The Secret Political Symbolism You Never Knew Was Hidden Within The Wizard Of Oz

[mountaineer]

The Secret Political Symbolism You Never Knew Was Hidden Within The Wizard Of Oz
Genevieve Carlton
Ranker.com

The Wizard of Oz is a beloved children's story that includes both the book, published in 1900, and the movie, which came out in 1939. For years, fans have been drawn to behind-the-scenes gossip about the movie and the strange conspiracies surrounding The Wizard of Oz. But is there a secret political message also hidden in L. Frank Baum's book?

Historians have found a number of symbols in The Wizard of Oz, and they all point to one thing: American politics in the 1890s, when Baum was writing the book. The Wizard of Oz symbolism goes incredibly deep, from the main characters to the cyclone, those famous slippers, and even Toto. And the central message in the book is all about the rise of Populism and the debate over gold versus silver. ...

It might sound far-fetched, but there is a wealth of evidence to support the theory that Baum was writing a political allegory through the lens of a fanciful children's tale. Baum was a political reporter in the 1890s and he lived in South Dakota for several years, giving him a close-up view of the rise of the Populist movement and the views of American farmers and workers. Is The Wizard of Oz an allegory for politics in the 1890s? Interestingly enough, there are arguably also some parallels to today's political scene, making even the would-be political allegory into a timelessly relevant tale. Read on and decide for yourself. ...

There are a lot of clues that the Cowardly Lion represented the greatest Populist hero of the 1890s, William Jennings Bryan. Bryan, lion. Get it? The symbolism goes deep on this one. Like the Cowardly Lion, Bryan was known for his "roaring." He was even portrayed as a lion by the press.

As the Democratic presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900, Bryan promoted the free-silver movement, arguing that America's gold standard was harming farmers. ...

Full article

Interesting analysis.

[catfish1957]

The Secret Political Symbolism You Never Knew Was Hidden Within The Wizard Of Oz
Genevieve Carlton
Ranker.comFull article

Interesting analysis.

No way Man.......

[mountaineer]

Just imagine if you read "Wizard of Oz" backwards! omg!

[Wingnut]

It's a cookbook!

[bigheadfred]

I'm waiting for the secret political symbolism behind secret political symbolism.

[Wingnut]

I'm waiting for the secret political symbolism behind secret political symbolism.

Man that is heavy.

[GrouchoTex]

No way Man.......

Well, yes, I've actually done the Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz thing.

It's pretty funny, actually.

I was sober when I did it, to tell the truth.

(Someone in the room had to be able to simultaneously operate the VCR and the turntable).

[Wingnut]

VCR and the turntable

   

How would that work with a CD and a DVD player.

Or a MP3 and a streaming service?

[GrouchoTex]

I actually had a good Teacher once, who pointed out the William Jennings Bryant connection, back when I was in elementary school.
I am surprised that I remember it now.

[GrouchoTex]

   

How would that work with a CD and a DVD player.

Or a MP3 and a streaming service?

What are these things, which you speak of?

 

I could see a DVD and a CD working okay.

Couldn't say about the mp3 and streaming services.......

[Wingnut]

What are these things, which you speak of?

 

I could see a DVD and a CD working okay.

Couldn't say about the mp3 and streaming services.......

Being an ex Disc Jockey, I will say 'slip-cueing" the record on the turntable  will give you the precise sync need  with the VCR or a DVD for that matter.

@Cyber Liberty
@txradioguy

[roamer_1]

What are these things, which you speak of?

 

I could see a DVD and a CD working okay.

Couldn't say about the mp3 and streaming services.......

Backwards? Is that the idea??

DVD/CD natural wouldn't care because the 'stream' can be captured to a file and manipulated.
DVD/CD DRM would have to be deconstructed, captured to a file and manipulated.

Stream, captured to a file and manipulated...

Catching a trend? And yeah, once it is in a file... I can jack an .avi any which-way with ease..

[txradioguy]

Being an ex Disc Jockey, I will say 'slip-cueing" the record on the turntable  will give you the precise sync need  with the VCR or a DVD for that matter.

@Cyber Liberty
@txradioguy

Yeah it's a real skill to be able to do that...I'd probably have to practice a bunch to be able to do it again.

[Wingnut]

Backwards? Is that the idea??

DVD/CD natural wouldn't care because the 'stream' can be captured to a file and manipulated.
DVD/CD DRM would have to be deconstructed, captured to a file and manipulated.

Stream, captured to a file and manipulated...

Catching a trend? And yeah, once it is in a file... I can jack an .avi any which-way with ease..

Damn Roames, you are putting 10 dollars worth of thought into a 2 dollar question!   

[roamer_1]

Damn Roames, you are putting 10 dollars worth of thought into a 2 dollar question!   

You gotta do what you're good at. 

