“You're selling the sense of magic, magical realism (and) whimsy that people associate with the film and therefore with Kansas.”ĭowell admits he didn’t think much about Oz as a kid, even though his childhood home was a stone’s throw away from the museum he now runs. “It’s not necessarily that you're selling The Wizard of Oz,” Deikis said. And that’s something the state can use to sell itself. It gives Kansas a distinction that neighboring Great Plains states don’t enjoy.Īnd even though some parts of the original film have aged poorly - its depiction of little people, its racial whitewashing of both Kansas and Oz - it still has a broadly positive connotation. Jeff Deikis, who oversees strategy for Nevada-based tourism marketing agency Noble Studios, said he still views the sprawling Oz culture empire as a net gain for Kansas because it keeps the state in people’s minds. Frank Baum published after his original wizard tale. And of course, the 13 other Oz books author L. Or consider the many TV and movie remakes.

If you search for that ‘not in Kansas anymore’ phrase in Google Scholar, it pops up in the titles of research publications on topics as varied as the European banking union, septic arthritis and academic freedom in the Middle East. But if outsiders still think of Kansas as Dorothy’s backyard, that could hurt efforts to attract the high-tech businesses and workers it needs for the future. The state also has growing urban centers surrounding Wichita and Kansas City that are turning from building grain elevators to building jets, microchips and electric car batteries. While most small towns in western Kansas have seen populations plummet in recent decades, this city of nearly 20,000 people has more than doubled its number of residents since 1950 - largely thanks to the arrival of immigrant and refugee communities. There are still plenty of farms here, but these days they’re run by fewer farmers who rely more on GPS satellites than scarecrows.Īnd Liberal - hometown to the film’s archetypal white farm girl - has become the most Hispanic city in the state with roughly ⅔ of its population identifying as Latino. But Kansas has harnessed those breezes to become one of the top states for producing renewable wind energy. But in reality, today’s Kansas sits somewhere in between those two extremes.

Wizard of oz frank l baum