The Novel Itself Is a
Rabbit Hole… Worth Diving Into
There are at least 45 film/TV adaptations
of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the
Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. That means we get an Alice adaptation once every three years.
Furthermore, Disney will release yet another film in 2016, titled Alice Through the Looking-Glass.
Clearly, there is something about the original tale that has made readers and
viewers hold onto it for so long. For a novel that is 150 years old, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has
sought countless transformations over time, as different cultures and visionaries
all over the world pour their own madness into Carroll’s original work. Has
anything changed from the 1900s to the present? Over time, the world of fairy
tales has been mixed and stirred with the evolution of culture and human society,
becoming its own rabbit hole for the most curious people to fall into. The
thought of looking through and viewing all the adaptations can drive one mad,
which is why I will offer a summarized in-depth look at the legacy of the
novel, how it has changed over time, and why we hold onto Alice like a dear friend. This is a rabbit hole worth diving into. Alice’s
growth through the years definitely makes one interesting tea conversation,
because it is not just about Alice growing – it is about Wonderland’s ability
to grow because of society’s eagerness to feed it.
From Silent Storytelling to Early Elaborate Visuals (1903 –
1949)
The very
first film adaptation of Carroll’s novel was made way back to the silent era. Alice in Wonderland was filmed in 1903
by director Cecil Hepworth, one of the original founders of the British film
industry. With a runtime of only 8 minutes and 19 seconds, the short film
begins with the text: “Alice dreams that she sees the White Rabbit and follows
him down the Rabbit-hole, into the Hall of Many Doors.”
As one can
guess from the time period and the hectic filming process at the time, the
White Rabbit was simply portrayed by an actor wearing a costume, and thus, the
Rabbit and Alice were the same size (actually the Rabbit was taller). Furthermore,
since the early stages of filmmaking had difficulty in portraying a girl
falling “endlessly,” the Rabbit-hole was portrayed as something closer to a
tunnel. Here, Alice does not fall, but instead continues running down the
tunnel, following the Rabbit. After ending up in the Hall of Many Doors, Alice
comes across the small door, along with the familiar “Drink Me” and “Eat Me”
contents.
The film demonstrated the early magic
that cinema could do, involving simple cuts. By physically cutting up the film
strip and taping it together with the opening of another frame, the director
incorporated the magical element of the “Drink Me” bottle suddenly appearing
out of nowhere. This cutting technique will be further demonstrated in the
later years of silent film by renowned French filmmaker George Méliès. Other scenes ranged from the Cheshire cat (just a regular
cat without the iconic smile) to the Mad Tea Party to Alice meeting the Queen
of Hearts and finally waking up. Interestingly, Alice wakes up not by
overcoming her dream – like in the novel – but by being chased by the Queen’s
henchmen. In a way, she was chased out of her dream in fear, in a similar
fashion as waking up from a nightmare. In fact, the grainy black and white, the
lack of sound and the imagery do give off a creepy lurid impression to the
viewer, almost hinting at early German Expressionism – this is a clear example
of the current trend in cinema at the time contributing to Carroll’s original
story.
The next
adaptation jumps us ahead to 1931, when film finally had sound incorporated in.
With an expanded running time of 58 minutes, the film started immediately with
Alice ending up in Wonderland, and it utilized great imagery (probably cliché
today) to convey the idea that she’s dreaming; at the very beginning and the
very end, the film duplicates Alice’s face, portraying two other Alice’s
circling around the center one, as shown.
Again, since it is the first film to
have sound, the 1931 rendition of Alice in
Wonderland finally had the chance to include iconic lines that made the
novel so charming and nonsensical.
Though the overall quality of the film still looked poor and dated, and the
actor performances were criticized either because they are expressionless or
have a lack of a British accent, it was praised by The New York Times for its scenes that looked as though Sir John
Tenniel’s illustrations had staggered to life.
