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The road of yellow brick is an element in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz based on the novel gave it the name by which it is better known, the yellow-brick road. In both novel and movie, it is the path which Dorothy is instructed to follow from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City in order to seek the aid of the Wizard of Oz. Scholars have analyzed the book and movie in terms of the extensive use of political images and metaphors. The Yellow Brick Road is seen as the gold road; in the 1890s gold and silver were the subjects of heated political debates. (The magical silver slippers were colored ruby-red in the movie). For details see Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
In the book The Patchwork Girl of Oz it is revealed that there are two yellow brick roads from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City: according to the Shaggy Man, Dorothy Gale took the harder one in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
It is often a misconception that the yellow brick road leads to "Oz". In actuality the yellow brick road was already in Oz and led to the Emerald City. The movie adds to the confusion when the Scarecrow and Dorothy say, "To Oz?" "To Oz!"
As "Oz" is also a nickname for Australia, phrases like "down the yellow brick road" are sometimes used to mean "in Australia". However, considering that the Wizard of Oz is located at the Emerald City (and refers to himself as "Oz, the great and powerful" in the movie), the misconception is understandable. It is just one of several continuity issues in this classic film, which observers have pointed out over the years.
There are also real Yellow Brick roads, such as the one in Hoboken, New Jersey (Castle Point Terrace).
Red brick road
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, both a yellow brick road and an unexplained red brick road emanate from the town square in Munchkinland. The red brick road heads in generally the opposite direction from the yellow brick road, and disappears behind the buildings in the film set. *
Some students of the Oz books believe that "the red brick road" is an L. Frank Baum book convention that made it into MGM's classic film. In his books, the Land of Oz was divided into four quadrants and each was designated a particular color: Winkie Country = Yellow, Gillikin Country = Purple, Munchkin Country = Blue, and Quadling Country = Red. Glinda the Good was the ruler of the Quadlings in L. Frank Baum's Oz series. As her bubble floats away from Munchkinland in the 1939 film, it appears to be following the red brick road. Therefore, the red brick road would most likely lead back to her homeland, Quadling Country.*
The presence of a second road also serves to implicitly explain why it was necessary to tell Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road, i.e. not the red brick road.
Other references
- As a result of the interpretation of the yellow-brick road as the road "to Oz", yellow brick road has also become a stock phrase referring to a path which leads to a life of fantasy and carefreeness. Phrases referring to the "yellow brick road" are sometimes perceived as hopelessly idiomatic by non-native English speakers.
- When singer/entertainer Sonny Bono first ran for public office in California in the early 1990s, Jay Leno on The Tonight Show quoted Bono as saying, "I've always been a 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' kind of guy!" Leno then commented that he had always thought of Sonny as an "If I Only Had A Brain" kind of guy. Regardless, Bono would eventually win election to the House of Representatives.
- In the daytime drama, Passions, Julian and Timmy travel down a similar road, with the Munchkins singing "Follow the road of yellow bricks".
- In 1973, Elton John released an album called Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which included a song with the same title. Both the album and the song were major hits.
- "Yellow Brick Road" is also a song on rapper Eminem's Encore album. It is depicted as a road into Eminem's past.
- "Yellow Brick Road" is also a song by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.
References
- Dighe, Ranjit S. ed. The Historian's Wizard of Oz: Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory (2002)
- Hearn, Michael Patrick (ed). (2000, 1973) The Annotated Wizard of Oz. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-04992-2
- Ritter, Gretchen. "Silver slippers and a golden cap: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and historical memory in American politics." Journal of American Studies (August 1997) vol. 31, no. 2, 171-203. online at JSTOR
- Rockoff, Hugh. "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of Political Economy 98 (1990): 739-60 online at JSTOR
"Yellow brick road"