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Daytrelle Scott
Professor Lewis
Eng114B
11 May 2014
The Many Different Alices
Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, written by Lewis
Carroll are classics which have been around for many years. In Alices Adventures in
Wonderland a little girl named Alice follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole, taking her to a strange
world. In Through the Looking Glass, she returns to Wonderland through a mirror and runs into
new and old characters. Carrolls works are controversial since it seems like a bunch of written
nonsense. Many people, back in his time period through today, believe that he was off his rocker,
on some kind of drugs, or a pedophile who was a little too close to Alice Liddell, the inspiration
for the main character, and her sisters. Despite all this controversy surrounding him, his works
have remained known for over a century and have inspired many. But what is it that makes
Carrolls works that make it so good and inspired many? Alice in Wonderland has its own
structure that people seem to take in mind when creating their adaptation. Following this
structure, creators use their imaginations in a Carroll-like fashion, and make their adaptations
different from one another.
Christopher Lane explains why Carrolls works kept peoples interest after so long:
The Alice stories manage to have such a hold on readers, he declared, because
they touch on the most pure network of our condition of being: the symbolic, the
imaginary, and the real.(2)
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As the original story of Alice in Wonderland is over a century old, there have been many
adaptations and remakes ranging from novels, films, and video games. People have made the
story simpler for kids, such as the commonly known Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland,
directed by Clyde Geronimi; this film is more family friendly and music based, making it more
fun for children. It is more light-hearted than Carrolls books. It follows the original story, such
as Alice follows the rabbit down the rabbit hole simply because she is curious and embarks on an
adventure trying to keep up with him. Unlike the 1951 Disney animated film, Alice in
Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, is more based off the Through the Looking Glass. In this
film, Alice is 19 years old who after a long time returns to Wonderland. She too follows the
white rabbit down the hole, however the motive is not the same. When she first arrives there, it is
often debated by the Wonderland residents to whether if she is the Alice. It is soon discovered
that she is the one who will take down the Red Queens Jabberwocky. Creators have also made
Carrolls story horrifying as if all the characters are truly insane. Insanity, written by Cameron
Jace, takes a dark turn with the portrayal of Alice and other Wonderland characters. Alice
Wonder has been staying in an insane asylum for two years after killing her class. Her memory
of Wonderland is impaired by multiple sessions of shock therapy and her only friend is a tiger
lily plant. Carter Pillar, or Pillar the Killer, gets Alice out of the asylum so they came team up
and stop the Cheshire Cat, who is killing young girls as a part of his search for his stolen grin.
Much like Insanity, American McGees video game, Alice, game twists the story into something
more psychologically horrifying and suspenseful. In an interview, R.J. Berg, the executive
producer of the game, had this to say when asked what Carroll would think of the game if he
were still with us today:
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I'd like to think he'd appreciate our attempt to expand the spirit of his fantasy -
that he'd be complimented by the inspiration his work provided and gratified to discover
his unique creation exerts a compelling attraction 150 years after he wrote it. The Alice
he wrote for is long gone...but the Alice he wrote about will live forever.
The game begins with Alice being alerted by the Wonderland characters in her dream warning
her to get up and get out the house because it was burning down. She was the only one to escape
and her parents died in the fire. Somehow she ends up in an asylum. She returns to Wonderland,
but it was not like before. As she goes through Wonderland, it is like going through a puzzle. To
defeat the enemies that are in her way she uses items like a croquet mallet, playing cards or a
knife. The Cheshire Cat, among other characters, serves as Alices guide to help her restore
Wonderland and bring an end to the reign of the Queen of Hearts.
When considering Carrolls works and all the all the adaptations, one may question;
could Wonderland be real or it is just a detailed dream that Alice could vividly recall? While
reading Carrolls works, it could be hard to differentiate from dreams and reality. One would
think that Alice is considered to be a bit nutty retelling her experience in a whimsical land with
thought-provoking creatures. However, in Through the Looking Glass, when she is talking to
Humpty Dumpty, she states that she is seven years old, where children are known to have an
active imagination around that age. This plus she is shown to act in ways that are harmful, but
not purposely, to the creatures of Wonderland. That could make her a little unreliable
considering the narrator is telling the story from Alices point of view. However, she is often
shown to be bright by demonstrating her abilities to recite poems from memory, even though she
is often told that she is saying it incorrectly. If Alice did not act like similar to this, it would not
be an Alice in Wonderland story. Alice in Wonderland has its own structure that people seem to
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take in mind when creating their adaptation. Some examples of this is the phrase often uttered by
Alice curiouser and curiouser and the riddle told by the Mad Hatter, Why is a raven like a
writing desk? Both have been quoted in adaptations. In most adaptations they also keep the
name Alice, or some variation of it. For example, in Insanity, some of the characters have normal
human names and personas, but have their Wonderland names. Carter Pillar, or Pillar the Killer,
from Insanity would be an example. In Wonderland, everyone seems to have their own rules,
which in Carrolls works, causes Alice to be confused by the social norms. Usually Alice loses a
sense of identity; for example, in Carrolls works she asks Who am I?
