Hidden symbolism in The Wizard of OZ

I was told in our English Class that the whole Wizard of Oz story was about the Great Depression.

An fantastical allegory, if you will...

Interesting how we've all gotten different educations on this one.

*edit for spelling oversight.

[edit on 1/29/09 by GENERAL EYES]

Yes I would have to concur that there is a deep symbolic emphasize to the
Wizard of Oz movie. If not one of understanding the human pysche in all its dazzling egoic personas that it manifests at any given moment of time and space

I found a link to the Great Drepression allegory.

MGM's THE WIZARD OF OZ: Political Satire of FDR and His "New Deal"

A wonderful and enlightening read!

I find most your theories very intuitive and right on the dot for the one who believes them. At the moment I am writing a paper on the psychological aspects of The Wizard of Oz (1939 motion picture) and I have come to the conclusion that C.G. Jung's archetypes and Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego fit the plot and characters. In the end, Dorothy realizes that she has all she needs and is finally able to "grow up." As I loosely quote one of the previous posters, the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin-man are all parts of Dorothy that she must come to terms with and integrate with her own self to become the "good'' adult that every individual intends to become.


Thank You to all who read this wall of text and respond with good intentions to better the knowledge we have in all arts.
~Dylan~

reply to post by darklanser


ok, so can any one tell me what the city of porclyan people represent,or the monsters with no arms???
god of war...

Actually the film WAS a political/economic allegory. This website explains it all, and incidentally, presents a decent critique of the current banking system in the US and rest of the Western world, while proposing a saner alternative:

www.secretofoz.com...

Bought the movie and watched it yesterday. Campainging for Ron Paul in 08, I learned a lot about the Fed, but new very little about the world's monentary history untill watching the "The Secret of Oz". I also learned from Still the history of the game "monopoly".
Never would have guests these mediums were created to teach people about the powers of the banker.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

Agree with the Populist theory of the Wizard of Oz. In fact the author of Web of Debt explains in detail the symbolism of every character in the book. Web Of Debt
Very interesting read.
Yet again, it's all the bankers fault... surprise!!!!

You guys might be interested to know that Baum and others wrote 40 books dealing with the Oz series. I do not know if any or all of them deal with themes about the New Deal, the depression or the populist movement because I have only read a couple of them. The styles change with each writer. The other writers were Ruth Plumley Thompson, John Neill and Jack Snow.

List of Oz Books

I have also read some of his earlier work and part of a biography. I remember learning the Wizard of Oz was inspired by current events in his lifetime, but he also stated once that he wanted to invent a truly American fairytale. When you think about it the movie is pretty symbolic, the way it starts in grayscale and turns to color. To me it kind of represents America coming out of depression into prosperity.

As a country we had no fairy tales where as Europe had a long, rich tradition of them. If you haven't read any of his other works, I recommend it. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is one of my favorites.

I read about this in the Web of Debt, where it goes into much detail about the connections in the Wizard of OZ to the economic situation of the times, particularly the use of silver as the answer.

Her shoes were originally silver, went they? Only changed to red for the big screen.