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Camila Barrios

Dr. Tabitha Clark

ENGW1111

5 April 2021

A Comparison of Conflict and Gender in Alice in Wonderland

Wonderland is a place filled with nonsensical creatures, which have “charmed the

imaginations of generations of kids” (Crowther para. 1). The animated movie Alice in

Wonderland, released in 1951 and produced by Walt Disney, was based on Lewis Carroll’s

books, Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871). Despite there being

some changes to the characters and the addition of songs, it was well received by audiences. The

next adaption of Alice in Wonderland was released over fifty years later, in 2010. This movie

was Tim Burton’s adaption of Carroll’s works. His version includes many changes to the source

material, with the main changes being the change of Alice’s age and the addition of climatic

action set piece (McCarthy). Despite these changes, the film was well received by audiences and

it won two Academy Awards for its visuals: Best Achievement in Costume Design and Best

Achievement in Art Direction (“Alice in Wonderland (2010) Awards”). Even with the

differences in storyline, both films still have conflict and gender as their two main themes.

Both adaptations of Alice in Wonderland have man vs. self as the main conflict. In Alice

in Wonderland (1951), Alice’s journey through Wonderland is used to show how Alice is

dealing with growing up. At the start of the film, Alice says, “If I had a world of my own,

everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is” (Geronimi et al.). Alice was bored

of her history lesson and wanted to go have fun, like many children do. The nonsense refers to
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the creative imaginations that children have, and Wonderland provided her with the nonsense she

desperately wanted. However, this want for nonsense changed when she experienced it in

Wonderland. Alice says, “No, no, please, no more nonsense…. It would be so nice if something

made sense for a change.” Alice has been overwhelmed by the nonsense in Wonderland and is

ready to experience some normalcy once again. This reflects how Alice is ready to move on from

her nonsense-filled childhood and grow up to be more mature. Another way that Wonderland

helps Alice understand that she must grow up is through the size changes she goes through.

When she ate the pastries at the bottom of the rabbit hole, she experienced drastic size changes

which caused her to struggle and cry. This is a typical response a child has when put in

uncomfortable situations. While these changes in height served as a nuisance before, it later

allowed Alice to stand up to the Queen of Hearts. During her trial, Alice tells the Queen, “Why

you’re not a queen. You’re just a fat, pompous, bad-tempered old tyrant.” She was only able to

stand up to the Queen because she felt powerful with her giant height. Her changes in height are

a physical representation of Alice growing up. By coming to terms with her giant height and

using it to her advantage, Alice overcame her struggles with growing up and became a confident

person. Wonderland provided Alice with a place where she could deal with growing up and

finding herself.

In Alice in Wonderland (2010), Alice had to figure out what she wanted to do in life and

once again, Wonderland helped her figure it out. In this adaptation, Alice is expected to marry,

but she is unsure of what to do and struggles with making her own decisions. The characters she

meets in Wonderland help her gain the confidence she needs to make her own decisions. One of

the wise characters, Caterpillar, helps her realize that to truly be herself, she needs to make her

own decisions. He says, “I said you were not her then, but you’re much more her now. In fact,
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you’re almost Alice” (Burton). Caterpillar is trying to tell Alice that in order for her to truly be

herself, she needs to make her own decisions in life. Another way that Alice was able to

overcome her indecisiveness is by talking to the White Queen, someone that is seen as wise. The

White Queen tells her, “The choice much be yours, because when you step out to face that

creature, you must do it alone.” With this advice in mind, Alice was able to make her own

decision of whether she wanted to help defeat the monster, and this was the start of Alice making

her own decisions about what she wanted to do in her life.

Both movies also reverse the traditional gender roles and similarly portray women in

these reversed gender roles. In Alice in Wonderland (1951), the main gender role reversal occurs

between the Queen of Hearts and the King. The Queen of Hearts is shown as someone much

bigger in size than anyone in her court, especially compared to the King. This is a physical

representation of the switch in power dynamic between the King and Queen. The Queen of

Hearts was also had very frequent mood swings. When she first speaks to Alice, she frequently

alternated between speaking politely and yelling at Alice. After she asked Alice what she was

doing in Wonderland and Alice answered, the Queen immediately shouted, “Your way? All

ways here are my ways!” (Geronimi et al.). The Queen is being portrayed as someone hysterical,

which was a common way to portray women at the time. Having a woman in power, such as the

Queen of Hearts, was not something commonly seen at the time. To compensate for showing a

woman in a position of power, the directors decided to portray her as someone unstable and

hysterical. In a movie made back in the 1950’s, this portrayal is not surprising, but it is surprising

to see in more recent movies.

In Alice in Wonderland (2010), the Red Queen is being portrayed the same way the

Queen of Hearts was in the 1951 film. The Red Queen is shown as a small woman with a big
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head, bright red hair, and unrealistic make-up. By making the Red Queen look like that, the

director is trying to show that she is not someone normal. Giving her less human-like features

gives the impression that she is not a character that should be taken seriously, and this is

reinforced by her behavior. After Alice introduced herself as “Um,” the Red Queen believed that

was her name without question, and introduced Alice to her court as, “Um, my new favorite”

(Burton). By giving the Red Queen unhuman-like features and making her dimwitted, the

director is trying to compensate for having a woman in power by making her an unlikeable

character. This movie is doing the same thing the 1951 version of the film was doing but using

different tactics.

These themes were chosen because they were prominent in both movies. Both movies

focused on how Alice’s journey through Wonderland helped her deal with her real life and this is

an example of a conflict of man vs. self. The movies also portrayed the queens in a similar

fashion, allowing for gender biases to be seen. This franchise was chosen because both movies

adapted from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, however due

to the big gap in between the production of each movie, there is variation as to how they adapted

his works. The 1951 movie stayed truer to the books and added songs to make it more appealing

to younger audiences. The 2010 movie took more liberties in the adaption by adding more action

but kept the main theme of Alice trying to figure out who she really is and what she wants to do

with her life. While both movies try to stay true to the source material, the more recent adaption

has made changes to better appeal to current societal norms and hopefully future adaptions will

continue to do this.
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Works Cited

Geronimi, Clyde, et al., directors. Alice in Wonderland. Walt Disney Productions, 1951.

Burton, Tim, director. Alice in Wonderland. Walt Disney Studios, 2010.

“Alice in Wonderland (2010) Awards.” IMDb, IMDb.com,

www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/awards.

Crowther, Bosley. “THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Disney's Cartoon Adaptation of 'Alice in

Wonderland' Arrives at Criterion.” The New York Times, 30 July 1951.

McCarthy, Todd. “Not Far Enough 'Round the Bend.” Variety, 1 Mar. 2010, p. 18. Gale

Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A221917247/AONE?

u=mlin_b_northest&sid=AONE&xid=307a8bcc. Accessed 15 Mar. 2021.