Hidden Meaning - The Wizard of Oz

[Steve Gardner]

I'm going to double post this both here and in the General category in the Film, Television & Literature board for obvious reasons.

Rather bizzarely, the source credited below actually references The Library of Halexandria as it's source, but the web page was removed today - May 4th.

Anyway, if true, this analysis offers a fascinating insight into the meaning of this classic film. It certainly is thought-provoking enough to encourage me to investigate further.

Source: USAVSUS

The Wizard of Oz was produced as a motion picture in 1939 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (Book by L. Frank Baum; Adaption by Noel Langley; Screenplay by Florence Ryerson, Noel Langley, and Edgar Allan Woolf; Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg; Produced by Mervyn LeRoy; Directed by Victor Fleming.)

Many people believe that The Wizard of Oz was (and is) an allegory for the radically new state of affairs that existed in America in the 1930s, following the stock market crash and the bankruptcy of the United States Government which occurred immediately thereafter. For all extents and purposes, it can still be viewed as the current state of affairs, inasmuch as the allegorical nature, the clues strewn throughout the story, are still relevant today. The authors of Redemption in Law, Theory and Practice [BBC of America, 2000] have, for example, provided an interesting interpretation of the story of The Wizard of Oz, one which bears a considerable amount of attention being paid. Much of what follows, comes from pages 180 to 185 of their book.

The initial setting of the story is, of course, Kansas, the geographical center of the USA, and the symbol for the heartland of America. The tornado (twister) that arrives is all about the whirling confusion that existed after the stock market crash, the theft of the country’s gold, the US Bankruptcy, and the Great Depression. The twister takes Dorothy and her dog, Toto, into a new, artificial dimension, above the solid ground of Kansas. Upon their arrival, Dorothy notes: “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Right on, Dorothy. After the bankruptcy, Kansas was no longer “Kansas”, but now “KS”, an artificial corporate venue of the bankrupt US, a newly established “federal territory”, and part of the “Federal Zone”. Dorothy and Toto were “in this state”, which according to Redemption in Law, implies they were for tax jurisdiction purposes in the “District of Columbia” (aka “United States”) -- whereas Kansas is not included in “this state”, “KS” is.

One of the first entities Dorothy met was the Scarecrow, who represented the legal Straw Man which had been created as an artificial aspect of the former American sovereigns. The legal term, Straw Man, describes a fictitious or artificial person created by law at one’s birth via the inscription in all-capital letters on the birth document/certificate -- the latter being document of title and a negotiable instrument. It is allegedly by way of the Straw Man that the creditors of the US Bankruptcy can so effectively (and legally?) take for their own use the benefits of individuals’ labor, creativity, talents, and productivity.

In the movie the Scarecrow, describes his straw-man persona by noting: “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking. Of course, I’m not bright about doing things.”

The Scarecrow then succinctly describes himself in the classic song, “If I Only Had a Brain.” The lyrics include: “I’d unravel every riddle, For every ‘individdle,’ In trouble or in pain.”

The translation is that for every individual, who discovers the existence of his or her legal Straw Man, all political and legal mysteries, complexities, and confusions begin to be resolved. And once that same individual takes legal title to his or her Straw Man, he or she can protect themselves from legal trouble or legal damage.

The Tin Man arrives next on the scene. I.e. the “T-I-N” (Taxpayer Identification Number) Man is a hollow man of metal, a “vessel” or “vehicle”, the newly created commercial code words for the Straw Man. Just as the Scarecrow/Straw Man has no brain, the Tin Man has no heart. Both are “artificial persons”. Natural person are created by nature or God, while artificial persons are created by human laws, for the purposes of society/government (“bodies politic” or “corporations”).

One of the definitions in Webster’s Dictionary is “counterfeit”. Thus the Tin Man might also represent the mechanical and heartless aspect of commerce and commercial law. As they are reputed to say in the Mafia: “Nothing personal, it’s just business.”

The Tin Man also carries an ax. Did you ever wonder about that? The ax is a traditional symbol for that which is above a King. In this case, commercial law, i.e. Corporate Rule is above the sovereign! It’s not a nice connotation -- any more than the “Axis Powers” of World War II included Nazi Germany, Italy (a fascist state) and Japan; or the more recent “Axis of Evil”, coined by President George Bush in 2002, but curiously not yet applied to Cheney, Ashcroft and himself -- the ABC’s of such.

