IST 605: 125 Years of The Wizard of Oz

Published at the turn of the twentieth century, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by everyday traveling salesman L. Frank Baum continues to endure as a sparkling cornerstone in American cultural mythology and folklore.  But whether it has sparkling silver shoes or ruby red is a “horse of a different color” as the classic fairytale has been reinterpreted countlessly in it’s iconography like the color of the slippers and through different mediums like Broadway musicals, films, political allegory, art, literary criticism, and more.  It is one of the rare touchstones that the grandparents of today may have enjoyed in their childhood just like their grandchildren now, which no other behemoth of American pop culture can quite claim. 

More than a children’s story, this guide is for travelers desiring to go over the rainbow with a yellow brick timeline in hand and explore Oz’s reincarnations throughout the decades!  From Oz’s humble beginning as two unassuming letters marked on a filing cabinet in Baum’s office to inspiring one of the highest grossing movie musical films in Wicked Part 1, The Wizard of Oz is ingrained in our collective cultural DNA and seemingly here to stay.  Let’s peel behind the curtain on its long history!