Why did I listen to friends?

[auronlu]

... who said Alice in Wonderland wasn't all that good? I didn't see it in the theater because I was recovering from surgery, then got busy.

OMFG the Jungian powers of weirditude in that thing. I am kicking myself now for not seeing it on the big screen.

The entire whole story is a girl hammering out her identity through a fairly vigorous journey into

Comments

[euphonious_glow]

I freakin' love Alice in Wonderland, in all of its various forms. The books are awesome, but I think the new movie takes the cake. It was so well done, and like you said the whole journey is a kind of symbolism.

[auronlu]

It's funny. I hadn't noticed until about the fourth watch-through that she carries the scar with her back into the waking world.

Or the symbolism of the chrysalis on the night before Frabjous Day.

So many little things like that.

But also some human touches. For some reason, that scene with Alice slightly oversized going to check on the Hatter in the Red Queen's castle seizes my heart every time I get to that point. "I'm frightened, Alice." The size difference has a psychological impact I wish it didn't -- when she's larger, my unconscious sees him as the child in need of her strength.

Which is both unsurprising and alarming. We are unconsciously primed to equate size with age and helplessness or self-sufficiency. It makes sense, evolution-wise, but we have to make a conscious effort to notice and shake off the instinct.

I'm glad Alice was her very own size near the end. That, too, is a bit symbolism I hadn't noticed, but it's important.

And yes, Alice in Wonderland and its sister are two great works, for all that their