Then came
the first big production of Alice in
Wonderland, in 1933, by Paramount Pictures. This adaptation featured an
all-star cast, from Edna May Oliver as the Red Queen to even Cary Grant as the
Mock Turtle. At only 90 minutes long, Alice
in Wonderland sought a strange combination of both of Carroll’s novels.
Even though its title comes from the first novel, its opening of Alice entering
the magical world follows Looking-Glass.
The same goes with how Alice awakens, not by confronting the pack of playing
cards but by the chaotic crowd that goes mad after she is crowned Queen.
Therefore, it is my theory that this film wanted to be called Alice in Wonderland simply because the
first novel is undoubtedly more popular than the second. Soon after Paramount
took a step into Carroll’s world, next came the humongous dominating studio of
the decade: Walt Disney Studios.
Disney Steps In and Despite Differences, Aggressively Mainstreams
Wonderland (1949 – 1951)
In the middle of Disney’s production,
however, the French came about with their own adaptation, and the two films
wound up being released at a time window so close that Disney actually sued and
went through a legal dispute. The French version, titled Alice au pays des merveilles, showed a much older Alice (the
actress was 20) but remained faithful to the first original novel.
Surprisingly, the film incorporated a combination of live action and extremely
creepy stop-motion animation. The Caterpillar scene exhibited this
admirable contrast, where actress Carol Marsh played off of a hunk of wires and
plastic.
In fact, almost every character in
Wonderland, including the Red Queen, was a stop-motion puppet. This provided an
interesting contrast between what is real and what is not real. Furthermore,
the film contained songs. Finally, the film was planned to have a US release
just days before Disney releases their own version. It’s no wonder why Disney
Studios took action. Time Magazine
covered the entire case, in which Disney sued and successfully prevented the
release, making the 1949 film one that most Americans failed to find.
Ironically, both the 1949 French film and the 1951 Disney cartoon flopped in
the box office. The
Disney cartoon opened at only $2.4 million in the box office, which, after
being adjusted for inflation to today’s standards, is about $22 million, the
same opening as this year’s Paul Blart:
Mall Cop 2. In fact, the famous Disney cartoon that we all praise today and
grew up with was critically panned at the time of its release.
A promotional poster of Alice in Wonderland (1951) in
a newspaper
Like a few of the adaptations that
came before it, Disney’s Alice in
Wonderland not only combined certain elements from both novels together but
also had some curious details missing. Though it is titled Alice in Wonderland, it includes the appearance of Looking-Glass’s Tweedledee and
Tweedledum, and they also tell the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter. Yet,
the film makes no mentions of the Mock Turtle, the Gryphon or the Lobster
Quadrille; all are characters from the novel that the film is based on. However,
despite changes, the film made some clever liberties: The filmmakers made an
admirable choice of having the lyrics to the songs be taken straight out of
Carroll’s poems in the novels, as shown in the Walrus and Carpenter scene.
That being said, the film missed a great opportunity to give characterization to
Alice, due to the two endings being very thematically different. In the
original novel, Alice woke up from her dream after she realized she has
complete control of herself and her world. She woke up by standing up and
overcoming such nonsense, given by her famous line of “You’re nothing but a
pack of cards!” It was written to be a moment of triumph for Alice, especially since
the novel had a consistent atmosphere of uncertainty in her character. In the
Disney rendition, Alice does stand up for herself, only to shrink back down to
her normal size. She then proceeded to be chased out of the castle and through
a maze by not just the Queen’s henchmen but every
citizen in Wonderland. Like the 1903 silent film, Alice here is once again
chased out of her dream in a panic.
Underneath all the criticism a fan of
Carroll can make, though, Disney took Alice
in Wonderland in a whole new direction apart from what Carroll probably
intended. After airing the movie on network television but holding a consistent
detachment from the product, Disney finally re-released the film in 1974, and
the response from the new cultural society in that decade proved that the film
was indeed ahead of its time in the 50s, as positive word of mouth started to
grow. Imagery of Alice finally began to appear alongside other iconic faces
like Mickey Mouse, like in the invitation art shown. It even included an
appearance of the famous creature in the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are.
