The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was the first fairytale written in United States. Baum wrote TheWonderful Wizard of Oz during a time in history that was
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was the first fairytale written in
United States. Baum wrote TheWonderful Wizard of Oz during a time in history that was
not known for its social justices. The story focused on the many similarties between
Baum's characters and the United States during the 1800's. It is suggested that Baum
concentrated on the episodes of the Populist movement and their representation, as well
as the financial motives of the Silverites which were important to this era. Using allegory methods this story has depicted every type of rural life, gold-silver
issues and political corruption to form the opinions of its main characters. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became a powerful parable as Baum made a stand for the powerless
majority.
The use of allegory is to represent ideas or principles in a story, and the Wizard
of Oz used a fairytale to depict many major problems that challenged America, in the late
1900's. When the story talked of the gray colors of Kansas it represented the drought
observed by the author of the story in South Dakota. This deadly environment had no
effect on Dorothy and Toto which represented the nation full of innocence, life, and un-
able to recognize power. The yellow brick road symbolized the gold standard which
after a few hours begun to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the scarecrow
begins to stumble over the bricks that were not even. In the late 1890's, the major issue
was the currency of the United States. The gold standard was perceived as not sufficient
and was cornered by Fist a...
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...ief or moral lesson and using
this definition The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a parable. How effective of a parable is
questionable but it does use examples of simple everyday life to depict different eras in
the late 1800's. It is written as a fairytale so that Baum would not intentionly step on thetoes of those in authority and it has representation of moral lessons although it is not clear what the United States learned from this parable.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz attempted to relate its main characters to prominate figures, as well as historical and working class figures during the 1890's. The theme through out this story has been about taking a stand for what a person believes and it clear that Baum's stand was for the powerless majority. Just as history has repeated time and time agian if the middleclass is not represented a majority vote has not been cast.
In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take away from the meaning of L. Frank Baum’s depiction in his novel to a certain level and extent.
L. Frank Baum is known as an astonishing writer. Who hasn't seen or read Wizard of Oz? To this day it is a house hold movie. It's interesting that he is little known for his views of Native Americans.
L. Frank Baum shared an imaginary tale to the world when she wrote the “The Wonderful Land of Oz”. His passion and reasoning for writing this story was “written solely to pleasure the children of today”. Although not everyone agreed with this reason and thought otherwise. Quentin P. Taylor believed the “The Wonderful land of Oz” was a political symbolism and even thought that it was a populist allegory. Taylor accused the author of this imaginary tale that he was putting hidden messages or meaning in his story. Not only was Taylor accusing Mr. Baum of these actions but used different examples to prove his point. The biggest and most iconic example was the shoes Dorothy wore. In the movie “The Wizard of Oz” Dorothy wore shiny red ruby slippers but in Baum story Dorothy wears a pair of silver slippers. Taylor believe that not only was the slippers an issue but the yellow brick road with attaching the silver slippers was an Populist platform in which it demanded “ free and unlimited coinage of gold and silver”.
The Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum and was published by George Hill Company on May 17, 1900. The story wasn’t intended to become very popular, but by the year 1956, 3 million copies had been sold. Today, this story remains popular, and is forever considered a classic. In short, the story begins in Kansas with Dorothy and her dog Toto, a cyclone comes and sweeps up the house, landing Dorothy and Toto in the Land of Oz. The house had also landed on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her. Dorothy simply wanting to get back home encounters the Good Witch of the North, who she suggests that Dorothy find her way to the Emerald City, following the yellow brick road, to speak with the Great and Powerful Oz and ask for his help to get back home. On her journey she encounters three characters, the Scarecrow, the Tin man, and the Cowardly Lion. As well as defending herself from the Wicked Witch of the West, attempting to
In her travels Dorothy meets the green people of Emerald city, the yellow winkies, and the blue munchkins. Each of the three different types of people reacted to Dorothy and her people differently, the munchkins were warm and welcoming, the people of Emerald city were cautious and courteous and the yellow winkies were curious and helpful. The distinction in color was made because each color represented a defining characteristic, the people of Emerald city represented greed as they were not only green, the color of money, but they were also heavily isolated from the rest of the people of Oz; the people of Emerald city lived in the richest city as seen with the jewels that surrounded the houses as such they did not openly welcome strangers nor did they treat them kindly a sign of disdain for outsiders, they represented the higher class in society, or the richest class. The yellow winkies represented hard workers, and the working to lower class as they were not only very skilled at every craft but their enslavement to the much more powerful which represented the constant oppression of the less powerful, or poorer class in society. The blue munchkins represented the middle class, not necessarily know for wealth or for being poor, they are kind and strive to be successful as seen with Boq one of the richest munchkins. Each of the different people of Oz and
Mr. Disney has made a few animated short films that have been very successful, but his first attempt at a full-length animated feature film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film was based on the fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm. The movie was released on December 21, 1937 and earned $8 million during its initial release, making it the most successful movie of its time. They story is about Snow White, a princess, who is living with her stepmother who is mean and wicked. She is assumed to take over the kingdom ...
