides through the mysteries of the mind...still copied to this day in affable conflicting characters like Joey, Ross and Chandler.

But the symbolism of this article is an unnecssary stretch. It is what it is... a journey through one's own dreaming mind.

(Plus cool as hell, high and listening to Pink Floyd)

One of my 3 times watching it was while doing the Dark Side of the Moon/Pink Floyd thing. I admit it was pretty cool !!
As for the hidden symbolism, I do see what the author (not Baum) saw, but not as hard evidence. It's like a vague reference that you almost get when watching or reading something.

Hmm....I don't think that's somehting to run for the hills about.

I mean, even the whole Pink Flloyd Wizoard of Osz thing wasn't that creepy. A midget didn't hang himself, there's nothing there.

There's a preponderance of interpretation of TWOOZ from an atheist or anti-religion slant.

Dorothy's search for salvation includes some pretty arbitrary advice and rules....though well intended.

"Follow the Yellow Brick road" And what happens when you stray the path? The unknown dark evil forest and flying monkey's get ya. Or, a field of Opiate poppies renders you helpless. (Divergence from the straight and narrow path = SIN)

In any event, despite following the path, you come to the city built on a myth. The City of Oz is Oraganized religion. It works. It's a grand city, magic to the core.

Except one little problem: the God is a liar, a made up, myth to CONTROL people. But he's not all bad. Actually it's HIS advice (when he takes HUMAN FORM) that sets Dorothy straight.

(Yup, stepping from behind the curtain is the birth of Jesus).

The advice: YOU had the power all along. YOU had the answer. It wasn't the destination...it was the JOURNEY!!! (A journey taken on your very feet).

OR, you could just take the Sex in the City interpretation that salvation comes from finding a really cool pair of shoes.

this has been well known for a while, it is commentary on the free silver movement during the gilded or "golden age"

scarecrow is the average farmer, tinman is the factory worker. the lion is william jennings bryan, populist candidate at the time. gold road Oz (ounce of gold) etc shows gold vs silver

this time there was a problem of deflation so the govt introduced free silver to help, in the original wizard of oz dorothy wore silver slippers, and realized the answer to her problems the whole time was right under her nose (free silver)

witches and other places and characters represented groups of people during the time, for more info visit this link:

Avatars in Oz

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by Shoktek]

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by Shoktek]

Originally posted by Shoktek
this has been well known for a while, it is commentary on the free silver movement during the gilded or "golden age"

scarecrow is the average farmer, tinman is the factory worker. the lion is william jennings bryan, populist candidate at the time. gold road Oz (ounce of gold) etc shows gold vs silver

this time there was a problem of deflation so the govt introduced free silver to help, in the original wizard of oz dorothy wore silver slippers, and realized the answer to her problems the whole time was right under her nose (free silver)

witches and other places and characters represented groups of people during the time, for more info visit this link:

Avatars in Oz

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by Shoktek]

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by Shoktek]

Shoktek is right on the money.. its a allegory that points to using a silver standard instead of a gold standard.. all you other people are just reading silly things into it.

I think all these stories are valid if they fit.

Although we may never fully known the real ideals behind the story unless the writers admit to them...

some other ideas on the wizard of oz film from cassiopaea.org

A: Think of The Wizard of Oz. It was inspired by us.
Q: (L) Does the witch represent the Lizzies?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) So, is there something we have or can do...
A: Glenda like us.
Q: (L) And who is the Wizard? Is that the Beast or the U.S.
Govt.?
A: Close. Illuminati.
Q: (L) Are the monkeys the Nephilim.
A: Close enough.
Q: (L) If water destroyed the witch, and the witch represents
the Lizzies, can we destroy the Lizzies?
A: Knowledge.
Q: (L) But there are only a few on the planet who have the
knowledge, am I correct?
A: What do you mean? Against all when all when time comes.
Q: (L) So the 36 million will be against all on the planet when
the time comes?
A: Of course.
Q: (L) And those who have the knowledge and can dispense it
to others ...
A: Yes.
Q: (V) Have you inspired other movies we could watch?
A: We have but different meanings and subjects.

Has any one ever read the book?

I have. Let's put it this way - the movie was better.

And Frank Braum was no Shakespeare - I mean Bacon - well, you know what I mean.

LOL! After suffering through a very poorly written story, I have to say I'm not ready to give Braum this much credit.

the secret reality behind the wizard of oz is that everyone involved in the making of the movie were under strick rules to maintain their drunkiness at all costs!! that is the truth

LOL

Don't forget that the wicked witch used chemtrails to spell out "Surrender Dorothy" in the sky

Just like the author of Alice In Wonderland....I'm betting that he was coked out of his mind....

The wicked witch certainly has magical powers. I said she was ugly so she said she would give me diarrhea. And sure enough, a few seconds later I was runnin' to the lew!

reply to post by Pblade


Yes, the filing cabinet is a good guess, but the entire book was written as a parody to the Populist movement. If you've studied up on your Populist history, then read to book or watch the movie, you will notice the references to gold standard, William Jennings Bryan, Indians, and many other things. By the way, if you watch the movie closely when the four are running side-by-side, you can vaguely see a shadow of the director hanging himself in one of the shots.

Originally posted by HowardRoark
LOL

Don't forget that the wicked witch used chemtrails to spell out "Surrender Dorothy" in the sky

Yep and that tornado that sent dorothy and toto to Oz was infact a product of HAARP technology.....

uh... yes.. it is symbolism.. the Book was written as a fictional story but based on the very real reasons of what the civil war was all about. It was not about slavery of the black people.. it was about the slavery of the citizens.

The North wanted to control the earnings and property rights of the South. The book is symbolic of what the war was truly about and it was written in a phenomenal manner, IMHO! The reason it was written fictionally was because the truth about the war was being silenced.

Even Abraham Lincoln admitted several times what the true intent was of the war.

To those who are freaked out by the story, there is good reason to be on one hand.. then again, the Truth will set you free. It was in essence the beginning of the breakdown of values that this country was supposedly founded on.


BTW.. the book had nothing to do with the outrageous imagined conspiracies that many run insanely wild with on this board. It was the real conspiracy.. not the imagined.

[edit on 29-1-2009 by justamomma]

Originally posted by OzWeatherman

Originally posted by HowardRoark
LOL

Don't forget that the wicked witch used chemtrails to spell out "Surrender Dorothy" in the sky

Yep and that tornado that sent dorothy and toto to Oz was infact a product of HAARP technology.....

And dont forget the flying monkeys the product of genetic engineering

As I recall The Wizard of Oz was part of a trilogy by Frank Baum. Do any of the other books (cant recall titles or themes) relate in some way??

Did anyone see ZARDOZ with Sean Connery around 1980?