WARNING! Don't Read The Oz Series to Your Children: Book Review The Wizard of Oz

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  • Опубликовано: 21 дек 2024

Комментарии • 54

  • @smccarthymi
    @smccarthymi День назад +7

    Definitely read the Oz books with your kids! They are full of creativity, wonder and whimsey. My son (8 at the time) and I loved reading the first two books together. I hope to go back and read the rest. These are all bad arguments for not reading them, in my opinion.
    Don’t read the Wicked books-in all seriousness I can’t say, because I haven’t read them and can’t imagine wanting to-but I assume because the premise annoys me being this “there’s no real heroes and villains just people trying to chase their dreams” idea that is everywhere now. It might be good, I just don’t find anything appealing about the book, the musical, or the movie that’s spun off of it. (Glad to be convinced wrong, though, if someone can reach my stubborn disinterest). But yeah, the L Frank Baum books though, totally read them and see for yourself! They are fantastic.

  • @Mixed_Activist
    @Mixed_Activist 2 дня назад +7

    I didn’t know there were mini series. I read wicked and the wizard of oz but not these. I was 14. I loved them. Also fyi it’s only the newer stories that are child friendly, it’s only recent the concept of a gentle childhood. I love Halloween for me it’s a day of acceptance. I am artsy and autistic and I dress how I feel and got bullied for it and Halloween was the one day I could dress as freaky as I wanted and no one could say anything. And I’m not talking slutty I’m talking artsy. Plus candy. 7:05 not true actually, in medieval Christian fairytales like King Arthur for example Morgana wasn’t originally evil, that evolved with the times, and was used later on as a metaphor for pagan religion and Arthur as Christianity. And then in ancient times there was good and bad witches because back then people believed magic was like a force of nature like gravity, neither good nor evil but was depended upon by those that wielded it. It’s more of a modern trope of witches always being bad. Just so you know, the Nazis stole the swastika symbol from the Hindus, they took a symbol that was originally for peace and ruined it, much like the neo Nazis steal from the Vikings. (I’m a nerd ) 9:31 they turned her slippers red for the movie so they would sparkle more and show up better. That could also be the butterfly effect tho.

  • @jaernihiltheus7817
    @jaernihiltheus7817 2 дня назад +3

    As others have said, fairy tales in general can be quite gruesome. In the original Cinderella tale, for example, the wicked step sisters decide to make glass slippers of their own to take to the ball, but the slippers weren't the right fit so they shatter on the dance floor - the wicked step sisters then run out of the ball stepping in glass shards until crows come out and pluck their eyes out. One of the Aesops fables includes a dog drowning to death because he wanted to chase a bone he saw in his reflection. The Juniper Tree in Grimm's Fairy Tales is about a man killing his son on accident and burying him under a tree without telling anyone, only for a robin to come and mock him relentlessly threatening to expose him as a murderer (he attempts to kill the Robin and IIRC gets strangled by the tree or something). I really could go on and on.
    Another important point is that L Frank Baum was a big fan of Lewis G Caroll and had the same philosophy when writing Wizard of Oz as Lewis G Caroll did when writing Alice In Wonderland - which is that entertainment should be just that, entertainment. Messaging is all fine and good but at the time (post-Civil War, pre-World War era) most literature, especially fairy tales of the time, were so filled with "The Message (TM)" that it made for very boring and preachy stories that felt almost insulting. So both stories were intentionally written to have no deeper themes. People ascribed meanings and themes to them later on (hippies famously argue Alice In Wonderland is about a drug trip for example), but their only purpose as stories is to be fun to read. Nothing more, nothing less.

    • @thomasfranche6770
      @thomasfranche6770 23 часа назад

      Actually, it was the step mother (of course!) who killed the boy in the Juniper Tree, before feeding him to her husband (the boy's father) and burying his bones under the juniper tree, before the boy somewho became the bird who sang that song about being killed by his step mother and eaten by his father. lol
      A lot of people don't seem to know that L. Frank Baum was a theosophist (that Blavatsky pseudo religion). But Spiritism was fashionable in those days.

  • @KarlBonner1982
    @KarlBonner1982 День назад +2

    I actually agree that movie Glinda was a villain, but not because "all witches are bad." (I happen to be a Druidic Pagan myself.) It's because of the underlying plot, and how she used Dorothy to eliminate all her political competition.

