{"product_id":"9781844575169","title":"The Wizard of Oz: BFI Film Classics","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Wizard of Oz 'was my very first literary influence,' writes Salman Rushdie in his\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eaccount of the great MGM children's classic. At the age of ten he had written a story, 'Over the Rainbow', about a colourful fantasy world. But for Rushdie The Wizard of Oz\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eis more than a children's film, and more than a fantasy. It's a story whose driving\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eforce is the inadequacy of adults, in which 'the weakness of grown-ups forces\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echildren to take control of their own destinies'. And Rushdie rejects the conventional\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eview that its fantasy of escape from reality ends with a comforting return to home, sweet home. On the contrary, it is a film that speaks to the exile. The Wizard of Oz\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshows that imagination can become reality, that there is no such place like home,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e or rather that the only home is the one we make for ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRushdie's brilliant insights into a film more often seen than written about are\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erounded off with his typically scintillating short story, 'At the Auction of the Ruby\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSlippers,' about the day when Dorothy's red shoes are knocked down to $15,000 at a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esale of MGM props.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe BFI Film Classics series, Rushdie looks back to the circumstances in which he\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewrote the book, when, in the wake of the controversy surrounding The Satanic Verses\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand the issue of a fatwa against him, the idea of home and exile held a particular\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eresonance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BFI Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47058040422640,"sku":"9781844575169","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781844575169_p0.jpg?v=1763743442","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781844575169","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}