Alice has legs!

The Alice in Wonderland film adventure continues.  Thanks to WJBC for interviewing me on Monday about the new Tim Burton film from Disney as well as the classic Lewis Carroll texts.  The guys on WJBC make radio being interviewed easy.

Also, I particularly like the essay in the March 8 Newsweek issue on Alice in Wonderland, "Rabbit Redux."  Ramin Setoodeh interviewed me for ideas on the essay. We had a friendly email correspondence regarding his ideas on Alice.

The Disney film continues to lead the box office.  As of Tuesday, it was the first film in 2010 to pass the $200 million mark.  It even beat out the latest film from Twilight heart-throb Rob Pattison, Remember Me.

Alice also continues to influence fashion designers this spring.  Before I saw the film, I didn't quite understand why Disney was focusing so heavily on the fashion connection with the Alice film.  But now I realize that part of the appeal of Burton's film for teen girls and 20-something women is that Alice keeps changing her clothes.  In some ways, this is a fashion show for possible prom dresses.  Alice frequently changes her clothes, many of which are falling off her shoulders and look rather flimsy (not Victorian at all). She doesn't always comment on them, either, which seemed sort of odd. 

The Versace Spring/Summer 2010 collection influenced by Alice in Wonderland

Mad-Hatter Tea party with Lewis Carroll's chessboard

The new Alice in Wonderland film has inspired a whirlwind of parties and events around the world.  It's great that the Alice books can stimulate so many imaginative ideas! Even though I may not be particularly keen onLewis Carroll's chessboard on exhibit at University of Illinois Tim Burton's Alice escapade, I am thrilled to see so many people get excited about the Alice books.

We were happy to be invited to a Mad-Hatter's Tea Party at the University of Illinois's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  The Library was finishing a good exhibit of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland materials that are housed there titled "Curioser and Curioser: The Games and Mindgames of Lewis Carroll."  The most interesting objects on exhibit were the chessboard that Lewis Carroll used and letters that Carroll wrote to a child in mirror script.

It was an astonishingly fun party for children and adults surounded by objects that Carroll either created or owned.  The party featured giant cards, a beautifully set tea table, cookies marked "Eat Me," and an A chocolate and fondant chessboard cake.amazing cake shaped liked a chessboard complete with chocolate and white chocolate chess pieces.  The Cheshire Cat told the true story of her origins.  The Mad Hatter munched on carrots and apples and was a delightful master of ceremonies.  The Caterpillar smoked a soap bubble hookah.  Children and adults were dressed up in great costumes.  It was the best Mad-Tea Party we've been to.

Two Mad Hatters ready to challenge Johnny DeppEat Me cookies for Alice and friendsPartygoers could read original Lewis Carroll's letters in mirror script.

The cute Dormouse popped out of a teapot to enjoy the festivities.

Much Ado About Alice: Thoughts on the new Wonderland

Unless you’ve been living in a rabbit hole, you’re probably aware that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland promotion poster for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderlandopened up this weekend.  Its first day ticket sales were more successful than Avatar’s first day. But just because a lot of people go to see a film, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great film.

There is an inverse relationship between Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: the more you like the Alice books, the more you are probably going to dislike Burton’s film.  Obviously, I like the Alice books.  That’s not to say films are always inferior to the books on which they’re based.  For example, Victor Fleming’s Wizard of Oz film is more effective than L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz original novel.

This is not a film version of the Alice books.  Instead, key characters from the Alice books appear in the film.  It’s a bit like Gavin Miller’s Dreamchild in that an older Alice revists Wonderland.  In Dreamchild, it’s an 80-year-old Alice reflecting on the books and her friendship with Lewis Carroll.  In the new film, Alice is a fetching, independent 19-year-old contemplating a marriage proposal to a wimpy, titled young man.   Unlike Dreamchild, Lewis Carroll is absent in this film and even his usual stand-ins, the Dodo and the White Knight, don’t appear.

I think the film is misnamed and should be called Return to Wonderland.  Burton’s Wonderland relates to Carroll’s Alice books in the same way that Walter Murch’s Return to Oz relates to Baum’s Oz series.