Walt Disney needed to change his version and many of his other fairy tales and in doing so started a change in the way we see fairy tales. Ask someone today to define a fairy tale and they will tell you along the lines of a beautiful woman put threw hardships that in the end of the story gets the man and becomes a queen of her own castle.
Starting in the 1870’s - 1880’s the United States experienced a depression that cut the prices of agricultural related good and led to the eviction of many farmers. Since farmers were at the bottom of the totem pole socioeconomically they were faced with high railroad fees and unsurmountable debt due to the fact that they had to take out loans to be pay for their crop harvesting and planting. This was partially due to the sharecropping system which would ignite a system of perpetual debt for poor farmers. Ultimately, the farmers would rise up and unite to what would be known as a populist movement; in retribution to what they claimed was the source of their problems. These events and time period heavily influenced Lyman Frank Baum in regards to the production and underlying political message in the Wizard of Oz. Author Henry Littlefield of “The Wizard of Oz: Parable of Populism” makes a compelling argument that indeed The Wizard of Oz was a political work, this can be linked to the many different life experiences of Baum that are mentioned throughout the article. Littlefield introduces the reader to whom Baum was during the first two pages, it becomes apparent that Baum views start to change as the Populist movement grows in strength and becomes accustomed to South Dakota frontier, once he moved there. It is stated in the article “The stark reality of the dry, open plains the acceptance of man’s Darwinian subservience to his environment served to crush Romantic idealism.”(Culmsee) Baum romantic view of benign nature had disappeared. The way Baum described where he lived and nature would serve as an allegory for the where Dorothy lived in The Wizard of Oz. “When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing ...
In the book the Land of Oz is real. Dorothy also comes across three women along the way. The good Witch of the North, Glinda, the good Witch of the South, and the Queen of the Field Mice are the good women that she comes across on her way to Emerald City. The wicked Witch of the West appears near the end of the story. Dorothy wears silver slippers instead of ruby slippers like in the movie. Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion do have to wear special glasses when they enter Emerald City. L. Frank Baum wrote this book and dedicated it to his wife. It was published in the year 1900. It is now cla...
In The Wizard of Oz (1939), Dorothy and her friends journey to the Emerald City in seek of Oz – the great and powerful wizard. Upon finally reaching him, Dorothy’s dog opens a curtain to reveal that the Wizard is merely an ordinary man speaking into a microphone while using various knobs and levers to create a smoke-and-mirrors effect. In many ways this story is similar to the creation and interpretation of religion by individuals within society.
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of
Before Walt Disney ever came up with the idea of Snow White and The Seven dwarfs, the fairy tale was very popular in Germany (history.com). Snow White was originally written for storytelling, by the Brothers’ Grimm. The movie by Walt Disney was actually based off this movie. In 1912 a version of the fairy tale, from Germany, made its way onto Broadway.
Ruskin, Jon. "Introduction" (1868), in Popular Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, edited by Edgar Taylor, Chatto & Windus, 1920. Reprinted in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 3.
Her spry, Timberland-clad foot planted itself upon a jagged boulder, motionless, until her calf muscles tightened and catapulted her small frame into the next stride. Then Sara's dance continued, her feet playing effortlessly with the difficult terrain. As her foot lifted from the ground, compressed mint-colored lichen would spring back into position, only to be crushed by my immense boot, struggling to step where hers had been. My eyes fixated on the forest floor, as fallen trees, swollen roots, and unsteady rocks posed constant threats for my exhausted body. Without glancing up I knew what was ahead: the same dense, impenetrable green that had surrounded us for hours. My throat prickled with unfathomable thirst, as my long-empty Nalgene bottle slapped mockingly at my side. Gnarled branches snared at my clothes and tore at my hair, and I blindly hurled myself after Sara. The portage had become a battle, and the ominously darkening sky raised the potential for casualties. Gritting my teeth with gumption, I refused to stop; I would march on until I could no longer stand.
In 1937 Walt Disney Studios premiered their first animated movie called “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (Davis). Its cherished characters and remarkable villain made it an instantaneous brilliant