Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland
Just got back from seeing Burton's Alice in 3D @ IMAX.
Have realized that am not a big 3D fan---gives one a bit of a headache, I find.
Also realized that need more Alice icons-ASAP. Both Disney versions.
I tried not to come at it as a scholar, but I think that's almost impossible. And I loved the parallels I could draw and the jokes I could find (like Alice's father being named Charles Kingsley - author of The Water Babies, who, I think, urged Carroll to publish AiW. I don't know if there's any other connection.)
I loved that Burton didn't aim to just "retell" Alice. He made it new--he viewed it as a kind of sequel -- what Alice did next, in a way. Apparently, I like adaptations in which grown-up Alice returns to Wonderland. It plays really nicely with ideas of "what-is-dream-what-is-reality" and besides, Wonderland is an adult world. Its populated by adults, deals with adult concepts, and is created by an adult. No wonder 7 year old Alice can't make sense of it, or even gain something useful from her time there. She grows -- literally grows and shrinks -- and changes (from demure & quiet to aggressive & violent) but she doesn't "Grow" metaphorically. After she returns from Wonderland, she skips off to tea. But when grown-up Alice's return to Wonderland -- eventually realizing that its not a dream world, but a valid, other world -- they're able to utilize it much more and actually grow.
Yes, the feminist slant really hits you over the head. Pre-Wonderland-Return, Alice refuses to wear corsets and stockings and she dreams -- uses her imagination in a way that her mother (and the rest of Victorian society) just doesn't. Post-Wonderland--she doesn't get engaged, threatens her brother-in-law, tells off her would-have-been-future-mother-in-law, and then goes off to be a business woman. Which is a bit of a stretch for a Victorian woman, but I like that its not a typical Victorian marriage-plot-ending. I like that she retains the individualism and spirit and confidence she gains in Wonderland and runs with it.
I do have some issues with "crazy" Aunt Imogen though...I can't decide what to make of her. On the one hand, she is an accurate portrayal of Victorian spinsters. But on the other hand, I was sure that Imogen had gone to Wonderland herself there, fallen in love, and had ended up back in the real world, and was waiting for her Wonderland prince to rescue her. So when Alice tells Imogen to basically quit dreaming and live -- I was a little put off. But then I realized that that was the choice Alice made. 1, she realized that Wonderland wasn't a dream and was a real world (worlds which can overlap) and 2, Alice is living her life. Her journey through Wonderland was never about falling love (Hatter/Alice shippers, beware!) --it was about a journey to find herself. And I like that journey. Maybe Alice is telling Imogen to go find Wonderland herself.
Have realized that am not a big 3D fan---gives one a bit of a headache, I find.
Also realized that need more Alice icons-ASAP. Both Disney versions.
I tried not to come at it as a scholar, but I think that's almost impossible. And I loved the parallels I could draw and the jokes I could find (like Alice's father being named Charles Kingsley - author of The Water Babies, who, I think, urged Carroll to publish AiW. I don't know if there's any other connection.)
I loved that Burton didn't aim to just "retell" Alice. He made it new--he viewed it as a kind of sequel -- what Alice did next, in a way. Apparently, I like adaptations in which grown-up Alice returns to Wonderland. It plays really nicely with ideas of "what-is-dream-what-is-reality" and besides, Wonderland is an adult world. Its populated by adults, deals with adult concepts, and is created by an adult. No wonder 7 year old Alice can't make sense of it, or even gain something useful from her time there. She grows -- literally grows and shrinks -- and changes (from demure & quiet to aggressive & violent) but she doesn't "Grow" metaphorically. After she returns from Wonderland, she skips off to tea. But when grown-up Alice's return to Wonderland -- eventually realizing that its not a dream world, but a valid, other world -- they're able to utilize it much more and actually grow.
Yes, the feminist slant really hits you over the head. Pre-Wonderland-Return, Alice refuses to wear corsets and stockings and she dreams -- uses her imagination in a way that her mother (and the rest of Victorian society) just doesn't. Post-Wonderland--she doesn't get engaged, threatens her brother-in-law, tells off her would-have-been-future-mother-in-law, and then goes off to be a business woman. Which is a bit of a stretch for a Victorian woman, but I like that its not a typical Victorian marriage-plot-ending. I like that she retains the individualism and spirit and confidence she gains in Wonderland and runs with it.
I do have some issues with "crazy" Aunt Imogen though...I can't decide what to make of her. On the one hand, she is an accurate portrayal of Victorian spinsters. But on the other hand, I was sure that Imogen had gone to Wonderland herself there, fallen in love, and had ended up back in the real world, and was waiting for her Wonderland prince to rescue her. So when Alice tells Imogen to basically quit dreaming and live -- I was a little put off. But then I realized that that was the choice Alice made. 1, she realized that Wonderland wasn't a dream and was a real world (worlds which can overlap) and 2, Alice is living her life. Her journey through Wonderland was never about falling love (Hatter/Alice shippers, beware!) --it was about a journey to find herself. And I like that journey. Maybe Alice is telling Imogen to go find Wonderland herself.