The Role Of Imperialism In The Wizard Of Oz

The inspiration for L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and the following thirteen Oz books is believed to be about the inability to escape, particularly for Baum, the inability to escape the rapidly advancing technology during the 20th century. The technologies that are focused on in particular in The Wizard of Oz are those of electricity, machines, the body, and domesticity. The city of Oz is based on the White City, Chicago, and how both are built around the idea of beauty and stability, but cover up the sense of imperialism they hold. This is where Baum’s fear of capitalism and consumerism come into play and the desire for a utopian state is created, however even the city of Oz itself cannot achieve such a task. For example, when electricity was invented it set a new boundary for human innovation, but for some, it threatened the status quo. Baum never explicitly states anything about electricity: the light from Oz simply just emanates, the use of magic for transportation purposes and to solve problems. Therefore, Baum’s purposeful decision to leave out electricity proves his distaste and lack of trust for technology.
Baum also gives reason in his novel to believe in a sense of shame regarding meat or flesh.
Dorothy refers to Toto as a “meat” dog, which takes away consciousness from the animal since meat is something people associate with something already dead or a thing of possession. The contrast of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman to Dorothy and the Lion also presents the idea that flesh is inconvenient and requires a great deal more work than those who do not have it because flesh creatures require water, rest, food, and lots of protection. This exemplifies the idea the eventual end to the current human body and transformation into something unnatural and inhuman. However, the theme in the novel about wanting to try to give a human sense to the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman circles back to Baum’s desire to change the consumerist culture; making mannequins come
alive. Baum also focuses on the idea of the home and how, even though the home is supposed to prevent one from travel, it keeps the sense of domesticity by bringing safety and comfort to the land of the Munchkins. Likewise, the Wicked Witch of the West can be seen as an evil mother figure and Dorothy’s melting of her body would become a sort chore. However, the evil Dorothy encounters in Oz causes a lot of conflict and disruption symbolizing the dissatisfaction or “evilness” of the new technologies that have been developed. Oz should be an example of a great utopian society, however, it is complex and somewhat twisted. This display of Oz reflects Baum’s fears of the changing world of the twentieth century and all the uncertainty that the new found age of technological advances beings.