It's all in the context

I listened to an interesting radio programme* this morning which talked about 'The Wizard of Oz' in relation to the Great Depression. In this context, the 'yellow brick road' refers to the gold standard that the US politicians at the time insisted on sticking to while Roosevelt (I think, bear with me I was a bit snoozy) was trying to flood the market with the silver dollar, to loosen up finances across the country... Much the same way as Brown has just bailed out the UK's banks with £37 billion.

The scarecrow refers to the US agricultural market (no brain), the tin man represents the bankers of the east coast (no heart) and the lion is the US senate (no courage). Dorothy stands for the typical US man or woman. It gets a bit misty where the Wicked Witch of the West kicks in, but it was completely different view on things. Although when you think about it, the film came out in 1939 (around the end of the depression), but was actually written in 1900, way before the depression. So maybe it's all a load of codswallop.

* God bless radio 4.