Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
This book examines the long life of the Oz myth ti describe and explain its history of production-consumption pairings, thus illustrating how Oz has sustained itself for over a century. Offering a study in cultural sustainability and an examination of the marketing machinery and consumption patterns that make such sustainability possible, this book draws on the fields of macromarketing, consumer behavior, literary and cultural studies, and theories of adaption and remediation. In doing so, it examines key adaptations and extensions of Baum's 1900 novel. These include the original Oz craze, the MGM film and its television afterlife, Wicked, its extensions, and finally, Oz the Great and Powerful, Disney's recent (and highly lucrative) venture that builds on the considerable success of Wicked.
Synopsis
1. We're Off to See the Wizard: In Search of Cultural Sustainability
Part I. The Road
2. The Wonderful Wizard of Marketing: L. Frank Baum as Producer and Promoter
3. Extending the Yellow Brick Road: More Books and a Technicolor Rainbow
4. Of Living Rooms and Libraries: Oz's Journey from Fairy Tale to Myth
5. Expanding the Map: Oz in the Public Domain
Part II. Wicked
6. Telling and Selling: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz
7. "My Entire Body was Shaking" Consumers Respond to Wicked
8. "The Audience Unites in One Big 'Yes '" Theater Professionals Reflect on Wicked
9. Pulling Back the Curtain: Wicked Experiences
Part III. Beyond Wicked
10. Whither Oz?: Stepping Into the 21st Century
11. At the Gates of the Emerald City: Towards a New Theory of Cultural Sustainability