Full Description
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.
Contents
1. We're Off to See the Wizard: In Search of Cultural Sustainability.- 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.- 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.- 10. Whither Oz?: Stepping Into the 21st Century.- 11. At the Gates of the Emerald City: Towards a New Theory of Cultural Sustainability.
