{"id":92100,"date":"2017-05-15T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=92100"},"modified":"2017-05-09T20:00:18","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T19:00:18","slug":"frank-baum-15-may1856-6-may-1919-the-father-of-the-wizard-of-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/05\/frank-baum-15-may1856-6-may-1919-the-father-of-the-wizard-of-oz\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Baum (15 May 1856 \u2013 6 May 1919): The Father of the Wizard of Oz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cToto, we are not in Kansas anymore.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Judy Garland was originally outfitted with a blond wig to play the role of Dorothy Gale in ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
(Photo: Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Frank Baum is largely forgotten as a writer while his 1899 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz <\/em>lives on through the 1939 film with Judy Garland as Dorothy and references in essays to the Tin Woodman without a heart or Toto, Dorothy’s faithful dog.<\/p>\n

The story begins as Dorothy and Toto are picked up from their farm in Kansas by a cyclone and carried into another world \u2212 the land of Oz.\u00a0 Dorothy wants to return to Kansas and is advised to consult the Wizard who lives in the Emerald City at the center of the Land of Oz.\u00a0 Dorothy and Toto set out on the Yellow Brick Road for the Emerald City.\u00a0 On the way they meet three companions, each of whom joins her in the\u00a0 hope that the Wizard of Oz will be able to give him what he lacks. The first is the Scarecrow whose head is of straw and wants some brains so he can think.\u00a0 The second is the Tin Woodman who wants a heart so he can love.\u00a0 The third is the Cowardly Lion, who should be the king of the forest, but this lion is afraid of everything.\u00a0 He wants courage so that he can act.<\/p>\n

When they finally meet the Wizard of Oz, he turns out to be a human like Dorothy.\u00a0 He was a balloonist in Nebraska who worked in a circus, going up in the balloon to attract a crowd. One day a strong wind blew him all the way to Oz where the inhabitants took him to be a great wizard.<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz <\/em>has all the essentials of a myth.\u00a0 It is set in a perilous, enchanted land where the human protagonist is engaged in a quest.\u00a0 She faces great difficulties but is helped by extraordinary friends who are also on a quest.\u00a0 The three friendly helpers represent what they think they lack: intelligence, love, courage.<\/p>\n

At the end, each finds within himself the qualities they are seeking.\u00a0 We each have within ourselves the qualities we seek.\u00a0 The myth is a metaphor for balancing energies\u00a0 at all levels.\u00a0 Just as the spiritual transformation of a person must be initiated from within, so too collective bodies such as the Emerald City must discover the inner power to balance their energies and transform themselves into more humane systems.<\/p>\n

Both individuals and organizations can become whole only if they can balance intellect, emotions, and courage. Through this balance, individuals and organizations develop a sense of purpose, a direction for their quest.\u00a0 Many spiritual traditions emphasize the importance of balancing one’s energies as a means for spiritual growth, such as the Taoist Yin<\/em> and Yang, <\/em>thought of as ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ energies. The balance must occur within each person who has both masculine and feminine qualities within.\u00a0 The balance must be initiated from within the person, but this inner response comes from contact with external forces \u2212 thus the adventures and crises of the Oz myth.<\/p>\n

Frank Baum was a newspaper editor and\u00a0 a strong advocate of the rights of women.\u00a0 His wife was very active in efforts for the right of women to vote.\u00a0 Thus, it is not surprising to find Dorothy as the central character of the story.\u00a0 She symbolizes all the various energies and forces of the story.\u00a0 She finds her personal balance\u00a0 resulting in her spiritual transformation and her ability to achieve her quest \u2212 to return ‘home’.<\/p>\n

As with all myths, the story can be read at different levels.\u00a0 However, Frank Baum had a strong interest in Asian thought, and a spiritual reading of the myth is not adding something that was not consciously there.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The MGM film with its songs sung by Judy Garland is out as a CD and merits seeing or re-seeing.<\/p>\n

For a biography see: Katharine M. Rogers L. Frank Baum. Creator of Oz. A Biography <\/em>(New York: St Martins Press, 2002)<\/p>\n

To place Oz in the broader context of US myth making see Brian Attebery The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature <\/em>(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980).<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ren\u00e9 Wadlow, a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and of its Task Force on the Middle East, is president and U.N. representative (Geneva) of the Association of\u00a0World\u00a0Citizens and <\/em>editor of Transnational Perspectives. He is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As with all myths, the story can be read at different levels. However, Frank Baum had a strong interest in Asian thought, and a spiritual reading of the myth is not adding something that was not consciously there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}