I have spent a lot of time on this blog picking apart the things I loved as a kid to see what makes them tick. Usually that means an episode of Smallville or a movie I can't stand. This time it means something a little older and a little stranger: the actual belief system quietly … Continue reading Yellow Brick Road to Enlightenment: How Much of Oz Is Actually Theosophy?
Children’s Literature
Dorothy, Ozma, and the Feminist Blueprint Hiding in Oz
There's a moment in most people's childhoods, usually around the third or fourth viewing of the 1939 film, when it hits you that something about The Wizard of Oz is a little different. Dorothy doesn't need a prince. Nobody is waiting for a man to fix things. The most powerful people in the entire story, … Continue reading Dorothy, Ozma, and the Feminist Blueprint Hiding in Oz
More Than Yellow Brick Roads
When L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, readers saw a delightful children's fantasy about a Kansas farm girl who finds herself in a magical land. What they didn't realize was that Baum had created one of the most sophisticated commentaries on American society ever disguised as a fairy tale. Through … Continue reading More Than Yellow Brick Roads