Just like how David Rider wrote in
his review of the re-release, the film “has not dated at all and remains
remarkably contemporary.”
In 1981, Alice in Wonderland was
re-released yet again, and the character of Alice became an icon for
imagination, creativity and wonder. At Disneyland, all the famous characters from
both novels take photos with tourists. One of the most famous attractions for
children at the theme park is the teacup ride based on the Mad Tea Party. Now
that Disney has given one of the most iconic works in literature the mainstream
treatment, there is no doubt that a fantasy tale like Alice in Wonderland has become a goliath staple in the genre; it is
so goliath that there are countless references to the story everywhere we go.
Wonderland Continues To Grow – A New Darker Alice (1988 – 2010)
After three decades of parodies and
cultural references that I will eventually come back to, Alice in Wonderland finally returned to its original adaptation
form, now with a refreshingly different atmosphere. In 1988, Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer provided a unique look at the
story. In Alice, the titular
character follows not a live but a stuffed rabbit, which magically comes to
life. The first key difference in the film is that the world of Wonderland
seems to co-exist with Alice’s bedroom. There is a strong lack of vibrant
colors, since Wonderland this time around is mostly shaped by dilapidated
household hallways and rooms. Most of the colors in the shots are brown. Last
but not least, the film once again incorporated live action and stop-motion at
the same time, only this time, it put the 1949 French version to shame in terms
of creepiness.
Švankmajer remained faithful to the novel in terms of literal plot and
narrative, yet took his own creative liberties to show us a film that is
visually disturbing and haunting via twisted surreal images. The result is one
of the scariest things I have ever seen. As the scene shows an Alice doll being
ripped open from the inside, with the real Alice crawling out of it, there is
no better way to react than having one’s jaw dropped.
In the same year, pop culture in film took a
quirky dark turn that nonetheless fascinated audiences – director Tim Burton
just released Beetlejuice. After
providing further dark yet compelling flicks like Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd, Burton provided his quirky
treatment on the Carroll tale. The result is one of the most famous
adaptations, but it has the most departures.
The 2010 Alice in Wonderland acted more like a sequel to the original novel,
even though it still contained some classic scenes and iconic characters. Alice
is once again in her 20s in this version, and after falling down the
Rabbit-hole into Wonderland, she is constantly questioned by the inhabitants as
to whether or not she’s the “right” Alice. Later on, the film confirms itself
as a sequel by revealing that the current narrative is the second time Alice
has fallen down the Rabbit-hole. Here, the story takes flight on its own while
also referring to Looking-Glass by
providing a prophecy story, telling that Alice is destined to defeat the
Jabberwocky and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror. Through the course of the
film, we follow Alice as she teams up with the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the
Cheshire Cat, and the White Queen as she fights a Narnia-like final battle, all
while Burton provides gorgeously lurid imagery throughout. This time around,
the Alice adaptation is more focused
on drowning the audience in the world of Wonderland by filling the screen up
with all different kinds of CGI visuals. Every shot in the film is densely
packed with creatures and effects, with the latter focused heavily on 3D. In an
interview, director Burton describes how the novel and the medium of 3D fit together
because the story contains visual elements like size, shrinking and growing,
all while highlighting how trippy the entire affair is.
The film seemed to set out with a
different agenda from other adaptations. Instead of just re-telling the classic
story, it “up’d” the game in terms of size and scope. No other Alice adaptation has been made in the
same scale as a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings film. Yet, next to the
grand scale of the film, Burton kept his signature dark style throughout the
narrative by his choice of lighting, color, and imagery; scenes involved heads
floating in a swamp and several moments of eyes being stabbed or plucked out
(and the film was still rated PG). In the end, the large scope of the film and
the amount of lore it explored in the Carroll novels won over the crowd, and
the film went on to become a hit worldwide.
How Alice Influenced Everything That Came After (2012 – ???)
