The Eagle's Shadow by Mark Hertsgaard

Author:Mark Hertsgaard
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

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THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY TURNS SELFISH

There is no more American a story, at least for today’s generations, than The Wizard of Oz; it’s the closest thing we have to a national fairy tale. Virtually all of us have seen The Wizard of Oz on television from the time we were four or five years old. Mention the Yellow Brick Road, the Wicked Witch of the West, or Emerald City, or hum a few notes of “Over the Rainbow” or “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” and Americans of all ages, races, and classes will catch the reference immediately, and with fondness.

Today’s kids watch The Wizard of Oz on video, which means they watch it whenever they want, and often over and over. When I was growing up in the 1960s, watching The Wizard of Oz was more of a special event, even a national ritual. Once a year, usually around Easter, it was shown on network television. My brothers and sisters and I, and most of our friends, looked forward to that night for days. Like countless other families across the nation, we would gather in front of the television with popcorn and hot chocolate and be spellbound yet again by the adventures of Dorothy, the Kansas farm girl whose house is lifted off the ground by a terrifying tornado, spun through the skies, and dropped—on top of a witch!—in the land of Oz. Our parents, who kept us company on these evenings (especially during the scary parts), could recall having first seen The Wizard of Oz in actual movie theaters. Released in 1939, Hollywood’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel made Judy Garland an instant star and earned the movie a permanent place in the American consciousness.

The movie entices all ages because it works on all levels, and its appeal has endured because it both reflects and articulates some of our basic national beliefs. The movie is dedicated to “the Young in Heart,” and Americans are certainly that: sometimes naive, but charmingly optimistic and well-meaning, and suckers for a happy ending. Very young viewers are entranced by the movie’s vivid images—the silver Tin Man rusted beneath talking apple trees, the flying monkeys descending from the sky to kidnap Dorothy and her dog Toto—and by its easy-to-follow songs, especially as sung by the squeaky-voiced Munchkins. Older kids are drawn by the story’s classic structure: the quest, in which a young person journeys forth into the world and faces tests that help her grow into adulthood. And the story works on grown-ups because it combines humor, song, and fantasy with uplifting moral purpose. Like Oz, our world contains evil as well as beauty, and the Wizard’s command—to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West—sounds no less imposing than some challenges demanded of us.

What very few Americans realize is that the movie is also a political parable. Direct testimony on this point came years after the fact from E. Y. “Yip” Harburg, who wrote the movie’s song lyrics.

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