Article March 25, 2002 Issue

Pulling back the curtain on evil

By Elise L. Moore

MOST AMERICANS HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE CLASSIC The Wizard of Oz. Children are charmed as Dorothy, together with the cowardly lion, the tin man, and the scarecrow, travel to Oz to see the wizard. Who hasn't cheered when the wicked witch is doused with water and melts away into nothing?

The wizard, at first so foreboding and mysterious, turns out to be a harmless old man pulling levers, using special effects. After Toto, the dog, exposes the man's charade by pulling at a curtain, the whole mystery evaporates. The man kindly tells Dorothy that she's always had the ability to do what she wants to do—go home to Kansas. Three clicks of the shoes. Repeat, "There's no place like home," and Dorothy wakes up safe in her bed.

While director Victor Fleming's intent probably wasn't theological, I've found the imagery of The Wizard of Oz helpful in explaining a term used in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: animal magnetism.