  • @EricMontreal22
    @EricMontreal22 2 дня назад +3

    What is missing in this argument is a lot of the TONE of the books--Baum's books are all about whimsy, even when they deal with more mature themes. Kids are smart. They don't hear the Tin Woodsman's backstory and think of it in the horror movie/gory way you seem to read it as (which I found fascinating as a five year old--by age 7 I was a member of the pretty adult International Wizard of Oz club--my parents thankfully supported all of this.) As others have said, look at any fairy tale (even a lot of the sanitized Disney versions...) If you are guarding your children from the original Oz books then I can honestly not imagine what you are allowing them to read or watch (including the movie of Wicked, quite frankly.)
    (I will say at that age, Return to Oz came out and my parents DID decide it was too dark and creepy for me, despite my love for all of the Oz books. I was incensed that they let my 12 year old brother, who was not even an Oz fan, watch it. But my parents were right. Return to Oz, which is VERY different in tone than the Baum books, would have been too much for me as a kid--electro shock therapy??)

    • @thomasfranche6770
      @thomasfranche6770 23 часа назад +1

      My five year old niece loves Return to Oz. I loved it too when I was her age. I loved how darker and deeper it was than the 1939 movie.

    • @EricMontreal22
      @EricMontreal22 2 часа назад

      @@thomasfranche6770 That's great! To be clear, my parents realized it was too scary for me at that age and they were right. Kids are different (another reason I find the advice in this video insufferable.)

  • @emilymichalski9195
    @emilymichalski9195 2 дня назад +3

    I loved the play and the movie of Wicked and can't wait for it to stream on prime video

  • @annarain9212
    @annarain9212 День назад +1

    I appreciate that you are talking about these themes. Oftentimes we overlook them because it is a well known or well liked work and we need to screen what our children consume, regardless of popularity/notoriety. Just out of curiosity, how do you feel about the Harry Potter series? I apologize if you've already mentioned them somewhere else.

  • @emilyp9798
    @emilyp9798 3 дня назад +2

    So glad you shared this. Thank you so much! I've seen this on Christian book lists but never felt it would be a good book to read, even without reading it.

  • @DaisyMancuso
    @DaisyMancuso День назад +1

    I remember seeing the return to oz. But I actually don’t remember much of it at all except that oz was kind of destroyed and that scarecrow was missing or a frozen stone statue or something and she was going to have to rescue everyone in some kind of adventure like the other movies. And there was something that traveled on like one wheel or the wheel was a part of their body instead of feet. And the yellow road I think was ruined or something. But I don’t really remember the movie or anything that happened, just kind of the set up. 🤷🏻‍♀️

    • @Slayla_123
      @Slayla_123 День назад

      In the movie return to Oz the scarecrow was trapped By The gnome King and there were these things called wheelers that turn anything living to Stone and there's this girl that has multiple heads and she wants to take Dorothy's head and and there is Jack pumpkinhead (the jack o'lantern guy) which osmo Oz created and then they have this powder of Life thing that isn't living so they pour on this couch thing or something like that and then it starts flying and then they go off to see the gnome King and then they play this game and get the scarecrow back in Jack pumpkinhead has ballena (a chicken) in his head (which by the way the gnome Kings only weakness is eggs) and in the gnome King picks up Jack pumpkinhead upside down and then bellina make sure chicken noises and an egg folds out into his mouth and then he (the Nome King)withers away then the witch gets arrested and ozma of Oz starts ruling Oz
      (In the book different stuff happens)

  • @lovesmesomelilacs-ke5rz
    @lovesmesomelilacs-ke5rz 3 дня назад +9

    Don't read fairy tales or nursery rhymes....they all have deep rooted horror.

    • @creativelycountry1617
      @creativelycountry1617 2 дня назад +2

      Totally agree!! I cannot understand why all these “Classics” are thought of as great. So many are just terrible!!!

