THE WONDERFUL WIZARD
OF OZ
AND THE POPULIST POLITICS UPON
WHICH
THE STORY IS GROUNDED!!
CBS will show the Wizard of Oz this coming Friday at 8 pm [est] for about the 25th time. Each year at the showing, I give a lecture on the populist politics and mythic themes of this most popular movie.
And, for those who have seen it five times or more, I give a special Certificate asseverating that one has been to see the Wizard of Oz because, because, because of the wonderful things that happen long before Dorothy and her small band meet him in the Emerald City.
So...for those of you who would like to astound, amaze, infuriate and give pause to friends, family and students, this mini-lecture is for you. As we join Dorothy and the others on this wonderful trip, you will have to sing the songs, dance the dances, and accept the Kiss of Goodness from Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. When I give the lecture in person, I play all the parts including that of Glinda and get to kiss the students [on the forehead]...you will have to imagine that as we follow the adventures of:
Dorothy is Everybody...even you and I as long as we stay true to the dream of a good and decent society.
On the other hand,
Once again, for increasing millions, hard times take the sparkle for the eyes and turn every thing gray...crime, dis-employment, domestic violence, racism, and bureaucratic arrogance slowly drain the color from their lives while the rich getter richer and re-write the laws of the land to protect their shrinking oasises.
Rush Limbaugh is toto for the far Right...clever, funny and deadly in his bards, he makes mock of liberals. Alas, sadly enough, there is no one on the Left who does so...Garrison Keilor tries but he is too nice to be a real jokester. Ah, for another Lennie Bruce.
Today, the Michigan Militia, the Freemen of Montana, and a grow- in radical right underground are riding the winds of destruction. These miniature tornadoes lack good theory and good politics so can be, might be very harmful to a good and peaceful society. Yet at the same time they represent what little opposition to the capitalist state that is found in modern political life...Pat Buchanan is one of the more articulate spokes-persons in whom a critique of the state, of trans-national capital and of the privatized commodity fetishism of Advanced Monopoly Capitalism is located. Again, their are few on the Left who speak in a voice which can be heard in the media...Jesse Jackson tries; perhaps too hard to do so. Jerry Brown and Ralph Nader seem to be other voices drowned by the roaring winds of change.
But, just to keep hope alive, we will let the four winds repre- sent the workers, the women, the Afro-Americans and the Native Americans who urge more positive social change.
Of course, the houses in North Dallas which sell for 1, 2, or 4 million dollars are not grey...they are lovely...even the poor and the dis-employed in Texas can drive by and admire them.
Yet in Greek mythology, Jocasta was the mother of Oedipus. Maybe we don't want to look at the implications of that witch too closely...ruins the spirit of the story.
If we had to appoint a Cowardly Lion in the politics of today, I'm sorry to say it would have to be Bill Clinton...he waffles; he hasn't the courage to fight for health care, social security living wages or for either gender equality or for Afro-Americans. The Cowardly Lion will pick on Toto but is revealed as the coward he is when Dorothy slaps him. He is in sad need of courage.
Today, the farm reform Bill once again leaves farmers hanging on the market-place...cereals are dominated by six firms...soon the last of the family farms will be blown away.
In American Sociology, the role of the strawman is taken over by those Rural Sociologists who don't have enough brains to see what agri-business is doing to the food supply in the USA. Their are, of course, some good witches in rural sociology; Bill Friedman and Cornelia Flora are my two favorite rural sociologists.
In today's politic there are several who qualify for the part. Mr. Perot is perhaps the leading candidate but Mr. Forbes and Mr. Buchanan also runs...they will have to run fast to beat Bill Clinton for slip sliding around...
Come to think of it...Mr. Dole is a bit like Uncle Henry, isn't he...I wonder if he will ever have red in his lips and red in his cheeks or will he stay sombre and grey...maybe Ms. Dole can help...she has brains and courage and, I think, a heart. On the other hand, maybe she too has become like Aunt Em...big sigh for all the Aunt Ems in the world...Patricia Schoeder...were are you?
But I will tell you how the story ends...Dorothy doesn't really want to kill anyone but she does kill the WWW; The Wizard is like any good faith-healer; he give the Strawman a new head full of bran [a bran-new brain]; he gives the Cowardly Lion a drink from a green bottle [lots of people get courage from a bottle] and he gives the Tin Man a watch which keeps on ticking.
Dorothy, alas, as are you and I, left alone to find our own way home...maybe that is a good thing since we can find the kind of a home with people who have brains, courage, compassion and a sense of sharing that redeems the great grey flat deserts that too often intrude in a green land.
Remember...if you only had a brain you could unravel every riddle for every individle in trouble or in pain... And you could be presumin' you could be kinda human if you only had a heart. You could be kind and could be gentle, and awfully sentimental...if you only had a heart. You could show off all your prowess and not be just a mou-wess if you only had the nerve; There is no denyin' you could be a dandy lion if you only had the nerve.
Words by Yip Harburg; music by Harold Arlen.
And the Kiss of Goodness to you from me as you travel the Yellow Brick Road to Success in American Sociology.
TR Young