{"id":2778,"date":"2005-04-05T18:29:50","date_gmt":"2005-04-05T22:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2015-05-17T08:25:23","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T12:25:23","slug":"the-wizard-of-oz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2778","title":{"rendered":"Margaret Atwood on The Wizard of Oz<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from Margaret Atwood’s book Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. This is the section on The Wizard of Oz. Nothing new here, nothing revolutionary, but definitely interesting to contemplate and discuss. I assume we all remember the story of the Wizard, and what he does??<\/p>\n

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He’s had to pretend to be magical and fearsome, so that the evil witches — who really do have supernatural powers — would not destroy them all. Thus he has created either a utopia or a benevolent despotism, however you choose to look at it. Also he has fooled Dorothy into doing battle with the remaining evil witch by holding out false promises: he doesn’t really know how to get her back to Kansas.<\/p>\n

Dorothy is not impressed. “I think you are a very bad man,” she says.<\/p>\n

“Oh no, my dear,” says the Wizard. “I’m really a very good man; but I’m a very bad Wizard …”<\/p>\n

If you’re an artist<\/i>, being a good man — or a good woman — is pretty much beside the point when it comes to your actual accomplishments. Moral perfection won’t compensate for your badness as an artist; not being able to hit high C is not redeemed by being kind to dogs. However, whether you are a good man or a bad man is not<\/i> beside the point if you happen to be a good wizard<\/i> — good at doing your magic, making your “marvellous clear jelly,” creating illusions that can convince people of their truth — because if you are good at being a wizard in this sense, then power of various sorts may well come your way — power in relation to society — and then your goodness or badness as a human being will have a part in determining what you do with this power.<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz — soi-disant<\/i> magician, wielder of power, manipulator, illusionist, and fraud — has a long geneology. His remote ancestor was probably a shaman or high priest or conjuror, or one who combined these functions. Other ancestors can be found in folklore. More recently, and in literature, he can be traced from Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus through Prospero of The Tempest<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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