    • @emilymichalski9195
      @emilymichalski9195 2 дня назад +1

      What about hey diddle diddle and the farmer in the Dell that is not filled with horror

    • @creativelycountry1617
      @creativelycountry1617 2 дня назад

      @@emilymichalski9195 agree, should say not every rhyme, but so very many stories 😢

    • @redrosecottage
      @redrosecottage 2 дня назад

      English fairy tales😮

  • @katie7748
    @katie7748 3 дня назад +3

    I'm glad you're talking about this!!
    I'd add that it's important to screen what authors you allow in your home as a whole. There's a series of books on anatomy (hint: that word is in the titles) that is incredibly popular with homeschool families written by someone who has no problem with adults doing certain things to children...if you catch my drift...every time I try to call it or the author out by name, or even if I try to do it creatively, my words go P00F. Gee, I must be onto something there :-/

  • @bryansparza5044
    @bryansparza5044 День назад +1

    Amazing job! Thanks for exposing the truth. Great explanation on the occult inspiration on this book. I appreciate your bravery.

  • @Slayla_123
    @Slayla_123 День назад +1

    7:05 the villain in this book is the witch that turns ozma of Oz into a boy

  • @ciannacoleman5125
    @ciannacoleman5125 2 дня назад +5

    Good video, and I 100% agree that every parent should be aware of and guiding their children's reading. However i was greatly ammused that your complaints about the book are things i enjoy and what i think makes them good kids books. Classic childrens stories including original fairytale (which i think more people should go back to reading) were designed to teach children lessons. Oz introduces concepts in a silly way and opens opportunity for discussion, because of the way it is written limbs being chopped off is made obviously bad but not gruesome (as an asside you would have hated the princess's heads in Ozma so good choice not reading it).
    My parents were on the stricter side as Christians but we actually did a whole season of working something like 8 of the original books into our homeschool leasons one year.
    I am curious: as a christian mother did you censor and "sanatize" Bible stories for your kids in elementary? Pharaoh ordering the babies to be tossed in the Nile, or David killing Goliath not with the stone (as many mistakenly teach) but by cutting off his head with his own sword, are hardly non-grusome stories but it is important to teach them correctly and not teach parodies that have to be unlearned later. Or what about the foundation of our faith the crucifixion itself? Would you not tell your kindergartner or 2nd grader that Jesus had a crown of super long thorns shoved on his head and was nailed to the cross where he hung till he died, or that it was the weight of sin from all time that killed him, not the crucification itself?
    I ask because i am genuinely curious why it would be ok to teach the Bible (i didnt even mention Lot's daughters), but not ok to read a silly book that has similar (and honestly less "grusome" or concerning) content?

    • @EricMontreal22
      @EricMontreal22 2 дня назад +1

      WELL SAID.

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад +1

      Let me explain the difference between The Wizard of Oz and the Bible.
      One is an absurd, poorly written fantasy, with gruesome, graphic gore, that can easily frighten children, yet people read it to children who get psychologically scarred from it.
      The other involves a Scarecrow and a Tinman.

  • @beloved-1
    @beloved-1 3 дня назад +2

    Thank you! I don’t normally push the movie on my kids bc of the good witch bad witch part. Now I definitely will steer clear based on the theosophy part. I read his wiki and yes it all makes sense!

    • @LivingWithEve
      @LivingWithEve  3 дня назад +1

      Yes! It’s so crazy!

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад

      I don't understand why children our taught to be afraid of witches, as opposed to the Christian tyrants who burned and hanged the witches.
      I have some thoughts of the difference between The Wizard of Oz and the Bible.
      One is an absurd, poorly written fantasy, with gruesome, graphic gore, that can easily frighten children, yet people read it to children who get psychologically scarred from it.
      The other involves a Scarecrow and a Tinman.

  • @EbedOfYeshuaHaMashiach
    @EbedOfYeshuaHaMashiach 3 дня назад +2

    Great info as always. Thanks for sharing! Shalom

  • @DaisyMancuso
    @DaisyMancuso День назад +1

    The boy being a girl thing! Maybe we didn’t survive because everyone read that and watched those movies (among other things) are now the adults and we now have the society that we have.

  • @cheryllwaldrop9732
    @cheryllwaldrop9732 3 дня назад +2

    I can understand your reasoning, and I might have come to similar conclusions in time. My daughter read the Wizard Of Oz last year because it was suggested, and because I had read it as a child and enjoyed the absurdity of it all. I didn't find it nearly as morbid as many of the fairy tales that our curriculum suggested. Even a small child knows that the Tin Man's origin story is ludicrous. Of course things go over your head as a child, but even back then I interpreted the events as an allegory that God has provided them everything they needed, but they had to learn to see that for themselves. Other idols, like the Wizard, will let you down, and their promises are empty. I think it comes down to the fact that there is always some spiritual truth in art, but not always what the artist intended. If your worldview is sound and based in Scripture, you can find the good in many things, but some aren't worth the effort, and this might be one of those things for some people.