Despite the
mixed reviews on the Tim Burton adaptation by critics, one statistic stood out
amongst filmgoers and studios: The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide (Only
23 films in history have achieved this).
The overwhelming financial success of Burton’s Wonderland proved that there was
a roaring enthusiastic crowd for this story but more importantly, this genre.
Ever since its success, moviegoers received several fantasy reboots, including Snow White and the Huntsman, Oz the Great and Powerful, Maleficent, Into the Woods, and this
year’s Cinderella. The best (or
worst) part about this movement is that it is not going anywhere for a while.
One of the most popular TV shows today is a fantasy show –Once Upon A Time. In 2013, the ABC show aired a spinoff titled Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, where it
received positive reviews. Disney already has a reboot of The Jungle Book and Beauty
and the Beast planned for 2016. Finally, there is Alice Through the Looking Glass, with the cast of the previous film
returning in their respective roles. All
of these fantasy releases prove one single thing: Fairy tales still sell.
Why We Still Love Alice (1930s – 2000s)
Now that I have filled your head with
all different kinds of Alice in
Wonderland adaptations, is it okay to have so many different versions of
the same story? What good do they do? But the big question is: Why does Alice in Wonderland always come back to
us after all these years? Tim Burton, in promotion of his 2010 film, made a
comment regarding the countless adaptations of the novel. He claimed that the
abundant number of versions actually helped because there was no definitive one.
He is absolutely right, and that is why I think Alice in Wonderland is a story that we hold onto so tightly –it’s
broadly about everything and it sneakily finds its way to be relevant in
everything. I mentioned in the very beginning that Wonderland grows because
society wants to feed it. Why? Because Wonderland is not just about Alice’s
imagination, but our imagination.
Wonderland is merely an idea of what we can create and the nonsense that life
is consisted of. Therefore, we associate ourselves with the story. Because life
is ever-changing, so is Wonderland, and everyone’s perception of Wonderland is
different and unique. My perception of fairy tales may be the polar opposite of
my professor’s. Because of this attachment, it is no wonder why every type of
culture or media found a way to bond with the novel. As early as 1934, we were
beyond excited to see one of the most popular cartoon characters in the world,
Betty Boop, walk through the glass into the animators’ own vision of
Wonderland, titled Blunderland.
Even lovers of Playboy and adult content got a bit of what they wanted in Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical
Comedy. In its promotional ad on a magazine, the slogan for the film in the
bottom left box read:
“The world’s favorite bed-time story is finally a
bed-time story…”
Even the popular Care Bears on TV had
an adaptation where the Care Bears fall into Wonderland. By not having a single character from the novels, The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland
proved that any character can enter
such a nonsensical world, further highlighting my point that Wonderland is
about us. We have associated
ourselves with the story so much that almost everyone in the world can
recognize elements of the story anywhere. Political cartoons in the 70s
incorporated Carroll’s story throughout the country, with the Cheshire Cat and
Humpty Dumpty alluding to US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon being
just two examples.
Carroll’s novel was not the only thing
that evolved over time. It is not just about Alice’s growth, but also about
Wonderland’s growth, fairy tales’ growth, and our growth. Society changes every
day – one minute, something becomes a trend. On top of that, there are millions
of societies and cultures across the globe, all changing spontaneously. In
agreement with Peter Heath, one of the key reasons the novel remained as the
greatest is that it has not dated. He then went on to describe that we live “in
a world dominated by Boolean algebra on the one hand and political lunatics on
the other,” and as a result, the novel “steadily gained in relevance.”
There is an endless spectrum of unique voices out there who can easily provide
their visions into a staple like Alice in
Wonderland, and you know what the best part about it is? The audience still
cares. No matter how many adaptations or pop culture references we get, we are always
curious to see what new offerings can be made to Carroll’s original work. It is
what makes Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass feel so timeless.
By the time we crawled out of the Rabbit-hole, we will always have the urge to
jump back in and explore another take on Alice’s story, because the best
stories always evolve.
Word Count Total: 3489
Word Count w/o Quotes: 3206
