Dorothy and Toto dispel the illusion of power
by Brian Wright

Sometimes I wonder whether the moral allegory of The Wizard of Oz is all we need to set the world straight. Remember the timeless movie we Boomers grew up with as a spring ritual on TV: A girl on the threshold of adventurous maidenhood finds herself in a daydream that turns into a nightmare—until she realizes everything she needs is right here at home. Symbolism is rampant within the original turn-of-the-19th-century novel by Frank Baum, and in the movie none more so than the scene where Dorothy, her dog Toto, and her three farmhand-surrogate protector-friends enter the chamber of the Great Oz: Continue reading →