When Lyman Frank Baum wrote the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he was determined to create “tales of fantasy with a difference,” according to professor and author Russel Blaine Nye. Baum said he wanted to craft stories that would “bear the stamp of our times and depict the progressive fairies of today.” What matters are the lessons they teach and their impact. “We tell, we have always told, such stories to explain things,” author Gregory McNamee wrote. For more than 200 years, the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales have tapped into readers’ darkest fears. Stretching back 26 centuries, Aesop’s fables warn readers against falling prey to bad habits like arrogance. ‘Wizard of Oz’ author knew he had written something special.įrom fables to fairy tales, children’s stories have long provided lessons on human behavior. I wonder, could Oz offer insight into the world today? Perhaps it’s more than just fiction after all. But as I’ve grown older, the spread of “fake news” and political corruption have led me to reconsider the blurred line between truth and fabrication, reality and fantasy, life and Oz.
state of Kansas, and a merry band of misfits in their search for the enigmatic Wizard of Oz.Īs Dorothy’s adventures captured my imagination, for a moment fantasy became my reality. Set in the magical land of Oz, the tale followed Dorothy, a girl from the U.S. When I was seven years old, I fell in love with the film The Wizard of Oz. Like the wizard behind his curtain, politicians world-wide deal in deceit.Ī film poster for the 1955 re-release of The Wizard of Oz (1939) ( Wikimedia Commons)Ĭan a beloved children’s story unveil truths about the politics of today and even about ourselves? He even butted heads with Jay-Z over his parenting opinions, but that still hasn’t stopped the Future train from rolling right into some impressive first week sales.Dorothy’s adventures in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ offer more than fantasy for children. They might not agree with his views on the relationship between his son with Ciara and her husband Russell Wilson, which Future seemingly can’t help commenting on.
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However, those new fans should likely stick to listening to the free copies of The Wizrd they received at the show, rather than doing any deep digging into Future’s lifestyle philosophy. The addition of the band and the dancers lends a layer of polish to Future’s delivery that might just earn him some new fans from the Ellen demographic. Meanwhile, the Wheezy-produced beat received some rock-ish embellishments courtesy of a guitarist solo riffing between bars.
Ballet and trap are two genres that are about as far apart as it gets, but leave it to Future to find a way to combine the elegance and class of one with the grit and blues of the other for a radiant performance of “ Crushed Up” from his new album The Wizrd on The Ellen Show.ĭressed in all-white and lit like the inside of a UFO, Future performed his single with the addition of live musicians and a pair of ballerinas who danced behind him as he reeled off his lyrical list of opulent belongings.