What is surprising about this film is how much references previous films.  It is a very much a pastiche of similar films, mostly fantasy films.  Tim Burton clearly references his previous films, including Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, and Planet of the Apes. The screenwriter, Linda Woolverton has helped with Disney films such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  So, the film dips into Disney references including the opening taken directly from the Disney animated Peter Pan.  Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is a combination of Peter Pan, the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz combined with Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night and perhaps Charlie Chaplin.

There are plenty of references to The Wizard of Oz and the Broadway musical Wicked, The Golden Compass, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The last two films were inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, so that’s in here, too.  The relationship between the Red and White Queens is borrowed from Wicked.  Others have noted reference to The Princess Bride and Shrek.  The fighting Dormouse reminded me of The Tales of Despereaux.

Woolverton seems to have acknowledged problems with the script.  In fact, a running theme throughout the film is whether this is the ‘right’ Alice.  The Wonderland characters frequently ask the White Rabbit if he has brought the wrong Alice back.  Is she an imitation Alice? Has she lost her Muchness? She’s not Alice, but Almost Alice. In short, Tim Burton has directed the wrong Alice.  I sort of think he knows this because the question of an authentic Alice is an essential aspect of the film.

Alice is warned in this film not to divert herself from the path.  Alice replies, I don’t divert myself from the path, I make the path.  If you are going to re-write Alice in Wonderland, then you better be as good a writer as Lewis Carroll. 

Burton’s film is not as bad as the dreadful The Cat in the Hat by Bo Welch, which featured Mike Meyers as the Cat.  But it is not as inventive as the interpretation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonez.

Mia Wasikowska makes an arresting Alice.  But viewers haven’t seen so much skin in Alice since the 1976 X-rated, musical version of Alice in Wonderland.  Not only does Tim Burton feature a 20-year-old play Alice, she is constantly on the verge of having her clothes slip off.  Sometimes this film feels as if it’s a Maxim version of Alice in Wonderland.

In the beginning of the film, Alice refuses to wear a corset or stocking, which shocks her proper Victorian mother.  Once the adventure begins, Alice is running around in flimsy petticoats in a land that’s actually Underland, not Wonderland.  Alice’s clothes never quite fit; they are either too tight, too loose, too short, or slipping off completely. This is less Queen Victoria’s Alice and more of a Victoria’s Secret Alice.

Not only does Burton up the sexualization of Alice, but he increases the violence in Wonderland as well.  This film transforms a minor episode of Through the Looking-Glass involving the Jabberwocky into the climax of the film.  This has become a violent film, as so many children’s fantasy films are these days.  They all have to end with a big battle.  The original Alice books are much less violent.  When the Red Queen says “Off with her head,” the King quietly pardons them.  In this film, the King’s head is floating in the moat with the other heads that have been cut off by order of the Red Queen. This is mock execution the way children play.  It wasn’t intended to be staged execution viewed with violent lust by the Red Queen, as it is in this film.

There are a several clever additions to the Alice film.  Much is done with the Hatter’s meditation on words beginning with the letter M.  But a couple of words not mentioned in the film are a fair description of it: messy, major mashup of previous children’s movies, and mayhem.  Tweedledum and Tweedledee characters are great.  The landscapes are highly imaginative.

I felt the 3-D version seemed somewhat of a distraction to me and unnecessary.  Younger audience members seemed to like it.  Ironically, Carroll would have been fascinated with 3-D films. 

While this is certainly not my favorite Alice film, it is an interesting variation on Carroll’s characters.  But as long as it directs some folks back to Lewis Carroll’s original Alice books, it’s fine with me.

Overview of Alice in Wonderland films in the Pantagraph

Thanks to Dan Craft at the Pantagraph for interviewing me about some of the many Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderlandversions of Alice in Wonderland in film. His article "New 'Alice' is the latest trip through the looking glass." appeared in The Pantagraph today (March 4).  He did a great job of taking some raw material and turning into an entertaining article. 

The sidebar piece about how my parents gave me my first copy of Alice Adventures in Wonderland when I was growing was sweet especially as today is my mother's birthday.  So she made it into the news on her birthday!

