This blog has used "Wizard of Oz" references on several occassions and we will probably milk the timeless themes in the future. The juxtaposition of the magical wizard and the man behind the curtain brings to mind a contemporary public figure. Life imitates art.
Supposedly "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written as an allegory for the populist movement of the late 19th Century. The populists wanted to convert America from a gold standard to a silver standard. Although I recognize the problems of tight money as it was applied at the time and I recognize that the populists wanted to inflate the currency (fie) I marvel at the two possibilities. I would gladly settle for a silver standard over a policy of funny money.
According to the allegorists, the Yellow Brick Road represents the gold standard. Its terminus is in the Emerald City, aka Washington. In the book, Dorothy wore silver slippers, not ruby slippers as were used in the movie. Dorothy is Everyamerican in all of her innocence and naivete. The Scarecrow is the farmer. The Tin Man is the industrial worker whose heart is lost to his brutal existence. The Cowardly Lion is a composite politician in general and William Jennings Bryan in particular. The Wicked Witch hails from The West. Although the American West has been romanticized, it happened to be an absurdly harsh environment. The Wizard represents the Washington Establishment.
We know how the story ends. Toto pulls back the curtain and reveals the soul of delusion. There is a moment of deflated spirit and then the phony Wizard reveals that he is not all bad. The man behind the curtain reveals himself to be a wise teacher.
The outed Wizard teaches each character that they already possess that which they seek. Their strength lies within their own psyches. This is a theme trumpeted by Christianity and Buddhism and echoed by New Age gurus. A line from a cheesy song by America sums it up pretty well:
"But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have"
We then go to bed with warm feelings for all of humanity. Life lessons learned. Even bad people have their redeeming qualities.
Then we wake up to Obama's America and we wonder how life diverged from art. The real life wizard insists he has magical properties long after he has been outed. If he has any wisdom, he is keeping it to himself. You can reassign symbols for the other characters but Dorothy is still Everyamerican and Toto...Toto is the blogger.
Toto is small, loyal and seemingly harmless. He seems almost superfluous but at key junctures he is the pivotal character. The whole fuss was started over Toto. Later, Toto escapes the Wicked Witch's capture, he pulls back the curtain and he jumps out of the balloon that will be piloted by a discredited wizard (perfect metaphor!)
In Obama's America, Toto pulls back the curtain. The Tin Man kicks the mutt in the head and the Scarecrow points his straw hand at the fallen beast and screams "Racist!" at the top of his lungs. The Cowardly Lion promptly secures the curtain in its proper place and Dorothy apologizes and promises to neuter the little bastard just as soon as they get back to Kansas. The fearless foursome then listen intently to the awesome wizard's instructions. They later marvel at his unending compassion and note that this wizard can relate to them as no one else can. Roll the credits.
Again, the divergence. When, the original characters are shown the true nature of the Wizard of Oz, they feel duped. When the real life wizard is revealed, he gets re-elected. Could it be that Baum never possessed a keen insight into human nature? That his characters should have continued adoring the imagery long after the trickery had been exposed? Maybe.
But we should consider another possibility. Maybe we should consider that Baum's characters were perfectly sketched but that human nature has changed since 1900. We live in a post-fact era. Academia, the news media, the entertainment industry--especially online character games--have parroted the message that there is no objective reality. Everything is a matter of opinion and preference. Everything. Entire generations have been taught to not just fear reality but to avoid it when it might be disturbing. The man behind the curtain has been revealed but we prefer to focus our attention on the wizard.
And we must consider one more reason for divergence. By his own admission, the storybook wizard was not a very good wizard. The real life cult leader will never make such a candid confession. Nope. He saw the storybook wizard's mistakes. He should have vilified The Munchkins and blame all of life's problems on their success. He should have plied the travelers with cell phones and EBT cards. Hell yes he was a crappy wizard!
Baum's novel, for all of its truths and insight into humanity, is ultimately hopeful and optimistic. It is a children's book for crying out loud. Reality is more gloomy. Whereas the Wizard of Oz ultimately "comes clean" our wizard never will. Never. Whereas the Wizard of Oz ultimately reveals his good side, our wizard has no good side to reveal. Truth can be ugly. Barack Hussein Obama is not just a bad president, he is a rotten human being. Rotten to his very core.
Meanwhile, Toto blogs. He will try to remain loyal to dumbass Dorothy and he will mostly be a forgotten character. But when the audience least expects it, Toto might just twist the plot in an unforeseen manner. Toto is small in size but there are millions of Totos out there. Every dog has his day. Even Toto.
We're off to see the Wizard...
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