Friday, May 12, 2006

The Wizard of Oz

If you live in Portland: here's a tip for an inexpensive night of wonderful entertainment! But it only lasts tonight and tomorrow (with a matinee tomorrow afternoon, as well as an evening performance). It's The Wizard of Oz, performed at Grant High School. We went last night, mainly because our babysitter was in it. But it was fabulous! High school production--gosh, I've seen semi-professional productions that couldn't hold a candle to this one. So much talent. I won't say the lion stole the show, but he would have if the others hadn't been so talented as well. He was really great! The jitterbug scene was also really amazing.

Here's a quote that was on their website, taken from a US History textbook:
"An easy way to remember the Populists is through the book The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. the novel is reportedly a political allegory, with Dorothy representing the common man, her silver shoes (the movie changed them into ruby slippers) representing the silver standard, the scarecrow representing the farmer, and the Tin Man representing the industrial worker. William Jennings Bryan was the model for the Cowardly Lion."

I don't know who William Jennings Bryan is, but I suppose now I'll have to find out. I never thought of it as social commentary back when I watched the movie every year on TV as a kid.

5 comments:

Mimi said...

I only have a vague idea of who William Jennings Bryan is. I've never read the book - perhaps I should.

I'm glad you ahd a good time.

Elizabeth said...

Thank you, Mal! It's been awhile since I was in high school history class....but I wasn't ever a real history person in the first place.

I looked at your blog, and I'll be coming back to visit frequently. Thanks for de-lurking!

Laurie said...

The small college Matt and I went to in Tennessee is called Bryan College for William Jennings Bryan. It was founded in Dayton, Tennessee, which was the site of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, where he prosecuted John Scopes, a local teacher, for teaching evolution. This endeared him to conservative/fundamentalist Christians. Bryan College is conservative, evangelical, famous for "creation science" and very right wing (in spite of Bryan having been a democrat). Bryan was known for his skills as a speechmaker (he was called "the silver-tongued orator"), and his most famous speech was called the "cross of gold" speech in which he said "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold"--talking about the gold standard for currency, which he opposed.

Elizabeth said...

Wow--so, I really should know who he is, because another small evangelical college, the college Paul and I attended in the San Diego area, is partnered with the Institute for Creation Research. We were all taught how to defend our faith from those faithless and godless evolutionists. But I suppose the fact that Bryan was a Democrat was damning enough not to pound into our heads who he was. ;-)

Paul and I both wish now that we'd gone to a real college....but then Christian Heritage College is where we met. If we'd attended somewhere else, how would our lives be different now?

Laurie said...

Matt and i feel pretty much the same way about wishing we had gone to a "real" college--but then we met at bryan and made some really, really good friends there. and if we hadn't gone there the godless evolutionists might have corrupted us! :-)