de Moraes, Lisa. "A Thanksgiving Tradition: Having 'Friends' Over" The Washington Post. 27 November 2002. Lexis Nexis.

This article gives information on the popularity of several shows during the week of Thanksgiving in 2002. The most watched show was the “Friends” Thanksgiving episode. The annual showing of “The Wizard of Oz” on Thanksgiving received 7.9 million views and handed WB its largest Sunday audience ever.

While on the surface uninformative, this article points to something central to “The Wizard of Oz”‘s undying popularity: tradition. Beyond the pure story itself, “The Wizard of Oz” evokes so much more because of its annual viewing on Thanksgiving in the United States every year. People are reminded of being with family, good food, and potentially even growing up. Many people have watched the film every year with their family during Thanksgiving since they were children. This article points to the fact the viewership is anything but down, with 7.9 million people watching the film in 2002, 63 years after its original release. This small, but very important point could play a key, if not central role, into the films continued popularity. However, there is of course reverse causality. One should bring up the question as to why studios continue (or even decided in the first place) to show the film every year on Thanksgiving. There are plenty of movies that could potentially be shown instead and studios could have created an “alternative tradition”. So why “The Wizard of Oz”? The reason probably lies in the uniqueness of the story being so family-friendly, while having deep themes central to human existence. While probably difficult to test, it is this aspect that started the annual screening, while the creation of this American tradition has boosted his popularity and will probably continue to ensure the film will be watched by each generation to come.

Steinfels, Peter. "Following the Yellowbrick Road, and Finding a Spiritual Path." The New York Times, 28 November 2001. Published November 28, 2001. 28 November 2008 <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2101/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5253876110&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5253876113&cisb=22_T5253876112&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=24&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,23&docsInCategory=65&csi=6742&docNo=17>.

This article offers a religious interpretation of The Wizard of Oz and, further, posits that the film is a direct reflection of traditional American values. Steinfels recounts a speech given at the Convention of the American Academy of Religion during which Dr. Paul Nathanson suggested that Dorothy's journey mirrors a routine religious story about origin and destiny. In the film, Dorothy's adventure is split up into three sections-Kansas, Oz and Kansas-and ultimately she ends up right where she began. Nathanson claimed that Dorothy's homecoming is like the Israelites return to the Promise Land after years of exile. Nathanson also emphasized that while religiosity is not overt in the film, these values are also deeply ingrained in the American tradition. Steinfels explains Nathanson's second assertion which proposes that Dorothy's journey also represents a desire in the United States to return to a traditional, agrarian-based society. In 1939 America was still recovering from political and economic corruption and it is possible that Americans yearned for a more traditional lifestyle, like Dorothy's experience in Kansas.

This article's religious references are interesting because, as Nathanson says, numerous religious values are in fact embedded in traditional American culture. Furthermore, it is likely that many Americans turned to their respective faiths extensively during the Depression, and the years immediately following the disaster. If what Nathanson suggested about Dorothy's journey following a religious storyline is also correct, then it is likely that religious Americans found solace in Dorothy. Americans could identify with her quest and eventual return to Kansas, just as they wished to return to their pre-Depression lifestyles. Notwithstanding the utility of Nathanson's religious references, it seems unlikely that his idea about Americans in 1939 desiring a return to an agrarian society is correct. They may have sought traditional values, family structures and workplaces, but not an eradication of technology. Steinfels' retelling of Nathanson's speech offers insight into the ability of Americans to relate to Dorothy in light of dire economic circumstances. Interestingly, this high level of identification may have also led to the immense success of the film.

Paige, Linda Rohrer. "Wearing the Red Shoes: Dorothy and the power of the female imagination in The Wizard of Oz." Journal of Popular Film and Television. Vol. 23 (Winter 1996). pp. 146-153. 28 November 2008 <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2659/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.20#record_5>.

Linda Paige's article discusses the Wizard of Oz from a feminist perspective and suggests that the ruby red slippers, which Dorothy inherits from the Wicket Witch of the East, represent the power of the female imagination and the possibility of escaping mainstream, patriarchal society. When Dorothy puts on the slippers and begins her journey down the yellow brick road she is on her way to liberating herself from the traditional, domestic female role, which is reflected through Auntie Em's character. Paige reminds readers that when Dorothy is wearing the slippers she shows her strength and power as a female who has the ability to help her male counterparts find the essential elements of life which they lack. Moreover, Paige suggests that the color red represents passion, and spilled blood, and, as a result, Dorothy's journey in the slippers may be viewed as an act of rebellion against conventional society. However, when Dorothy decides to return home at the end of the film and, in turn, give up the slippers, she succumbs to the comfort of a traditional, male-dominated society.

This article is interesting because is offers an entirely new framework within which to view this classic film. During the 1930's the United States was riddled with unemployment and, as a result, women who went to work were seen as un-American for taking jobs away from unemployed men. In the case of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is "un-American" for attempting to revolt against conventionality and break the shackles of patriarchy. Paige's article coincides with the desire in America to maintain the traditional family because ultimately Dorothy takes off the slippers, leaves her powerful imagination behind, and regresses toward the traditional female role. Dorothy's overt desire to return home, which is exemplified when she clicks her heels and says "there's no place like home" three times, promotes conventional American values and suggests to viewers that the traditional, middle America family is the ideal. Paige's ideas about the slippers and, more importantly, Dorothy's final decision to return to Kansas, accurately reflect sentiments in the United States during the 1930s.