The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Although students are eventually encouraged to move beyond the over-simplistic compare/contrast style of rhetoric, this "Discovery Channel University" documentary never takes its analysis of L. Frank Baum's classic book much beyond the level of 'in the book, this happens to Dorothy, while in the movie, that happens.' Led by Oz scholar Michael Patrick Hearn and a team of fans, including filmmaker Martha Coolidge and author Ray Bradbury, the program recaps the book with reenactments that naturally pale in comparison to similar scenes in the film, arguing that in Victor Fleming's 1939 beloved family masterpiece, the heroine is somewhat disenfranchised in favor of a more conventional buddy story. Their discussion of the text cuts no deeper than insisting that The Wizard of Oz, far from being simply a children's book, is an early call for feminist empowerment, with Baum himself depicted as a progressive saint. Still, the documentary gives quality time to illustrator W.W. Denslow, whose images have inspired generations of readers, as well as filmmakers, and it offers an interesting overview of the book's universal impact, which includes a Russian adaptation that turned Baum's book into a Marxist manifesto. An amiable supplementary video well-suited for middle-school audiences, but too light on scholarship for "university" level viewers, this is a strong optional purchase. [Note: also newly available, for the same price, is 2001: A Space Odyssey.] Aud: J, H, C, P. (D. Fienberg)