Silver, Gold and the Yellow Brick Road

I have to admit, I often think about money (who doesn’t?) but the readings for this week have me contemplating the “why” of money. In each of the readings, the author’s make the point (in differing ways) that money is power. That seems fairly obvious. By controlling the elements that give “money” it’s real value you control the value of the currency. But it goes much deeper than that. There’s the concept of “trust” at work here as well. If currency were strictly limited to the actual gold, silver (or, as Michael O’Malley points out, iron in the ancient world) in existence, the economy, and therefore opportunity for growth would be limited. The concept that such intrinsic value, brought on by the perceived rarity of both metals (although there are metals far more rare) is ordained by nature and not man seems logical enough. And the idea that over-inflated currency, caused by overinvestment and over-circulation was in large part responsible for the various economic panics and crises of the 19^th century is also a sound argument. I had trouble, however, making the leap to some of the hypothesis about these issues being tied directly to racial divides. Hopefully, when Professor O’Malley visits the class at our next meeting I can get a clearer understanding of his points.

 

Which brings us to the Wizard of Oz. I always thought it was a strange story, even when I was kid – although I did like the tin man. Oz is certaintly not as crazy as Alice in Wonderland. Apparently Baum didn’t have access to the same mind-altering substances as Jefferson Airplane. But it wasn’t until I read Rockoff’s “The Wizard of Oz as a Monetary Allegory” that I understood the symbolism throughout the story. The strength silver as a Midwestern “ heartland” movement, and the very symbolism of the word “Oz” (for ounce) makes perfect sense. I suppose Baum could have been more literal, but who would read a book or watch a movie called “The Wizard of Au”?

Rockoff acknowledges Baum never specifically mentioned the symbolism of the story in any diary, interview, or letter. Rockoff even mentions the liklihood that the symbolic elements of the story are a series of sly jokes. I would think of them as similar to the various jokes and puns in several contemporary Disney Pixar pictures – the kids think it’s a funny scarecrow talking, but the parents reading the book know what it really means.

Rockoff does establish that Baum had a tendency to make references to current affairs in his later writings. No matter, I’ve arrived at a whole new appreciation for the book, and now really wish Judy Garland had silver slippers instead of ruby ones.