Introduction for
parents
and teachers
More than one fool would give out his fortune
to anyone who could guarantee him/her the ability of knowing other people’s
deepest thoughts. But this gift has existed –through reading– for thousands of
years. What is becoming scarcer is the interest in reading, although access to
information and culture grows everyday. Time is also scarce in inverse
proportion.
Adequately choosing what we are going to read is as important as being
interested in the vision offered by those who preceded us in observing the
world. Being selective in our intellectual consumption is one of the modern
human being’s pending tasks. More so when we talk about what children read.
Being aware of this, I’ve selected a story that synthesizes several
concepts of great interest for learning; not only for children. Adults should
also remember appearance is highly deceivable, and the answer to our needs is
found within us.
The Wizard of Oz is possibly the story that has captivated the most people around the
world. Who isn’t familiar with the adventures of Dorothy and her peculiar
friends along the Yellow Brick Road? It all started when the North-American
writer, L. Frank Baum, wrote The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in 1900. He would later give continuity to his
story with thirteen sequels. Immediately after its publication, it was musically
adapted for Broadway. Then it turned into theatre shows, film, television and
comics.
It was 1939 when Hollywood pulled out all the stops to turn it into a
big movie production. It wasn’t the first time The Wizard of Oz was made into a movie, but the version we are all
familiar with, with Judie Garland starring as Dorothy, has been the most widely
known. It’s impossible for me to adapt the world of Oz without watching this
classic first.
I’ve tried to keep the original essence fresh
in this version. That’s the main objective in all adaptations. The second goal
is for readers to create a complicity bond with the story. In order to achieve
this, I’ve updated the girl’s needs, as well as those of the three peculiar
characters that go with her, emphasizing the current circumstances of our time.
Not because there weren’t any cowards before –like the lion’s story– who were
challenged by society’s rules; not because the past wasn’t full of cold-hearted
people –like the tin man– indifferent to others; not because the scarecrow of
Oz, submissive to the minds of others, has been an ongoing presence throughout
human history. We’ve always had an abundance of this. Critical times, like the
one we are going through, demand from us a bigger effort in solving these needs.
Solving them brings evolution.
But, above all, the biggest lesson this
fantasy story wishes to give us is appearance is fake and always favours
somebody; annulled minds, paralysing fears and emotional insensitivity are the
best weapons for those who, like in Oz, are hidden behind the curtain. What
better way than a simple story to start telling our children this is the world
they are growing up in.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario