Oz

[mnaz]

dorothy heard the speeches
the unequivocal obfuscations
until the cyclone spun it all in reverse
swirled upward in a downward crash

and munchkins gathered around
pointed yonder and gave directions
follow the yellow road for answers
to the capital, through the long forest

through lions, tigers and bears, oh my!
mobsters, tin men and poppies, approaching
the city of green, the great and powerful oz
flames and awe; ignore men behind curtains

“bring me a shrubbery,” said monty python
so she went off to fight the flying monkeys
returned with the score, but was deployed once more
so she clicked her heels and went back to kansas

[saw]

a hip take on this iconic classic that sounds a lot like our current financial meltdown....I saw Tim Burton's, Alice in Wonderland...some new twists, Alice is all grown up, and she revisits......a cool mash-up,
with Johnny Deep as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and the wonderful voice of Alan Rickman as the hookah smoking caterpillar.....all in all, a pretty fun time.....interesting poem...

[mnaz]

thanks steve. you can read this one as (very abbreviated) allegory for various strains in the relationship between 'the people' and 'democratic government.' one obvious parallel is the mighty oz, with his fancy shocken-awe display, sending dorothy & co. in harm's way (a la iraq) to fetch various booty (from the movie, at least one attempted re-deployment), until dorothy finally calls him on it.

for an interesting intellectual side trip, google "wizard of oz, political," for all kinds of notions on the metaphors and symbology of the book/movie. it was a trip reading the various takes on what the flying monkeys stood for... and the book was written about events in the 1890s! many if not most observers thought dorothy represented "the american people."

[stilltrucking]

A long time ago someone had a story on Litkicks called Dorothy Is Pissed off



I hardly remember it but it inspired this replyl to you back in December of 2008

no need to moan and koan
with an all volunteer army
it is not our fault anymore.
even so Dorothy is pissed

Another take on the book/movie

<center>HER OWN BACKYARD</center>

"But it wasn’t a dream. It was a place. And you…and you…and you…and you were there”



The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America

pardon the ramble

thank you for the poem
I liked it a lot.

[mnaz]

thanks jack. yeah I vaguely remember that LK posting. as a kid, never used to think of any "deeper meanings" about oz, but it's an interesting creation for sure. hits a lot of familiar nerves when you dig a little deeper. I suspect we could find quite a few other tales like this, too.

btw, I just pulled up the screenplay, and my memory is a little shaky on the second Oz encounter. He didn't try to send them on "another mission," only told them to go away and come back later...