From Children's Story to Cultural Phenomenon

As children, we've all seen the beautiful and enchanting 1939 MGM film, The Wizard of Oz, about a young girl who gets whisked away to the magical land called OZ, where she discovers, "there really is no place like home".

For generations, viewers young and old have watched Dorothy and her traveling companions, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to obtain a heart, a brain, and courage while trying to outrun the horrible Wicked Witch of the West.

Due to the success of the film, the quartet still dance and sing in their "Technicolor" world on televisions all over the globe and in the hearts and minds of children young and old. What many may not know; however, is that the story of OZ, Dorothy, and her companions had a very loyal following an entire thirty-nine years earlier thanks to children's story writer L. Frank Baum. In 1900, Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which spawned up to thirty-one adaptations of the beloved story including Broadway stage plays, silent films, and 1978's, The Wiz. All of these versions will be examined in comparison to the original to see the assortment of ways one story can be told and the interpretations that it can be given.

Of course with any adaptation, there are an array of questions generally asked to make sure people are getting what they want. Questions such as: is the story in the adaptation faithful to the original? Are the characters the same? Is the setting the same? Are the same messages conveyed? Is the story still relevant? This site will look at what happens to a story when it has been moved from one medium to another, and in the case of this story, which has survived for over 100 years, from one time to another.

Josette Blackwood