The Tin Man, expressing relief after Dorothy had oiled his arm, said: “I’ve held that ax up for ages.” And perhaps he is still having to do so. For the symbol for fascism is the “fasces”, a bundle of rods with an ax bound up in the middle, but with its blade projecting. This fasces may be found on the American Mercury-head Dime (the Roman deity Mercury was the God of Commerce), and on the wall behind, and on each side of, the speaker’s podium in the US Senate (each gold fasces being approximately six feet in height). At the base of the podium of the seal of the US Senate are two crossed fasces. Hmmmm...

Dorothy, the Scarecrow and Tin Man are soon joined by the Cowardly Lion. Known as the “king of the beasts”, it’s surprising to find one so cowardly. It appears to represent the once-fearless American people who had lost their courage, the courage to denounce the US Bankruptcy, and inform its creditors that they were not the chattel that could be used as collateral for the moneys allegedly owed. Of course, dealing with the IRS tends to leave most of us in the cowardly state; but that is due in large part to the heartless, brainless actions of an organization operating strictly under the laws of Commerce.

In order for Dorothy and the gang to find the Wizard (the supposed answer to their prayers), they had to “follow the yellow brick road.” In other words, follow the money -- the trail of the gold taken from America -- and find who had absconded with it.

It’s important to recall from the beginning of the movie, that the Wizard was represented by a traveling mystic, a “Professor Marvel,” whom Dorothy had first encountered when she ran away with Toto. The Professor’s shingle claimed that he was “Acclaimed by the Crowned Heads of Europe, Past, Present, and Future.”

That’s quite a claim -- to include the future -- but seems well justified in that the Wizard is still acclaimed by the “crowned heads of Europe.” Before the Banksters looted America, they had already disempowered the monarchies of Europe and looted their kingdoms. And with a human skull atop the perch above the door to his wagon, the Wizard began to lecture Dorothy about the priests of Isis and Osiris and the days of Egypt’s pharaohs.

Between 1916 and 1933, most of America’s gold was rounded up -- aided by President Franklin Roosevelt (whose physical problems may well have symbolized America’s “crippled state”). The gold went to The Federal Reserve private Bank, and was shipped off by the Fed owners to England and Germany. This was accomplished because of the fact Federal Reserve Notes could be redeemed in gold, and their use carried an interest penalty that could also only be paid in gold. The US traded its gold for paper, while its previous currency, United States Notes, carried no such interest requirement. When the US Bankruptcy was declared in 1993, there was the added caveat that all Americans were required to turn in all gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates by May 1 --

Our heroine was Dorothy Gale. Did you know her last name? Or that a gale, with the impact of water as well as wind, is considered potentially more powerful than a tornado? In any case, when she and her friends emerged from the forest, they were elated to see the Emerald City only a short distance away. The Wicked Witch of the West, desperate for the ruby slippers that Dorothy was wearing, knew she had to make her move before Dorothy and the others were inside the walls of Emerald City. But what was so special about Dorothy’s slippers? Was the Wicked Witch an earlier version of Emelda Marcus? Or something else?

Obviously, Dorothy’s red-colored, ruby slippers were the same color as blood, as in flesh and blood, thus symbolizing a living, breathing man or woman -- i.e. a non-corporation, a natural person. As such her slippers also symbolized “private” as opposed to “public”. (Even a Social InSecurity card uses a red serial number, signifying the private-side account and its attachment to the public-side.) It is likely the ruby slippers symbolized the blood in the veins of the American people -- as opposed to “citizens of the United States”, where the blue and black ink on a birth certificate is the “corporate blood”. The Wicked Witch wanted the life blood of the living human beings -- not just their Straw Men.

Her tactic was to cover the countryside with poppy flowers -- i.e. the source of heroin, opium, and morphine -- symbolically drugging Dorothy, et al into unconsciousness, and then just step in and snatch the slippers. I.e. dull the senses of the American people and then slip in and swipe the gold.

The drugging worked on Dorothy, the Lion and Toto, the flesh and blood friends, but did not effect the artificial persons of the Scarecrow and Tin Man. The latter two cried out for help, and the Good Witch of the North came to the rescue with a blanket of snow to nullify the narcotic effect of the poppies on Dorothy, the Lion and Toto. [So, who’s the “Good Witch of the North”? Perhaps, that remains to be seen.]

The identity of the Wicked Witch of the West is pretty clear. Recall that her counterpart in the first part of the film was “Almira Gulch”, who supposedly “owned half the county” (or perhaps half the country). Miss Gulch had arrived at Dorothy’s farm with an “Order from the Sheriff” (an Executive Order from President Roosevelt?) demanding that Toto be handed over, because allegedly he had bitten Miss Gulch.

