Some critics have denounced Disney’s Return to Oz as a horror film that has scarred its child viewers, but many of the oft-criticized scenes are true to Baum’s original texts. Did Baum forget his aspirations to create a fairy tale where “the heart-aches and nightmares are left out”? Do the film’s visual depictions and blending of two of Baum’s novels change the tale? Or did Baum’s unique blend of horror and humor make the scary moments palatable and family friendly? Dina Schiff Massachi will use Baum’s Oz novels and “Return to Oz” as she explores these questions.
8 Responses
Looking forward to this – what time will it be happening Friday afternoon?
Thank you for your interest, Tracy!
The “Friday” tab (top left) offers a drop down option for “Friday Afternoon”– click that and you’ll have the link to this talk (and a slew of others). 🙂
Here it is Friday afternoon, and in the Friday Afternoon tab, there are links to about a dozen things, but each one just has a blurb about the presenter – No presentation. I use Mozilla Firefox (always) and the only presentation I can get to is the one at the top of the main page with the Fab Four telling us how much fun we are going to have. Do I need to try a different browser? I am logged in.
I tried it with Chrome, and everything works there. No troubles, now!
I really enjoyed your analysis and comparison of RTO and the original source books. I was 20 when RTO was released and I was still creeped out by the electroshock scenes. But RTO remains one of my favorite aspects of Oz. Great job on the presentation.
Great presentation, Dina. Thanks for all your research and excellent delivery!
Fabulously researched and delivered presentation as always Dina. Colin 🙂
Tricia, Bill and Colin– Thank you for watching, and for your kind words 🙂