Besides, it wasn't thought, it was experience. 

[Wingnut]

Yeah it's a real skill to be able to do that...I'd probably have to practice a bunch to be able to do it again.

IIRC the "B" side takes some abuse!

[Cyber Liberty]

Being an ex Disc Jockey, I will say 'slip-cueing" the record on the turntable  will give you the precise sync need  with the VCR or a DVD for that matter.

@Cyber Liberty
@txradioguy

With the advent of CDs, slip-cueing is no longer a thing.  Pause button works much easier than slip-cue, and doesn't scratch the B side.   

Oh, BTW, slip-cue is pretty hard on the A side too.  How many well-used records had a nasty cue burn?  Arista Records were the absolute worst for that.

[Cyber Liberty]

Yeah it's a real skill to be able to do that...I'd probably have to practice a bunch to be able to do it again.

If you can find a studio with a decent studio-quality turntable.

[Wingnut]

With the advent of CDs, slip-cueing is no longer a thing.  Pause button works much easier than slip-cue, and doesn't scratch the B side.   

Oh, BTW, slip-cue is pretty hard on the A side too.  How many well-used records had a nasty cue burn?  Arista Records were the absolute worst for that.

CD?  Hell last time I was in a booth we had one of them new fangled "cart" machines.

[Cyber Liberty]

CD?  Hell last time I was in a booth we had one of them new fangled "cart" machines.

Cart machines continued past the advent of CDs, and were replaced by MP3 files.  I imagine CDs are also a thing of the past.  I haven't been in a Control Room for many years myself, but I have Bookface friends who still work.  They rarely do anything "live" anymore, and now that MP3s are ubiquitous, DJs don't even have to come into a studio these modern, now a go-go days.

[GrouchoTex]

I don't have a CD player anymore, except for in my truck.
No CD/CD-ROM/DVD on my computers.
I have 2 large shelves (500+ maybe?) of CD's that I can only listen to in my 14 yr old Toyota Tacoma pick up.

The PS4 plays Blu-ray, so it may play CD's, too.
I hadn't thought about that until just now, but the TV I have my Ps4 hooked up to isn't a great sound system.....

[mountaineer]

I actually had a good Teacher once, who pointed out the William Jennings Bryant connection, back when I was in elementary school.
I am surprised that I remember it now.

Pretty sure I read the book when I was very young, but had forgotten the slippers were silver. The yellow brick road/gold standard connection was interesting.

[roamer_1]

I don't have a CD player anymore, except for in my truck.
No CD/CD-ROM/DVD on my computers.
I have 2 large shelves (500+ maybe?) of CD's that I can only listen to in my 14 yr old Toyota Tacoma pick up.

The PS4 plays Blu-ray, so it may play CD's, too.
I hadn't thought about that until just now, but the TV I have my Ps4 hooked up to isn't a great sound system.....

@GrouchoTex
Go get you a USB portable CD/DVD reader/writer... Looks like a laptop DVD with a USB cord out the back... About 35 bucks...

Then go DL just about any cd/dvd burning software... I can recommend CDBurnerXP

Almost any burner software has an automated rip routine specifically made for ripping songs off of CDs. It is a simply painless process that at today's speeds will be over in a few minutes...

Make sure you have the drive space... 250g should be plenty, at least to start...
Make a music workshop folder, with an interior folder called rip.

Insert a cd, cancel out of whatever is trying to happen automatically. When its all calmed down, fire up the burner software, actuate the rip routine, point it's output to ..\music workshop\rip\
make sure it is using .mp3 or .ogg (really, stay in mp3) and tell it to go.

When the rip is done, go to the \rip\ folder, make sure the mp3's are there... copy the ENTIRE fileset (there may be other than mp3's, folder art, etc...  put it in a properly named folder, and dump it into your music repository... for the moment, ...\Music Workshop\

You have just made an electronic album.

Make sure the \rip folder is empty, eject, repeat.

I would recommend NOT putting your home burned library inside of \Music, like windows will want you to do... Mine is a separate file structure along with my movies and etc... under \Media\ on another whole drive.

Really man, handled a few cds at a time every night, you'll have that whole thing ripped down in no time. I don't eveb have my originals any more... Haven't for decades.

Once you have the electronic media, you can push it onto any device you'd like. My phone holds my entire library. I can pull up an album and play it in the truck, piped by way of bluetooth to the radio (well, head unit really), playing right through the native sound system.

In the house, the library resides primarily on my media machine (runs my TV, w/ sound piped through an amp to house speakers) and is shared via Windows Media Player, and can be piped via streaming to any machine in the house.

Seriously worth doing.

[GrouchoTex]

@roamer_1

Thanks.
What I don't know about the process, my two boys in their 30's will.
 

