**APOLOGIES FOR CROSS POSTING**
The Wizard of Oz and the Western Cultural Imagination: A Conference
celebrating and interrogating 75 years of the MGM Musical
Faculty of Arts, University of Brighton
November 21-22, 2014
Christmas 2013 saw the annual quest for best television advert, with
firms such as John Lewis, Waitrose, and M&S all participating. Drawing
on themes from Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Red Riding Hood and The
Wizard of Oz, the M&S advert is, in the words of the company's
business development director Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, 'a modern
epic where fashion meets fantasy', bringing to life 'much loved fairy
tales with more than a sprinkle of high glamour'. This advert comes
out months before the 75th anniversary of MGM's telling of The Wizard
of Oz and demonstrates the lasting legacy this film has had within
western culture.
The Wizard of Oz has received sustained interest from audiences,
sparking numerous spinoff films (Return to Oz; Oz: The Great and
Powerful, Yellowbrickroad), musicals (Wicked; The Wiz), and TV
Programmes and documentaries (The Tin Man; The Secret of Oz). Baum's
original tale has been reanimated and illustrated numerous times (most
recently by Graham Rawle) and the book and film has inspired and
featured in pop music albums by the likes of Elton John (Yellow Brick
Road) and Robbie Williams (Swings Both Ways). The music to MGM's
Wizard of Oz also contributed to the public responses to the death of
Margaret Thatcher in 2013.
Despite being firmly embedded in the Western cultural imagination, the
legacy of The Wizard of Oz has received rather sparse critical
reception. Taking place in the same month that saw the release of the
film in the UK, this conference seeks to fill this void and explore
the film and its legacy through a series of innovative presentations
that explores ideas such as:
· the Wizard of Oz within American and UK television programming;
· young women's agency;
· representations of twisters, tornados, and hurricanes;
· Technicolor and the emergence of colour film;
· the Hollywood musical;
· stardom and fandom;
· intermedial history and the story's migration to other media;
· paratexts, advertising and memorabilia;
· music, magic, witches and myth;
· representations of the American rural landscape and the Depression;
· gender and sexuality;
· the Wizard of Oz and cultural capital;
· carnivals, travelling shows, and fairgrounds;
· costume and the iconography of shoes.
Proposals are welcomed from all academic disciplines and can take the
form of a paper, performance, artwork or poster presentation.
Innovative presentation formats are encouraged. The conference will
include a fancy dress, sing-along screening of the film.
Please submit a 300 word abstract to [log in to unmask] by 1 March,
2014. Papers should be 15-20 minutes in length.
Dr Frank Gray (University of Brighton), Dr Louise Fitzgerald
(University of Brighton), Dr Kieran Fenby-Hulse (Bath Spa University)
Conference Twitter Account: @Ozat75 Hashtag: #ozat75
Conference Website: www.arts.brighton.ac.uk/ozat75
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