Alice in Pop Culture-land
Disney is churning the promotional wheels to land Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in Oscarland. Is it worthy for an Academy Award Best Film nomination, or other Academy Awards? Does a billion in gross sales make it a natural to get one of the Top 10 nods? Is Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter incarnation that much better than many other actors' jobs this year, or even some of Depp's previous, Oscar-nominated roles? I'm not quite sure, but the film's saga is becoming curiouser and curiouser.
Clearly, Colleen Atwood's costumes are one of categories that Disney is hoping for an Oscar nomination. Disney has her designs are on exhibit in LA. The costumes are some of the more creative aspects of the film and the film does focus on the Mad Hatter as a high fashion designer, sort of.
Alice in Wonderland costumes and the characters are certainly inspiring numerous Halloween costumes this year. In Buffalo, New York, and Boulder, Colorado, Alice in Wonderland characters are popular along with Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and the BP oil spill. The Mad Hatter is particularly popular for men, who do need an occasional opportunity to dress up a little wilder than normal perhaps.
Haunted houses at Halloween have even been inspired by Alice in Wonderland this year, which is some kind of popular culture landmark.
Then there's the Broadway-bound Alice inspired musical as well, scheduled for next spring in New York.
And finally Steven Perry, of Aerosmith, is doing the voice of the Mad Hatter in a segment of the children's TV show Wonder Pets that was inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I don't exactly remember the Hatter telling Alice which way to walk; the Mad Hatter seemed rather confused at the time.