As I noted in the article, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is a darker vision than the original.  It's been marketed to older tweens and teens, particularly girls, which makes sense considering that Alice is 19 in the film.  I don't think the film  is for young children.  The marketing is consistent with that older audience. We haven't seen many ads on Nickeloden or too much on the Disney channel, either.  The reviews are somewhat mixed, although those who like it are very enthusiastic.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Alice in Wonderland in Film

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Alice in Wonderland in Film
A Curious List Created by Jan Susina,
author of The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children’s Literature.

    Filmmakers have been intrigued by Alice in Wonderland almost since the beginning of motion pictures.   The first Alice film was produced in England in 1903. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is the latest of film adaptations base on the Alice books, but how will it compare to previous versions of films inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic books.

    Jan Susina, author of The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children’s Literature (Routledge, 2009), has created a list of the top thirteen films that are either adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, focus on the life of Carroll, or use Alice Adventures in Wonderland as a significant plot element. 

     The Alice books feature amazing spectacle, amusing dialogue, distinctive characters that have long appealed to many directors and actors.   Carroll was strongly influenced by Victorian theatrical traditions, particularly the pantomime and wanted to adapt the books into a play.   Carroll allows Henry Savile Clarke to adapt the two Alice books into Alice in Wonderland, a Dream Play of Children which was first performed in 1886.  Carroll even contributed some of the lines.

    The fantastical characters and landscapes of the Alice books encouraged film directors to use cutting-edge technology to transport viewers into the magical world.  Just as Carroll was fascinated Mad-Hatter's Tea Party from 1903 Alice in Wonderland filmby the new medium of photography, directors of Alice films often use new and innovative techniques in their films adaptations. An Alice film was made as early as 1903.
    Just as the Alice books appeal to children and adults, so do films inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  However, some films on this list are intended for adults, or older teens.  Those films inappropriate for young children are noted.

