Adaptation and The Wizard of Oz

 

I have an incredibly specific niche: I'm very well researched in the Wizard of Oz novels. The Wizard of Oz as an intellectual property has reached a kind of fame that has exceeded it's original genre classification (children's fantasy) and become a genre onto itself. As such, many of the sources I've selected trace the history of The Wizard of Oz through multiple adaptations and eras. 

When the time comes I will most likely be narrowing my focus on the original novels (1900) and Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013) as that is the latest big budget production of the property in recent memory (discounting Emerald City (2017), which I have on DVD but have yet to watch) and has the greatest difference in time frame. The story is supposed to be based off the Wizard's backstory as described in the first two of Baum's novels, but deviates significantly in a way that betrays certain ideological inconsistencies.

Annotated Bibliography

Genre

Baum, L. Frank, et al. (2000). The Annotated Wizard of Oz: the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Norton.

Published on the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Annotated Wizard of Oz is a reprint of the original novel accompanied by extensive and thorough footnotes describing, among other things, the Life of L. Frank Baum, the various factors that may have influenced him, the social context in which he was writing, public perception of his work, the intertextuality between the first novel and the others in the series, the intertextuality between the first novel and its many adaptations prior to 2000, and the various ways it has been analyzed in a literary capacity. The book has an expansive bibliography of sources and an abundance of pictures from the property’s production history, as well as illustrations from W.W. Denslow, Baum’s initial illustrator.

Due to the publication date, the Annotated Wizard of Oz cannot take into account any articles, criticisms or adaptations from the previous two decades. Recent works like Wicked: The Musical, Tin Man, or Oz: the Great and Powerful are not present in any of the commentary. That said, it documents a century’s worth of history surrounding the novel, the author, and the adaptations that spring from it, be they books, plays, or films. It is the definitive source for research on The Wizard of Oz, and can give quite a lot of insight in the progression of Oz as a genre as well as the social history surrounding it.

Burger, A. (2009). From 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'Wicked': Trajectory of American Myth. (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation). Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ 

A dissertation from Alissa Burger, now an English professor at Culver Stockton College, which was later revised and published as a book, "The Wizard of Oz as American Myth: A Critical Study of Six Versions of the Story, 1900-2007," which was published in 2012. The dissertation examines the evolution of theme as the Wizard of Oz is adapted throughout the years, starting with Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, then cycling through the MGM Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and Stephan Shwartz’s musical Wicked. Burger is particularly interested in how this text operates as an”American Myth” reflecting the American social consciousness in terms of gender, race, home and magic.

Being a poor college student, I have no resources through which to buy Burger’s book, but her original thesis is available to the public. Much like the Annotated Wizard of Oz, the article is expansive this time in terms of literary analysis. This resource is particularly valuable, not only because it provides a decent timeline outlining the evolution of this intellectual property as a genre, but it makes explicit comparisons between each of the text and their socio-political themes.

Meeusen, M. (2017). The Difficulty in Deciphering the "Dreams That You Dare to Dream": Adaptive Dissonance in Wizard of Oz Films. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 42(2), 185-204. doi:10.1353/chq.2017.0016.

Meghann Meeusen likewise takes on a sample of Wizard of Oz adaptations, expanding the timeline to include more recent adaptations such as The Wiz Live! and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Not only does Meussen examine each individual addition to the Oz legacy, but the process of adaptation itself. She proposes that The Wizard of Oz is in a unique position where every subsequent adaptation, remake or prequel/sequel is not only in conversation with the original text, but with every preceding and subsequent text. This results in ideological contradictions not just between the work and the source material, but with all other adaptation and, in some cases, the individual work itself. Not dissimilar to what we’ve read about representational dilemma, Meeusen calls this “adaptive dissonance”.

Includes some of the most recent big name adaptations, and goes into depth about the contradictions in themes. It has the most to say about the original MGM film, The Wiz, Wiz Live! and Oz: The Great and Powerful. It is useful for many of the same reasons Burger’s dissertation is valuable- it provides an even more comprehensive timeline of adaptation, explores social ramifications of representations, and has an extensive biography of additional sources. It also has the advantage of being recent and providing scholarly analysis of adaptations that have not had as much time to ruminate in the public consciousness.

Social History

Shuessler, J. (2019, August 15). The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/arts/design/womens-suffrage-movement.htm

As the title suggests, Shuelesser’s article details the history of the suffrage movement from the 1840’s to 1920. Attention is paid towards both the legal implications of the suffrage movement as well as the various social factors that complicated it. Most of the documents, advertisements and conventions important to the women’s movement are explored. Contributions by suffragettes of color are highlighted, as well as the fact that the 19th amendment, while outlining that the vote cannot be withheld based on gender, did not extend the right to vote to African, Asian or Native Americans.

Seeing as the suffragette movement was very active at the time Baum was writing, it felt pertinent to research this particular social movement. Baum’s wife and mother in law were active in the suffragette movement and his mother in law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, was a big name in first wave feminism, helping establish the National Woman’s Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony and Cady Stanton. As such, suffragette/early feminist themes are very present in Baum’s novels. 

Allen, B. (2002, November 17). The Man Behind the Curtain. The New York Times, 13.

A detailed look at the biography of L. Frank Baum, and the social factors that may have influenced his writing. As discussed above, L.Frank Baum’s suffragette family is referenced, as well as his move westward towards rural South Dakota that served as an inspiration for the Midwestern setting of The Wizard of Oz. Baum’s appreciation for family and children is emphasized as playing into the novel’s themes. There is also an examination of American ideology as seen by Baum, particularly how it manifests in American children of the era.  

Brooke Allen’s description of Baum is helpful as it puts into perspective what kind of man originated this text, and how he, and thus, his work, was influenced by his era and environment. Deliberate examples from the text are chosen to illustrate his voice and ideology, putting into context the greater themes and ideas from the novel that will then be carried over in subsequent adaptations. Allen also provides a particularly helpful section detailing public perception to his work and how that changed with the “fashion” of the times. For example, how a Post WWII America criticized his work for its “blandness and…easy optimism”, while in the 1950’s, during the Red Scare, Baum was disliked for his less than capitalist depiction of a utopia without money.

Wilson, N. (2013, March 14). “Oz the Great and Powerful” Rekindles the Notion That Women Are Wicked. Ms. Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2020, from https://msmagazine.com/2013/03/14/oz-the-great-and-powerful-rekindles-the-notion-that-women-are-wicked/ 

 A few days after the release of Oz: The Great and Powerful, Wilson compares the politics of the film to the original novel and finds the film comes up short. Wilson begins with an analysis of Baum’s novels, explaining the extent of the female influence on them and how the novels have been historically regarded as progressive in feminist and queer studies, and to an extent, even “anti-colonial” in some regards. It is briefly remarked that the popularity of the 1939 MGM film, which was considerably less liberal, resulted in “many subsequent de-politicized adaptations.” the most egregious being Oz: The Great and Powerful, which removes any female agency from the plot and lore in favor of empowering the fraudulent male lead.

Wilson’s article is the articulate culmination of several articles discussing the same subject, and it offers a variety of interesting insights not really present in previous articles. Wilson draws a connection between the MGM film (1939) and Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013) in that both were produced during times of economic uncertainty, and thus, both subliminally “call their women back home”. It was one of perhaps two sources that offered social history about years in recent memory, and did so in a way that offered meaningful comparisons between texts.