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Methods
The Wizard of OZ has used all mediums available to get the story of Dorothy's adventure to the masses. This section will show the evolution of the story from its inception in print, to one of its most recent incarnations, The Wiz
The Book
Written
in 1900 by L. Frank Baum,
The Wonderful World of Oz is 259 pages in length and twenty-four
chapters long. Quite large by today's standards for a small child,
the book is also quite detailed and tells of stories and situations
that would be unfamiliar to those more accustomed to the 1939
MGM film. True to form as a fairy tale, the book also depicts
gruesome violence on more than one occasion. One example is when
the foursome meet the
Queen of the Field Mice for the first time:
It was indeed, a great, yellow wildcat, and the Woodman thought it must be chasing something, for its ears were lying close to its head and its mouth was wide open, showing tow rows of ugly teeth, while its red eyes glowed like balls of fire. As it came nearer the Tin Woodman saw that running before the beast was a little gray field-mouse, and although he had no heart he knew it was wrong for the wildcat to try to kill such a pretty, harmless creature./ So the Woodman raised his axe , and as the wildcat ran by he gave it a quick blow that cut the beast's head clean off from its body, and it rolled over at his feet in tow pieces. (Baum 101-2)
This is far from the innocence
Baum had promised in the introduction.
Due to the
multitude of obstacles the group encounters and the length of
the book, it needed to be condensed to have a coherent, interesting
and relatively short story on screen and on stage. To be completely
faithful to this story, would have been impossible.
Josette Blackwood
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