    For moviegoers anticipating Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the films in this list show how Carroll’s Alice books have inspired filmmakers around the world.  One of the great strengths of the Alice books is how various directors have been able to create distinctive and original films based on the same text. Check out these films to see which one you think is the best adaptation.  Unlike Carroll’s Alice books, which have never been out of print is their initial publications, some of these films are currently unavailable for sale.  A few have just been recently released on DVD.  Determined viewers should be able to find all of these films either on the secondhand market or on internet.
     The films are listed in chronological order, rather than rank order. Some of are better than others, but each film is well worth watching.  Enjoy.
    1. Walt Disney’s Alice’s Wonderland (1923).  This is the first of Walt Disney’s “Alice Comedies” series in which a young actress (Virginia Davis) enters into a wonderland of cartoons.  When Disney moved to Hollywood he produced a series of short films from 1924-1927 which mixed live action with animation. This film and several of the other “Alice Comedies” are available on the Disney Rarities DVD, Disc 1.  Although it is not part of these comedies, Disney did produce another short cartoon based on ThroughBetty in Blunderland the Looking-Glass called Thru the Mirror (1936).  In this cartoon short , Mickey Mouse falls asleep after reading Alice Through the Looking Glass and enters into alternative world through a mirror very much like Wonderland.
    2. Dave Fleischer’s Betty in Blunderland (1933).  Disney wasn’t the only animator who adapted Alice in Wonderland into cartoons. This short cartoon features Max and Dave Fleischer’s, famous curvy protagonist, Betty Boop, who enters an alternative world, borrowed from Wonderland and Looking-Glass, via a subway station.  Betty Boop is no Alice, but it is entertaining.
    3. Norman Z. McLeod’s Alice in Wonderland (1933).  With a screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this is a one of those star-filled films that Paramount produced in the 1930s and 1940s.  The film features Charlotte Henry as Alice, with Gary Cooper at the White Knight, W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, Edward Everett Horton as the Mad Hatter and Sterling Holloway as the Frog.  The release of this film discouraged Disney from making Alice in Wonderland as his first feature length cartoon.  Instead, Disney chose to produce Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) and the changed cinematic history.
    4. Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz (1939).  Some people might question why this famous film adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s book is on an Alice film list.  But, Baum was deeply influenced by Carroll’s Wonderland.  He was trying to create an American Alice in  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).  In this film, when Dorothy (Judy Garland) wakes up after her dream visit to Oz, she realizes the people in Kansas are versions of the folks he met in Oz.  This is the same framing device Carroll used for Alice in Wonderland where Alice wakes from a dream that has been influenced by her surroundings.
    5. Lou Bunin’s Alice in Wonderland (1948, France).  An amazing adaptation that uses marionette animation.  All the Wonderland characters are puppets except Alice, who is played by an adult.  Before the tale begins, the film features Carroll interacting with Alice and even Queen Victoria.  Disney was so threatened by this film that he tried, unsuccessfully, to stop its distribution of his film.  Some of the sets were produced by Irving Block, famous for his Forbidden Planet (1956).
    6. Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951). Disney’s famous full-length animated cartoon combines the two Alice books.  Classic Disney animation which memorable songs including “The Unbirthday Song.”  While Kathryn Beaumont is good as the voice of Alice, Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter, and Sterling Holloway as the Chershire Cat steal the show.
    7. Jonathan Miller’s Alice in Wonderland (1967, BBC television).  This film version is perhaps the most Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderlandaccurate of the Victorian context for Alice.  It features Peter Cook as the Mad Hatter, Michael Redgrave as the Caterpillar, and John Gielgud as the Mock Turtle, and Peter Sellers as the King.  Miller’s adaption of Alice in Wonderland is on par with David Lean’s 1948 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
    8. Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky (1977).  A Monty Python-esque film loosely based on the poem “Jabberwocky” from Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass.   The film features Michael Palin.  Jabberwocky is medieval mayhem similar to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
    9. Jan Svankmajer’s Alice (1988, Czech).  This is an astonishing, but terrifying stop-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.  There is a fine line between spooky and creepy.  I think Svankmajer crosses that line in this from Jan Svankmajer's Alicefilm.  This edgy film is not for everyone, but it well worth watching for Alice enthusiasts who are teens and adults.
    10. Gavin Millar’s Dreamchild (1992).  This film is not an adaption of Alice, but it is a creative imagining of the relationship between Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell, the young girl who inspired him to write the book.  The film begins with 80-year-old Liddell visiting New York City for celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Carroll’s birth.  Alice reflects on her childhood friendship with Dodgson/Carroll.  The film features a sympathetic Ian Holm as Carroll and Jim Henson’s Muppets as the creatures in Wonderland.
    11. Nick Willing’s Alice in Wonderland (1999, U.S. television).  This is a star-studded, three-hour adaptation combines both Alice books.  It features Tina Majorino as Alice, Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat, Ben Kingsley as the Caterpillarfrom Gavin Millar's Dreamchild, and Martin Short as the Mad Hatter.  The stand out actors are Gene Wilder as the Mock Turtle and Peter Ustinov as the Walrus.  The Victorian toy theater version of the Walrus and the Carpenter from Through the Looking-Glass is the highpoint of this film. It effectively frames the Alice books within a Victorian context.  Characters that Alice meets in the real world reappear as altered characters in Wonderland, similar to The Wizard of Oz.
    12. Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s MirrorMask (2005). Neil Gaiman is a great mimic and is able to update and revise classic texts.  MirrorMask is goth-girl adaptation of the Alice books. This is a contemporary fantasy in which a teen-age girl, played by Stephanie Leonidas has her own adventures that eerily echo those of Carroll’s Alice.
    13. Bob Shaye’s The Last Mimzy (2007).  Based on Lewis Padgett’s “Mimsy were the Borogoves,” two children save the world from ecological destruction with the help of their stuffed white rabbit.   The toy named Mimzy turns out to be a new form of artificial life using nanotechnology which has come back to warn the people of Earth of the forthcoming disaster.  A complicated science fiction film that combines elements of E.T. and Alice.
    For readers who would like a more comprehensive list of Alice film adaptations, they can read David Schaefer’s “Alice on the Screen” in Martin Gardner’s marvelous The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition (Norton, 2000).
    If this list isn’t already quirky enough, on the horizon are two even more unusual film adaptations.  Marilyn Manson, the creepy metal rocker, has an Alice film coming out called Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. Sarah Michelle Geller, of Buffy the Vampire fame, is the featured actor in the upcoming American McGee’s Alice, based on the popular, but violent, video game.