The Wonderful Queerness of Oz (Ep 547 - Terry Blas, Josh Trujillo, Emma McMahan, and Dee Michel)

Dec 4, 2025
1h 59m

Episode Description

For this week’s Sewers of Paris, I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like The Wizard of Oz, books like Return to Oz, and adaptations like Wicked. These conversations are all part of my new video about Oz and queer culture that just went live on YouTube — check that out at YouTube.com/mattbaume . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from Wicked, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture.

Dee Michel: https://www.deemichel.info/

Josh Trujillo: https://www.joshtrujillo.com/

Terry Blas: https://terryblas.com/

Emma McMahan: https://www.mcmahan.media/

Emma’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/

Watch Emma's video about Wicked's stage-to-screen adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0

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