{"id":625,"date":"2018-03-01T17:14:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T22:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/?p=625"},"modified":"2018-03-01T17:14:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T22:14:14","slug":"the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-and-the-test-of-time-by-daniel-criscuolo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/2018\/03\/01\/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-and-the-test-of-time-by-daniel-criscuolo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Test of Time by Daniel Criscuolo"},"content":{"rendered":"

When L. Frank Baum created\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/em> in 1900, he\u00a0 probably did not envision it becoming one of the most legendary pieces of literature in American history.\u00a0 The chances that he saw the direction it would take itself are even slimmer.\u00a0 The children’s story that also (likely) served as an allegory for 19th century populism is, at this point, more well known for its 1939 film adaptation, this time titled\u00a0The Wizard of Oz<\/em>.\u00a0 The movie adaptation focused itself on the fantastical world created by Baum and featured songs written specifically for the movie that have become iconic in their own right.\u00a0 For example, it is hard to think of the story separately from “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” and “Over the Rainbow” was named the best song of the 20th century by the Recording Industry Association of America.[1]\u00a0 The film turned the story into one of the most well known ever, which is certainly an accomplishment, but in doing so,\u00a0the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz\u00a0<\/em>lost its original allegorical significance.\u00a0 Instead, The<\/em>\u00a0Wizard of Oz<\/em>\u00a0is thought of as one of the greatest family movies and Oz came to be a wondrous and fantastical paradigm of utopias in cinema.\u00a0\"\"\u00a0[2]<\/p>\n

Following the 1939 film adaptation, the story was adapted into another musical and subsequent film,\u00a0The Wiz<\/em>, this time featuring an all-black cast, all new songs, and a re-imagination of the land of Oz in a New York City setting.<\/p>\n

In his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin argues that “the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.”[3]\u00a0 In the case of\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/em>, this could certainly be true.\u00a0 In the adaptations of Baum’s original story, the original allegory was lost as the overall themes changed to match the times of their respective releases.\u00a0 The way the recreations altered the way people think of\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/em> is naturally due to the changes made in each story, but that does not mean the original is tainted or disrespected: the tale likely owes its iconicity to these recreations.\u00a0 Martin Kemp, who disagreed with Benjamin over the effects of reproduction, said: “any widespread broadcasting of fame ensures that the embodying of a special presence in the original is enormously enhanced.” [4]\u00a0 In the case of\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/em>, both are certainly true.\u00a0 Much of the original story changed, but the wonderment and the whimsy remained.<\/p>\n

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[5]<\/p>\n

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[1]\u00a0“Best Songs Of The Century?” CBS News, March 08, 2001, accessed March 01, 2018, https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/best-songs-of-the-century\/.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0The Wizard of Oz<\/i>\u00a0(1939).<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0Martin Kemp,\u00a0Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon<\/i>\u00a0(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0The Wiz<\/em> (1978).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When L. Frank Baum created\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, he\u00a0 probably did not envision it becoming one of the most legendary pieces of literature in American history.\u00a0 The chances that he saw the direction it would take itself are even slimmer.\u00a0 The children’s story that also (likely) served as an allegory for 19th …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/americanicons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}