In 1939 MGM made a movie version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900.  While there are few who have not seen the film many times, there are very few who have read the book.  Both are delightful, but there is a great difference between the plot, characters, imagery, and ideology of the two,  This paper examines those differences and explores the redaction of Baum’s fairy tale within a cultural context.  As the title of the essay suggests, the book is treated as utopian literature, against which the film is compared.

For those who haven’t read Baum’s book or who wish to refresh their memory, a brief plot summary is presented in the Appendix.  A review may be advisable to become familiar with the references made to the book in the essay (especially if seeing silver shoes instead of ruby slippers is confusing). And it may encourage the curious to read the book in full, which will give a new and surprising perspective on the Land of Oz.

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