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

Thanks.
What I don't know about the process, my two boys in their 30's will.
 

LOL! That's right @GrouchoTex 

No younger than 20 though, or they'll just glaze over and say, "What's a CD?" 

[txradioguy]

Cart machines continued past the advent of CDs, and were replaced by MP3 files.  I imagine CDs are also a thing of the past.  I haven't been in a Control Room for many years myself, but I have Bookface friends who still work.  They rarely do anything "live" anymore, and now that MP3s are ubiquitous, DJs don't even have to come into a studio these modern, now a go-go days.

Yeah the Borg (a.k.a. Clear Channel/iHeart Media) took "live and local" out of the picture with their automated/voice over systems.

That's why I'll continue to work small town radio when I get out and not make the jump to a top 50 market just up the road in Louisville.

[Wingnut]

Yeah the Borg (a.k.a. Clear Channel/iHeart Media) took "live and local" out of the picture with their automated/voice over systems.

That's why I'll continue to work small town radio when I get out and not make the jump to a top 50 market just up the road in Louisville.

I was thoinking of finding a 5000 watt rural station and do the "swap and shop" hours.  Sell and produce ads on the side. I have a face for radio.

[txradioguy]

I was thoinking of finding a 5000 watt rural station and do the "swap and shop" hours.  Sell and produce ads on the side. I have a face for radio.

In 30 years of broadcasting the U.S. Army has been the only ones brave enough to put me in front of the camera.

[Cyber Liberty]

I was thoinking of finding a 5000 watt rural station and do the "swap and shop" hours.  Sell and produce ads on the side. I have a face for radio.

I think the local radio station here (small AM, like 1KW) sells time in blocks, that I could have a show if I want to sell the ads myself.

[Free Vulcan]

The Secret Political Symbolism You Never Knew Was Hidden Within The Wizard Of Oz
Genevieve Carlton
Ranker.comFull article

Interesting analysis.

I never picked up on it till I watched it a few years back. I'm thinking 'wow, this is really political' in a WJB populist way that was in fashion at the beginning of last century.

Nice to know someone else sees it too.

[Wingnut]

In 30 years of broadcasting the U.S. Army has been the only ones brave enough to put me in front of the camera.

You have a captive audience.

I think the local radio station here (small AM, like 1KW) sells time in blocks, that I could have a show if I want to sell the ads myself.

today Yutes would do a "pod cast".   But they haven't lived till you go old school. 

[roamer_1]

today Yutes would do a "pod cast".   But they haven't lived till you go old school.

That's gotta be a lot like HAM/CB... Shooting skip on LSB16, talking out into the ether... And somebody on a boat in the Caribbean comes hailing you out of the darkness... MAGIC.

Now it's nothin to yap at a someone, and see them on Skype anywhere in the world. Mundane. Ain't the same. *sigh*

[Smokin Joe]

I'm waiting for the secret political symbolism behind secret political symbolism.

Well, there were good powerss in the north and South, but the powers in the East and West were considered evil, at least until the Illegal Immigrant (Ya didn't just drop from the sky, lady!) and the House came down on one in the East.  (impeached?, Kansas collusion?).

Anyhow, the union members (lollipop guild, etc) and the local politicos were just little people, but with their guidance, on streets paved with gold, the illegal immigrant went to the big city, ostensibly to get passage back home after the coup back East. She met with the power behind the scenes who manipulated the face of government there (all illusion), who recognized she might be useful and sent her on a covert mission to the West.

It took a guy without a brain, one without a heart, and one without courage (along with their illegal immigrant co-conspirator, and at the behest of a phony at that) to upset the established order of things and overthrow the government of the West.

Might be something to it, after all...

[mountaineer]

Well, this thread certainly took a turn. Oz, anyone? 

[Wingnut]

That's gotta be a lot like HAM/CB... Shooting skip on LSB16, talking out into the ether... And somebody on a boat in the Caribbean comes hailing you out of the darkness... MAGIC.

Now it's nothin to yap at a someone, and see them on Skype anywhere in the world. Mundane. Ain't the same. *sigh*

Good analogy!   

[IsailedawayfromFR]

A lot of popular fiction has messaging within it


Think J.R. Tolkien in the Ring Trilogy.

[Smokin Joe]

A lot of popular fiction has messaging within it


Think J.R. Tolkien in the Ring Trilogy.

Think the Articles of Impeachment....

..oh, wait.

[mountaineer]

A lot of popular fiction has messaging within it

Think J.R. Tolkien in the Ring Trilogy.

Like Chronicles of Narnia? Clearly religious, not political like Oz.

[bigheadfred]

A lot of popular fiction has messaging within it


Think J.R. Tolkien in the Ring Trilogy.

Think CNN...

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Think the Articles of Impeachment....

..oh, wait.

that one was great