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад +1

      I have a different perspective on the difference between The Wizard of Oz and the Bible.
      One is an absurd, poorly written fantasy, with gruesome, graphic gore, that can easily frighten children, yet people read it to children who get psychologically scarred from it.
      The other involves a Scarecrow and a Tinman.

  • @whalesong4401
    @whalesong4401 2 дня назад +1

    I'm sure parents question the content of the wizard of oz when it was first published. I can't imagine they would be OK with cutting off body parts even a hundred or so years ago.

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад

      That was pretty standard for fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid, etc. LF Baum wrote Oz to be light and clean, avoiding the grim violence of those earlier tales.

  • @homeschoolmompat1
    @homeschoolmompat1 3 дня назад +4

    I agree-we need to pay close attention to what our kids are reading. I’ve made a few mistakes with some of the books I let my kids read, but I make sure to filter them the best I can. God bless you!"

  • @christymiller6350
    @christymiller6350 3 дня назад +1

    WOW! I had no idea because I've not read the books, so thank you for the info! My boys could care kess about the movie Wicked, but I wouldn't go see it anyway!

  • @laceyselk2112
    @laceyselk2112 2 дня назад +1

    Thank you for your overview! I never liked the movie, so I didn't think I'd read the books, but I Def won't now with my kids! Wicked sounds super evil, so i Won't be watching that either!

  • @stageon
    @stageon День назад +1

    Ezekiel 23:20

  • @brittanym58
    @brittanym58 3 дня назад +5

    We aren't going to see the movie OR read the books because it isn't anything we are interested in. But it's weird timing to see this because I stayed up late watching a lonnnnng video about how wildly messed up the Oz and Wicked stories are.

  • @mignonbaricevic36
    @mignonbaricevic36 2 дня назад +2

    I'm so glad I'm not the only one! Baum also joined the Theosophical Society and believed in all sorts of things we should not be dabbling in. Same with the Secret Garden. Burnett was into Theosophy and I think that's what must have influenced that creepy scene where they summon the uncle to come back and they're doing a ritual around a camp fire. Gave me the creeps as a child despite generally enjoying the film

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад

      In my opinion, humanity should not be dabbling in Christianity. The God of the bible, a hateful, arrogant, sexist, cruel being who can’t tolerate criticism. The concepts of original sin, depravity, substitutionary forgiveness, intolerance, eternal punishment, and humble worship are all beneath the dignity of intelligent human beings and conflict with the values of kindness and reason. They are barbaric ideas for primitive cultures cowering in fear and ignorance.

  • @tatianachavarria8549
    @tatianachavarria8549 3 дня назад +1

    Thank you so much for sharing! We will not include this book for our literature.

  • @thehomelife-88
    @thehomelife-88 3 дня назад +2

    Definitely not seeing wicked and not reading oz..... blah

  • @ew5969
    @ew5969 3 дня назад +2

    Yes!!!

  • @Kiki-fe2le
    @Kiki-fe2le 2 дня назад +3

    Thank you for having these videos! I’ve already decided that books that have nothing to do with glorifying Jesus won’t be brought in my house unless I pre read it and they are old enough to have a solid Biblical worldview to challenge the false beliefs as a family.

    • @jonathanmarkoff4469
      @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад

      I don't understand why children should be afraid of witches, as opposed to being afraid of the Christian tyrants who burned and hanged the witches.
      I find Christianity quite repugnant.

  • @jonathanmarkoff4469
    @jonathanmarkoff4469 День назад +1

    You seem to be labouring under the impression that all children's fiction should be sweetness and light, with nothing that could stir even the most naive reader.
    When I was a child, I loved thrilling and edgy stories, and hated saccharine preachy crap.
    Let me explain the difference between The Wizard of Oz and the Bible.
    One is an absurd, poorly written fantasy, with gruesome, graphic gore, that can easily frighten children, yet people read it to children who get psychologically scarred from it.
    The other involves a Scarecrow and a Tinman.