INTRO

An American hero, returning triumphantly to their homestead after taking on adventure and great battles, bringing their gained knowledge back with them. This might not be how you’d describe a teenage girl traveling to the other side of a rainbow with her little dog, but the timeless tale of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz has persevered through decades of retellings.

L. Frank Baum published his classic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz all the way back in the year 1900. Now, the Wizard of Oz is a part of the cultural zeitgeist, with references in our daily language, music, art, pop culture and more. The tale of Dorothy and her friends journeying to the Land of Oz has been adapted into countless sequels, spinoffs, stage musicals, animated specials, and tv series. So what is it about this story that endures? Here’s our take on the surprising story of how The Wizard of Oz came to be what we know it as today, and how it continues to stand the test of time through wacky adaptations, reinventions, and retellings you never knew existed.

CHAPTER ONE: A HERO’S JOURNEY

In the tradition of epics like The Odyssey, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz follows “The Hero’s Journey”, a storytelling framework that involves a character going on an adventure, overcoming obstacles, and eventually returning home, triumphant and transformed. With Dorothy as America’s new literary hero at the turn of the century, audiences wanted to immerse themselves in the world of Oz even further. The answer to this was the first live performance of the story, the 1902 musical extravaganza The Wizard of Oz. This Broadway show added a romance plotline, recognizable American characters like a streetcar conductor, references to Theodore Roosevelt, and maybe most notably a human-sized animal sidekick – Dorothy’s pet cow named Imogene.

This was a far cry from Baum’s original book, but the musical was an undeniable success, touring the country for seven years with an American fairytale of adventure, friendship, and heroism. While the 1939 MGM classic became the most iconic film, modern audiences often don’t realize that the story had already made it to screens twice before, and the drastic story changes in those renditions inspired the technicolor film we all know years later! The earliest surviving silent film adaptation, created in 1910, borrowed some aspects from the musical extravaganza, like Imogene – while elements like Toto, the wicked witch, and a Wizard flying away in a hot air balloon, made their debut in the 12-minute short. A later 1925 silent film, however, withdrew from using any magical elements at all, shifting the plot so that Dorothy’s three farmhands use a scarecrow, a lion, and a tinman as makeshift disguises.

When it came to the 1939 classic, producers were wary to invest in such a high fantasy spectacle. They believed audiences of the late ‘30s would be too sophisticated for the genre. To compromise, they added the magic back in, but with the framing device of a fantastical dream sequence. With stunning Technicolor visuals, gorgeous sound stage sets, amazing practical effects, and a new musical score, The Wizard of Oz earned six Academy Award nominations.

Where the previous musical adaptations found success in creating elaborate subplots, the MGM film focused on Dorothy’s new friendships, with each character representing an important part of her hero’s journey – giving each individual character a greater purpose. And it’s these friends that help Dorothy defeat the obstacles that she wouldn’t have been able to conquer alone. Finding a chosen family is a major arc of the story, and one that resonates with many people who are feeling outcast or othered. By centering universal themes like finding your true home, exciting adventure, and friendship, future adaptations of The Wizard of Oz could now easily be taken into any time period, or made to represent anyone.

CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING THE WONDER OF OZ

Whether it’s creating Hogwarts, The Shire, or the land of Oz - a writer’s world-building might be the most integral part of creating a fantasy onscreen. The land of Oz is a magical place, populated by talking animals, witches (good and bad,) and fantastical color schemes. And with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz entering the public domain in 1956, writers were free to build their own Oz from the ground up.

In 1975, The Wiz, came to Broadway promising an Oz with “Super Soul”. If Dorothy was created to represent the average all-American hero in all of us, then The Wiz helped redefine the all-American hero as a young black girl, while the magical land of Oz took the shape of a tour through African-American culture. The story of The Wiz is virtually the same as the 1939 film, but the meaning shifts when given an Afrofuturistic lens. Longing for home became a metaphor for staying true to Dorothy’s roots as a Black American. On stage, Dorothy was still a girl from Kansas, whereas in the 1978 film she’s a Harlem schoolteacher. In both adaptations she sets out searching for something more than what she has, and through a celebration of black music, dance, art and expression, she learns what she was looking for was always in her community all along. Simple messages, like the good witch telling Dorothy to “believe in yourself”, take on a larger, more profound meaning, when this lens is shifted to a uniquely Black story.

