Adaptation Blog Post

Danny Hargers

Vrooman

Media and Popular Culture

Sept 28, 2015

Adaptation Sources: The Wizard of OZ

-"There s No Place Like Home": The Wizard of Oz And American Isolationism.

Carpenter, Lynette. "There S No Place Like Home": The Wizard Of Oz And American Isolationism." Film & History (03603695) 15.2 (1985): 37-45. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

The article focuses on the film "The Wizard of Oz," produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in the late 1930's. According to film historian Aljean Harmetz, MGM executives saw the film as pure fantasy in the tradition of the enormously successful 1938 Walt Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Yet the film version of "The Wizard of Oz" released in the summer of 1939 does reflect the influence of world political events in its revision of the original story. The major creative influences on the project, in addition to the credited scriptwriters, were predominantly Republican and conservative, in line with the political views of studio head Louis B. Mayer: sentimentalist Mervyn LeRoy, ultraconservative Arthur Freed, and Victor Fleming, who would later form an anti-Communist organization with actor John Wayne after the war. At the same time, though, fed by strong popular sentiment, the stance of neutrality drew overwhelming support from all parties. Isolationism ran high among Republicans as well as Democrats, making it a respectable stance at MGM.

 

-Baum's Wizard of Oz as Gilded Age Public Relations.

Ziaukas, Tim. "Baum's Wizard Of Oz As Gilded Age Public Relations." Public Relations Quarterly 43.3 (1998): 7-11. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

This article discusses the significance of Lyman Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" book to public relations in the U.S. The Wizard of Oz, published nearly a century ago, has become the most popular American children's story, immortalized through a number of editions, stage and film productions, and especially the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland. Images, characters and lines of dialogue from Baum's novel continue as ubiquitous parts of American popular culture. The decade that produced Oz was galvanized by the debate over what was known as "the financial question." After independence from England, the United States had officially adopted bimetalism, that is, a monetary standard in which both gold and silver are used as legal tender. The Coinage Act of 1853, however, "replaced bimetalism in the U.S. with a de facto gold standard. After 1853 bimetalism remained only as a legal fiction which was finally terminated twenty years later." During the Civil War, the Union issued "greenbacks," named for the color of the ink used on one side of the bill, whose value was rendered by fiat of the federal government.

The Resumption Act of 1875, though, ensured the elimination of the greenbacks and put the country further on the road to the gold standard. Baum's parable of America at the turn of the century went on to become the country's most beloved fairy tale, while his complicated propagandistic intentions faded away when those issues retreated from public discourse.

 

-The Allegorical Allusion.

FAWCETT, MELANIE. "The Allegorical Allusion." Screen Education 77 (2015): 82-85. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

The article explores the use of allegory as a narrative device in films and novels. It mentions that allegories deals with social, political, cultural, moral and ethical issues of the time and reflect the writer's or filmmaker's view on a particular topic. It discusses the use of allegories in various novels including "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, and films like "The Wizard of Oz," "The Matrix" and "The Hunger Games."

 

-          The Wiz

Jason Scott's

In this article the author uses a different perspective of the 1978 version of the wizard of oz which is formally known as “The Wiz”, in order to make a point about the significance and symbolism of the movie.

 

-          'I've seen the movie' Oz Revisited.

Billman, Carol. "'I've Seen The Movie' Oz Revisited." Literature Film Quarterly 9.4 (1981): 241. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

Presents a comparative analysis of writer L. Frank Baum's prose fantasy written in 1900 and the 1939 film adaptation of his novel 'The Wizard of Oz.' Depiction of the land in the novel and film; Passive moralization in the novel and film; Discussion of Baum's expansiveness in the matter of characterization.