Unrelenting Reality of American Politics
Of Wizards, Washington, And The Dreary
A raw and sometimes darkly comic survey of America’s treacherous political terrain
(January 12, 2017, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) The books about The Wizard of Oz were written as satire on American politics, but Hollywood, in its inimitable way, turned them into a song-and-dance picture for children. Still, one scene in the film has a sense of the author’s intent. That scene is when Dorothy, in Emerald City, approaches a closet-like structure, which, as it happens, is the Wizard’s control booth for sounds and smoke and lights, his special effects for intimidating visitors and impressing them with non-existent power.
