The Wizard of Oz as American Myth

The Wizard of Oz as American Myth PDF Author: Alissa Burger
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786489596
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the publication of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, authors, filmmakers, and theatrical producers have been retelling and reinventing this uniquely American fairy tale. This volume examines six especially significant incarnations of the story: Baum's original novel, the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), Sidney Lumet's African American film musical The Wiz (1978), Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995), Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's Broadway hit Wicked: A New Musical (2003), and the SyFy Channel miniseries Tin Man (2007). A close consideration of these works demonstrates how versions of Baum's tale are influenced by and help shape notions of American myth, including issues of gender, race, home, and magic, and makes clear that the Wizard of Oz narrative remains compelling and relevant today.

The Wizard of Oz as American Myth

The Wizard of Oz as American Myth PDF Author: Alissa Burger
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786489596
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the publication of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, authors, filmmakers, and theatrical producers have been retelling and reinventing this uniquely American fairy tale. This volume examines six especially significant incarnations of the story: Baum's original novel, the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), Sidney Lumet's African American film musical The Wiz (1978), Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995), Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's Broadway hit Wicked: A New Musical (2003), and the SyFy Channel miniseries Tin Man (2007). A close consideration of these works demonstrates how versions of Baum's tale are influenced by and help shape notions of American myth, including issues of gender, race, home, and magic, and makes clear that the Wizard of Oz narrative remains compelling and relevant today.

Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale PDF Author: Jack Zipes
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143918
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
" Explores the historical rise of the literary fairy tale as genre in the late seventeenth century. In his examinations of key classical fairy tales, Zipes traces their unique metamorphoses in history with stunning discoveries that reveal their ideological relationship to domination and oppression. Tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Rumplestiltskin have become part of our everyday culture and shapers of our identities. In this lively work, Jack Zipes explores the historical rise of the literary fairy tale as genre in the late seventeenth century and examines the ideological relationship of classic fairy tales to domination and oppression in Western society. The fairy tale received its most "mythic" articulation in America. Consequently, Zipes sees Walt Disney's Snow White as an expression of American male individualism, film and literary interpretations of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz as critiques of American myths, and Robert Bly's Iron John as a misunderstanding of folklore and traditional fairy tales. This book will change forever the way we look at the fairy tales of our youth.

Finding Oz

Finding Oz PDF Author: Evan I. Schwartz
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547055102
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book Here

Book Description
A groundbreaking new look at the author of an iconic American novel--"The Wizard of Oz"--this biography offers profound new insights into the true origins and meaning behind L. Frank Baum's 1900 masterwork.

The Wizard of Us

The Wizard of Us PDF Author: Jean Houston
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1582703795
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
Discover the powerful, unique skills and qualities of Dorothy, the Wizard, and the other archetypes of mind, heart, and courage that live within each of us. Houston offers new understanding of the human condition, the importance of myth, and the critical nature of our role and how we can participate in the creation of a better world. It's time to uncover your inner hero and become the essential human you were always meant to be.

The Road to Wicked

The Road to Wicked PDF Author: Kent Drummond
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319931067
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Road to Wicked examines the long life of the Oz myth. It is both a study in cultural sustainability— the capacity of artists, narratives, art forms, and genres to remain viable over time—and an examination of the marketing machinery and consumption patterns that make such sustainability possible. Drawing on the fields of macromarketing, consumer behavior, literary and cultural studies, and theories of adaption and remediation, the authors examine key adaptations and extensions of Baum’s 1900 novel. These include the original Oz craze, the MGM film and its television afterlife, Wicked and its extensions, and Oz the Great and Powerful—Disney’s recent (and highly lucrative) venture that builds on the considerable success of Wicked. At the end of the book, the authors offer a foundational framework for a new theory of cultural sustainability and propose a set of explanatory conditions under which any artistic experience might achieve it.

American Fairy Tales (Illustrated)

American Fairy Tales (Illustrated) PDF Author: L. Frank Baum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 117

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Chicago, an ordinary key unlocks a magical trunk packed with robbers and a pie. In Boston, five magical bon-bons make an ordinary senator, an ordinary professor, an ordinary girl and her ordinary parents do the most extraordinary things A young cowboy lassoes Father Time; the dummy in Mr. Floman's department store window comes to life; and a tiny beetle gives a New England farmer and his wife a pump which pumps not water, but gold Author of the much-loved Oz books, L. Frank Baum transforms the familiar with his magical mix of humor and enchantment. Most of the twelve stories in this delightful collection are set in America where, so it seems, modern fairies, knooks, and ryls are always causing the most astonishing things to happen These tales will enchant both young and old. When American Fairy Tales first appeared, Baum's reputation as a storyteller had already been established by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900. The twelve stories in this collection were originally syndicated weekly in at least five newspapers during the first half of 1901. The first book edition, which this facsimile reprints, came out later that year.

Mother Goose in Prose

Mother Goose in Prose PDF Author: L. Frank Baum
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486420868
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
A collection of twenty-two nursery rhymes, including "Old King Cole" and "Little Bo-Peep," fashioned into full-length stories by the author of "The Wizard of Oz."

The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film

The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film PDF Author: Susan Mackey-Kallis
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812200136
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
In contemporary America, myths find expression primarily in film. What's more, many of the highest-grossing American movies of the past several decades have been rooted in one of the most fundamental mythic narratives, the hero quest. Why is the hero quest so persistently renewed and retold? In what ways does this universal myth manifest itself in American cinema? And what is the significance of the popularity of these modern myths? The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film by Susan Mackey-Kallis is an exploration of the appeal of films that recreate and reinterpret this mythic structure. She closely analyzes such films as E.T., the Star Wars trilogy, It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King, Field of Dreams, The Piano, Thelma and Louise, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Elements of the quest mythology made popular by Joseph Campbell, Homer's Odyssey, the perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley, and Jungian psychology all contribute to the compelling interpretive framework in which Mackey-Kallis crafts her study. She argues that the purpose of the hero quest is not limited to the discovery of some boon or Holy Grail, but also involves finding oneself and finding a home in the universe. The home that is sought is simultaneously the literal home from which the hero sets out and the terminus of the personal growth he or she undergoes during the journey back. Thus the quest, Mackey-Kallis asserts, is an outward journey into the world of action and events which eventually requires a journey inward if the hero is to grow, and ultimately necessitates a journey homeward if the hero is to understand the grail and share it with the culture at large. Finally, she examines the value of mythic criticism and addresses questions about myth currently being debated in the field of communication studies.

Adapting The Wizard of Oz

Adapting The Wizard of Oz PDF Author: Danielle Birkett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190663197
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the most beloved film musicals of all time, The Wizard of Oz represents an enduring family favorite and cultural classic. Yet there is much more to the story than meets the eye, and the MGM movie is just one of many ways in which it has been represented. In this lively and wide-ranging book, editors Danielle Birkett and Dominic McHugh bring together insights from eleven experts into the varied musical forms this great American myth has taken in the past century. Starting with the early adaptations of L. Frank Baum's story, the book also explores the writing, composition and reception of the MGM film, its importance in queer culture, stage adaptations of the movie, cult classic The Wiz, Stephen Schwartz's Broadway blockbuster Wicked, and the cultural afterlife of the iconic Arlen-Harburg songs. What emerges is a vivid overview of how music - on stage and screen - has been an essential part of the story's journey to become a centerpiece of American culture.

A Wizard of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea PDF Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547851391
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originally published in 1968, Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea marks the first of the six now beloved Earthsea titles. Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.