We're wrapping up 2023 with a look at the beloved 1939 classic musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz, and its 1900 source novel by L. Frank Baum.

This week we give you a wizard's-eye view of the topics we plan to dig into deeper in the next couple episodes. We'll look at the popular theory of the original novel as an allegory for U.S. politics and economics at the turn of the 20th century, as well as the significance of the song "Over the Rainbow" for Americans during the Great Depression. We'll also talk about Judy Garland's experience making the film and in Hollywood in general, as well as both the movie and book's long-lasting and far-reaching impact on American culture as we know it.

If we appeared in your Spotify Wrapped this year, we'd like to say thank you, thank you, thank you, sincerely, for all your support. We hope you're having as much fun as we are.

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