SOURCE: Flynn, Richard. “Imitation of Oz: The Sequel as Commodity.” The Lion and the Unicorn 20, no. 1 (June 1996): 121-31.

In the following essay, Flynn examines the Oz books as a consumerist boom.

… that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.

(Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Illuminations 221)

Oz was first visited upon a kindly man who wanted to set children free from fear. Oz grew out of Alice in Wonderland, and out of Kansas and the people who settled there, and Baum's own life.

It also kept on growing. It grew out of improved Technicolor cameras and out of the MGM studio system, which meant the first footage directed by Richard Thorpe could be thrown out. … It kept growing, because of television; it kept on gaining meaning with each repeat. Oz came swimming to...