Good, Evil, and the Wizard of Oz

I took the kids to see the touring production of The Wizard of Oz today, and the Wicked Witch cries out as she is melting "How did such a good little girl destroy someone so Wicked?"

The show is all about the virtues of home, but it also about Good with a capitol G and Evil with a capitol E. And then there is the Wizard, a figure who finally expresses both good and evil.

I don't believe in Good and Evil, and overall I worry that stories like this give children a "black and white" "us versus them" view of the world. There is a spectrum of good, of evil.

And that is why I find the storyline of Wicked so much more interesting. Wicked takes this Good and Evil story and asks "what is evil?".

Also interesting, Carbon and Hypatia had a heated argument about this new Wicked Witch doll: Carbon says she is evil because of her green skin and black dress; Hypatia says she is good because she is smiling. Stereotypes, but I enjoyed the debate.

Edited to add: I don't "worry" so much that I wouldn't tell this story to kids. The classic fairy tale narrative meets many developmental needs, and most of us grow up able to see that the world is actually more complex and nuanced than a fairy tale. I guess all I was saying is that I would worry if we were giving this to them as Truth. The stories we tell will always be less important than the values we live by and the example we set. But I'm still struck by the simplicity of the one story line, and then the interesting nuance brought to it by the Maguire books.