

There are only a handful of movies that people of all ages can sit down and enjoy together. Many are thought to be too animated or too mature for all audiences. The book and 1939 film, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” portrays a story that all ages can appreciate. The adventure is about a young girl, Dorothy, who finds herself in a land of Oz. She makes some friends and sets off on a journey to find her way home. The book was written over a hundred years ago, yet today, if you were to bring up the girl with a little dog and red ruby slippers almost everyone would know what story you were describing. However, many do not know that the story is an allegory, a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms. The piece is a portrayal of populism that is represented by many symbols throughout the story, including the characters and major landmarks, as well as the use of color in the film to represent a whole new perspective for people living in the Populist movement. 

During the 19th century, an influential reform movement began to rise. The Populists, who mainly focused on financial reform as a way to create more economic growth and opportunity, were mainly supported by farmers and other small helpless groups. These groups suffered greatly during the years after the Civil War. This is comparable to the movie because the middle class people in the land are all under the corruption of the wizard. They are unaware of their full potential, however, if they were to work together they could make their government into something that would help its people. It took many years for anyone to make the connection of this movement to the book, however, the evidence is clear that there are countless similarities.  Most of the symbols are obvious, like the word “oz”, which is the abbreviation for ounce, the way that gold is measured, but I believe that many enjoyed the book and movie so much that they were not aware that it was also something going on right in front of them. 

The characters play a major part in this allegory. Dorothy, the main character, portrays a young girl from Kansas. She won America’s heart by being a normal everyday girl that people of all ages could relate to. Dorothy represents the everyday man and woman during American Populism. Her friends, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Lion all represent different classes of people as well.  The Scarecrow represents farmers that are oblivious to city life, with low education but support people like Dorothy. The Tinman serves as the factory workers rusted and unable to move like the industry workers during the Populist movement. The Tinman was in need of oil otherwise; he was left useless. This compares to the workers that are in need of money, or they are left unemployed and possibly homeless. The third friend, the Lion is seen as a cowardly king. He comes off as a strong intimidating creature, but once Dorothy stands up to him he cowards down. This is a representation of the Populist presidential candidate, Jenning Bryan. Like the Lion, he was seen as a coward for not supporting the US in certain topics. All of the characters are imperfect in their own ways, which is what makes them so relatable to the American public. Not only are the character’s symbols, but so is the Yellow Brick Road in the land of Oz. 

The Yellow Brick Road is a major part of the book. It leads Dorothy and her friends on their way to the Emerald City, resembling the gold standard during the time of the Populist movement. The munchkins tell Dorothy to “follow the yellow brick road” to see the “wonderful” wizard. These are examples of how the citizens of the land are being corrupted by the wizard. The people of the land all believe that the higher power, the wizard, is a wonderful person that is making their world a better place. However, there is actually a lot of crime and evil in the world of Oz that needs to be stopped and the wizard is not doing anything about it. Although there are many symbols of Populism in the land of Oz I believe that color makes the most impact on this piece.

The movie came out in 1939, just as color television was being released to the general public. This made the film “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” the first colored movie. The film begins in black and white, however, once Dorothy wakes up in Oz the movie transitions into color. The color left the country in amazement, never had anyone imagined watching a movie in color. However, I believe the movie changes to color to open up the watcher's eyes, to show them that they do not need to live their lives in black and white anymore. In the film, the characters express themselves by telling Dorothy their imperfections. They then go to find the wizard to take away their problems. The four friends come to realize that the wizard is not capable of taking away their imperfections because he is not as “wonderful” as the people think he is. He is not capable of fixing their blemishes and should not be in control of the citizens of Oz. Just like the movement, Dorothy and her friends realize they can become the people they want to be on their own and do not need a president or a wizard to help them.

 During the Populist movement, people lived their lives doing what they were told, to bring money home and were not enjoying their lives to the fullest. The adventure of Dorothy and her friends will forever hold a spot in many of our hearts and represent not only a classic film, but also an important time in history.  The movie “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” gives Americans a whole new aspect on what life can be, colorful.