The 1976 Australian film, Oz - A Rock ‘n’ Roll Road Movie (or 20th Century Oz in the states) also tried their hand at taking the structure of the classic Wizard of Oz, this time shaping it around the story of a teenage rock-band groupie looking to see The Wizard, a glam rocker giving his last concert, but who learns that. This story was gritty and leaned into more adult themes, and notably, the “Oz” that Dorothy wakes up in isn’t much different from the real world she was already in, which many felt made the story fall flat. While 20th Century Oz may be considered a cult film, its success wasn’t wide reaching. In contrast, Return to Oz (1985) also created a darker Oz that Dorothy rediscovers left in ruins. But this grittier Oz is still zany, and filled with quirky characters based on L. Frank Baum’s later Oz novels.

While some adaptations attempted to break away from the source material and classic film, either to more effectively create their own story or just as an attempt to subvert expectations, others remained more loyal to the story’s origins. The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz follows Dorothy as a teenage girl who wants to be a singer… for the Muppets! She finds herself in the land of Oz, in need of the Wizard who has the power to make her a famous singer. While timely jokes and gags are added throughout much of the story is easily recognizable as the classic that audiences know and love.

CHAPTER THREE: THE MAGIC OF HUMANITY

While the backdrop of Oz is full of magic and wonder, the lead characters ultimately long to have aspects of humanity they feel are missing: brains, a heart, and courage. And while there are witches and wizards, the “magic” that grants Dorothy’s wish to return home was inside her all along. Ultimately, the idea of humanity still roots the story, including the polarity of dark and light morals.

In the story, Good and Evil are portrayed as clearly divided opposites, with a beautiful, kind witch battling an ugly, evil witch for the upper hand. Modern retellings of The Wizard of Oz, however, challenge this idea that Good and Evil can be so black and white. Wicked, the Broadway musical based on the novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’, invents the backstory of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, examining her friendship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Elphaba has good intentions, and hopes to fight injustices happening in Oz with her power, but is framed as a wicked for stepping out of line. Whereas Glinda follows the rules and exudes a clean “good” image, even when her moralities don’t align with the powers that be. Ultimately, it’s a story of their strong friendship and how their bond shaped both of their futures, while exploring the moral gray areas that all people face.

In the limited scifi series Tin Man, D.G. happens upon the O.Z. (or Outer Zone) and memories of her childhood there come rushing back – including remembering that the evil sorceress was actually her sister who had come to be possessed by an evil spirit because of a choice D.G. had made as a child. This series asks the audience to question their perception of evil, as D.G. comes to realize that her mistake led to all of the tragedies that have come upon the O.Z. Sam Raimi’s Oz The Great and Powerful sought to explore the battle between good and evil that rages inside each of us. The film delves into the backstory of the Wizard himself, a deceptive conman who accidentally lands in Oz and is mistakenly believed to be the prophesied leader. As he reluctantly becomes involved in the troubles facing Oz, he transforms into a better man and the Wizard as we know him, while being a part of the climactic moments that determine whether the famous witches will choose goodness or wickedness.

Similarly, the short-lived television show Emerald City imagined the land Oz cloaked in darkness and beset with Game Of Thrones level fantasy wars. Assumptions about good and evil are challenged as we follow the morally ambiguous Witch of the North, Witch of the West, and the Wizard who bans magic in order to retain power.

CONCLUSION

Since the book was published over a century ago, this story of found family, figuring out who you are, and making the choice to do good has captivated audiences’ hearts and minds. While some adaptations might just be cash grabs attempting to make bank off of known IP, others are clearly made with love and care for the original tale. Dorothy joining with her friends to find heart, brains, and courage and overcome any obstacle is something people can relate to across time. And creators are still building on Dorothy’s hero’s journey and the fantastical wider world of Oz to make something new out of the classic today. A revival of The Wiz is coming to Broadway in 2024, joining Wicked, which is currently the fourth longest running show of all time on Broadway and also has a 2024 film in the works. No matter how many times it’s been retold, the beating heart of The Wizard of Oz continues to resonate with audiences and creators alike, drawing us all down the yellow brick road and into our own magical worlds.

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