The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, usually known as a child’s tale, might well have been inspired by the story of William Jennings Bryan. A scholarly article by Hugh Rockoff, reviewed and cited in detail by Nobel Prize Milton Friedman, studies in details the political landscape of the period when the book was written by Frank Baum. Baum was very close to populist circles and read a lot about current political issues. So we are pretty sure that he knew in details about the Crime of 1873 and the career of William Jennings Bryan. Many similarities are difficult to overlook (I’m not exactly the kind of guy who measures pyramids to find out if they represent the moon-sun distance). I’ll give here some of the main arguments, but you’ll like to read the article itself, fully accessible to the layman even if it was published in very highbrow economic journal. Dorothy the main character around whom the story revolves is supposed to represent an individualized ideal of the American people. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are supposed to represent the farmers who were severely suffering due to droughts and severe winters. A interesting scene or element(s) in the film is how certain characters and scenes match those of real life. The Cyclone that lifts Dorothy’s house was compared to the Populist cyclone that swept across Kansas in the early 1890s.The wicked witch of East was compared to the eastern financial-industrial interests and their gold-standard political allies. The scarecrow in the movie was used to represent the midwestern farmers, The next character Tin Man represented the nation’s workers. These were the main characters which were used to refer the Popular American movement and the people of that time. A critical conversion that people had to say about the film would be how The characters wanted democracy and a peaceful life, Relating to the populist movements that were taking place at that time. There was no unity among the east, west, south and the north regions. They were not united in their thoughts, instead was a combination of the nation’s wealthiest and the poorest. The characters were used to explain the pathetic condition of people of US. They wanted it because the populist movement wanted liberalist activities in place. They wanted the sufferings to come to an end. They wanted the political and the populist movements to reach all the people across the country. They wanted this as they wished a good future for their country. The directors of the movie wanted it to be presented in such a way that it had the greatest impact on the people of US. They further wanted to bring to light about Baum’s political background, trickster personality, and subsequent work. To sum it up The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a deliberate work which was picturized to replicate the political symbolism of US. According the library of congress the wizard of oz is the most watched film. The Greatness of this film portrays human nature, and how people are depicted as generally good. This is the reason why the greatness of this film is different from other great films.
Sources:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24044541.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fdefault-2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3A317a9a633ab885ef4a41e816b469e4b0
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/09/dissecting-the-real-wizard-of-oz.html