Alice is always intelligent, curious, determined and a little brave. Disneys Alice in
Wonderland, after being in Wonderland after a while, Alice finds it hard to keep her nice and
orderly composure, but stays determined to follow the White Rabbit. Even when she is older,
like in Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland, her curiosity bested her as she followed the White
Rabbit down the hole. Her bravery is shown when she finally accepts her fate to fight the Red
Queens Jabberwocky. Alices intelligence in Insanity shows when she and Pillar work together
to stop the Cheshire Cats plans. She shows her bravery when she saves a little girl, whom she
does not know, who was kidnapped by the Cheshire Cat. In McGees Alice, the Cheshire Cat
describes her as curious and willing to learn. Alice is known to go through a change in identity
as she goes through Wonderland. In Burtons version, she has trouble in the beginning when she
first got into Wonderland, because she is expected to defeat the Red Queens Jabberwocky since
is the Alice. The Caterpillar refers to Alice as not Alice to almost Alice to the Alice as
the story progresses. Insanitys Alice has trouble with her identity, as she is the Alice that the
Pillar is looking for, but to the White Queen and some others, she is not the Alice. Alice has
difficulty coming to terms with her sanity.
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In an Alice in Wonderland adaptation, it is expected that at least one character other than
Alice makes an appearance. Common characters are the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. They
are all present in the adaptations mentioned. However, they are all portrayed very differently.
The Mad Hatter, in the Disney animated film he is portrayed as a silly kooky old man,
who sings a un-birthday song with the March Hare. In Tim Burtons film, he appears much
younger but he is brightly colored and dons orange hair. The Mad Hatters character goes much
more in depth, and his change of emotions come and go. Johnny Depp, the actor of the Mad
Hatter in this film, shares some of his thoughts about the character:
Theres the whole Hatters dilemma, really, which was where the term, 'Mad as a Hatter'
came from, was the amount of mercury that they used in the glue to make the hats. Everything
was damaging. So, in terms of the Hatter, looking at it from that perspective of this guy who
literally is damaged goods, physically damaged, emotionally a little obtuse, and taking that and
deciding that he should be - as opposed to just this hyper, nutty guy - he should explore all sides
of the personality at an extreme level (Murray).
In McGees Alice, the Mad Hatter is one of the antagonists that you have to defeat to
move on in the game. It is mentioned in Insanity that he would be worse than the Cheshire Cat if
he were to escape from Wonderland.
The Cheshire Cat is known to be mischievous, and is always seen grinning. In
adaptations, his character usually flip-flops in regards to his relationship Alice; he is either with
her or against her as she goes through her adventure. For example, in Disneys Alice in
Wonderland, the pink and purple-striped cat gets Alice in trouble during the trial. In Burtons
Alice in Wonderland and American McGees Alice, he is a help to Alice, and in Insanity, and in
Disneys Alice in Wonderland one can consider that he is both a help and a bother to her.
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The idea that the Wonderland characters live by their own individuals shows in all of
these adaptations. Disneys Alice in Wonderland follows Carrolls when the Queen of Hearts
orders to behead anyone who does not bide to her rules. Because of this, it makes the characters
involved in her game of croquet to cheat so the Queen of Hearts could win. In Tim Burtons
Alice in Wonderland, everyone lives from by their own rules; however Wonderland had been
taken over by the Red Queen because her rule is that it is better to be feared than loved. Also
in American McGees Alice, Wonderlands rules as a whole has been twisted under the rule of
the Queen of Hearts causing disorder. Insanitys the Pillar kills people and gets away with it, he
leaves the asylum whenever he pleases, and he goes as far as stealing a public bus for his use.
If you compare all of the different adaptions mentioned, one could see the people who
have taken their time to create a new perspective of Wonderland and the characters because they
are so different from one another. There are infinite possibilities of that someone could recreate
with Carrolls story and still holds the same structure of his works, no matter the medium, genre,
or media. Despite the differences, it still holds a connection to the original. Alices Adventures in
Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass has been here for over a century and it is evident
that it will still remain an inspiration, whether for an adaptation or an influence for an original
project, for many years to come.

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Work Cited
Alice. American McGee. Video Game. 26 Mar. 2014.
Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Clyde Geronimi. Perf. Kathryn Beaumont. Walt Disney Pictures.
2010. DVD.
Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, and Helena
Bonham Carter. Walt Disney Pictures. 2010. DVD.
"American McGee's Alice Interview." IGN. 9 Oct. 2000. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Carroll, Lewis. Alices Adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan & Co. 1865. EPUB File.
---. Through the Looking Glass. London: Macmillan & Co. 1871. EPUB File.
Jace, Cameron. Insanity. 2013. Kindle.
Lane, Christopher. Lewis Carroll and Psychoanalysis: Why Nothing Adds Up in Wonderland.
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Vol. 92 (2011): PDF. Mar 6, 2014.
Murray, Rebecca. "Johnny Depp Talks About 'Alice in Wonderland'" About.com Hollywood
Movies. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.