The Wizard of Oz (Reaction)

        L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel has been dragged through so many interpretations, so many reimaginings and remakes of those adaptations, that it is refreshing in a way to read the original novel. As a person who watched numerous versions of the story as a child, most bizarrely a TV-only anime version, the story is so familiar and engrained into my psyche that even talking about it is something of a difficult task. Whether or not it functions as an allegory for capitalism, or whether the character's flaws are more reflective of societal problems as a whole, seems irrelevant to debate. My own perspective on it is simplistic, the way I viewed it as a kid; perhaps this is a cheap, uneducated way to go about it, but certain arguments which propose The Wizard of Oz's inherent anti-capitalist intent read so convoluted that it seems you could reinterpret any work of literature to similar purpose. To me, The Wizard of Oz is an unforgettable story, no strings attached. Whether it was envisioned that way is doubtable, but also entirely unimportant.