This module provides a broad survey of Oz's remarkable longevity as a franchise over the 20th and 21st centuries. We will discuss how Oz operates as a quintessentially American fairy tale that, like all fairy tales, is ripe for reinterpretation by each new generation.

Course Outline:

Week One
• Session 1: Introduction to L. Frank Baum and the Oz franchise/The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)
• Session 2: Bringing Oz to the big screen — The Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939)
Week Two
• Session 3: Oz as 1970s Musical Extravaganza -- The Wiz (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1978)
• Session 4: Oz as 1980s Dark Fantasy -- iReturn to Oz (dir. Walter Murch, 1985)
Week Three
• Session 5: Oz as Literary Fiction -- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
• Session 6: Oz Reinterpreted for the 21st Century: Wicked — Part One (dir. John Chu, 2024)
Week Four
• Session 7: Oz Reinterpreted for the 21st Century, continued: Wicked — For Good (dir. John Chu, 2025)
• Session 8: Oz as American mythology — screening clips of other Ozadaptations not previously covered, as we discuss the question "What makes Oz so pervasive in American culture?"