Despite Aunt Em’s assertion about Toto (“He’s really gentle, with gentle people, that is.”) Miss Gulch pressed her case saying that to withhold Toto would be to “go against the law”. When Dorothy refused to surrender toto, Miss Gulch lashed out with, “If you don’t hand over that dog I’ll bring a damned suit that’ll take your whole farm!”

70% of the attorneys in the world reside in the West -- America. 95% of all lawsuits in the world are filed under US jurisdiction. The Wicked Witch of the West (Miss Gulch) was dressed in black, the choice of color for judges’ robes. Thus she represents judges and attorneys, essentially the American legal system (including the attorney-run US Congress). These are the executioners and primary henchmen for transferring the wealth of America from the people to the banksters.

The “Bar” has a curious history. It represents the body of attorneys, counselors, judges and the members of the legal profession. It has been alleged that Black’s Law Dictionary, for example, is copyrighted British law and that the so-called American Bar Association is a branch or subset of the Bar Council (the sole bar association in England and Wales). As the copyrighted property of a British company, all state Codes in the US are commercial, private British-owned law. Attorneys may be even worse, if possible, than we thought!

Apparently, the Wicked Witch of the West is nothing more than an operative of the “crowned heads of Europe” (who are owned by the Banksters), and desperately wanted not only the precious metals of America, but the life blood of America’s labor. Her counterpart, of course, wanted to take Toto. The word, Toto, comes from the phrase, “in toto”, which according to Black’s Law Dictionary (the British “rule book”) is: “in the whole, completely.” In other words, she wanted everything!

Once Dorothy and the gang had encountered the mighty Wizard of Oz, they initially fell for the illusion. But with Toto’s aid in pulling back the curtain, they quickly realized the Wizard was nothing more than a con man. Even when he supposedly helped Scarecrow about getting a “brain”, he cited “the land of ‘E Pluribus Unum,’”, which is Latin for “one out of many.” This phrase appears of the American One Dollar Bill, but might be thought of as “converting the many into one”, i.e. establishing a “New World Order”.

The Wizard was also supposedly amenable to taking Dorothy back in his balloon, but ended up leaving her behind. Fortunately, the Good Witch of the North (Santa Claus?), stepped in to tell Dorothy, “You don’t need to be helped. You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.” All she had to do was to use her slippers!

The contention is that everyone has the right and power to reclaim their Sovereignty, but just forgot. The actual act of reclamation -- the Remedy and Recourse, is telling the Banksters that you are no longer collateral, i.e. filing with a Secretary of State. Because the IRS (Infernal Revenue Service) is an accountancy firm and collection agency for the private Federal Reserve Bank, having been constituted under the UCC at its inception in 1954 (and operating strictly in that realm ever since), filing or not filing income tax returns becomes an interesting study in itself. Just be sure to do your own research!

The title of the movie also carries a message. A “wizard”, of course, is “a very clever or skillful person.” “Oz” on the other hand is an abbreviation for “ounces”, which is always the unit of measurement for gold, silver, and other precious metals. Even for large quantities of gold, etceteras, the amount is expressed in million ounces of gold, and not tons or pounds.

In the end, Dorothy (i.e. the American people) and Toto made it home. There is, in fact, Remedy and Recourse in law. It’s there, disguised, camouflaged, encoded. (Why do you think States call their statutory laws, “codes” and not laws?) It’s a matter of learning the law. All of it. It’s the necessary condition for becoming sovereign once again.

Unless, of course, you’d prefer to continue to be conned by the Banksters.

The Wizard of Oz is really a delightful movie. The fact that it symbolizes one of the worst episodes in the world’s history of the denial of freedom or justice, should not be construed to imply that the movie and story are not entertaining. In fact, once the symbolic nature is seen and understood, it is a simple step to smile, take the next step to go beyond it, and go forth as if you knew where you were going. It’s all just part of The Fool’s Journey, and the strange path we have each chosen to fulfill our diverse and unique destinies.

We always have that choice! It’s called Free Will.

Meanwhile, it is worth while recalling the sage advice of Lao Tzu (c. 600 B.C.E.) and more recently and succinctly in our Oz analogy, Frank Zappa (May 1977):

"The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be."

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see a brick wall at the back of the theater."

[teddy]

This is indeed interesting - I'd read about this before. I think some of the allegories are tenuous, others are much more interesting. It does seem that the book was based on some political events of the time, but whether it was about the money system is perhaps more debatable. For example the ruby slippers explanation seems unlikely given that in the original story the slippers were silver, which may throw up different possibilities. The characters Tin man, scarecrow, etc were apparently all commonly seen in newspaper cartoons in the late 19th century. I think with a story like this one, it is probably possible to come up with many different interpretations.