The Road to Wicked: The Marketing and Consumption of Oz from L. Frank Baum to Broadway

by Kent Drummond, Susan Aronstein, Terri L. Rittenburg

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.

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2018

Reviews

[Makayla Kocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a compelling read. It explores what underpins cultural sustainability, presenting a framework that can be used in a ‘new’ theory about cultural sustainability. This text provides a thorough, and enjoyable, history of the world of Oz from the 1900 children books to the pending Wicked movie. This text is both research based and reader focused. The theoretical lens and analysis of Oz is clearly written in a manner appropriate for both academic and public audiences—making it accessible and enjoyable. The authors proposed framework is intriguing as it is backed up by their research of Oz and Wicked, but it also provides a clear application to other media and artistic experience. The text combines a range of fields from narrative, marketing, cultural studies, which creates an appeal read for anyone with an interest in one or more of these fields. I would definitely recommend this text for anyone interested in Oz or cultural experiences—it propels you to think differently about how and why we engage with the experiences we do and how certain “texts” are sustained in culture.