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Alice still wonders fans and leaves a lasting impression on pop culture

Written by Sara Pintilie, The Shorthorn staff

Monday, 08 March 2010 05:03 PM

Alice travelled back down the rabbithole Friday, but the public has stayed there in some way since the story published in 1865.

The story still enchants pop culture 145 years later.

Last weekend, Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland grossed $116.3 million at the box office, the highest ever for a spring release, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“Alice’s journey from childhood to adulthood is a timeless theme,” English lecturer Nancy England said. “And her adventure is so fantastical — the crazy creatures, odd and frightening.”

The original book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written in 1865 by the author Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. In 1871, he wrote the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

“We are increasingly all Alices, trying to make sense of a shifting world in which the boundary between reality and fantasy blurs to the point of near identity,”

Ben Agger,
sociology and anthropology professor

Both stories follow Alice as she tries to find her way back to her reality after crossing into an imaginative world where caterpillars smoke hookah and playing cards walk and talk.

“During the ’60s, in which young people challenged the stable worlds of their parents, including racism, the war in Vietnam and the patriarchal family, the counterculture championed Alice’s way of looking at things, promoting ‘alternative’ modes of experience that could lead to greater truth and even liberation,” said Ben Agger, sociology and anthropology professor.

There are two visions of Alice, biology sophomore Karina Reyes said. As children, it’s imaginative and catches the eye. As an adult, the story’s layers unravel.

“It takes on a darker meaning with time,” Reyes said.

After its publication, various artists interpreted the story for the stage, screen and in countless different ways in print.

One of the more widely told version of Alice’s escapade is the 1951 Disney film, Alice in Wonderland. It sticks mainly to the first of Alice’s outings to the land, but elements of the sequel appear, such as the characters Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

“It is one of the greatest cartoon Walt Disney movies,” biology sophomore Yasmin Hinojosa said.

Architecture sophomore Diego Wu said he liked the film because it was something different both visually and narratively.

His sister, marketing senior Paola Wu, said she didn’t like the film as a child.

“A lot of things in the film are not for kids,” she said.

Diego Wu elaborated, saying he got an impression of drug influence in the film.

The Caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom “will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.”

England said she has heard the drug argument before.

“Supposedly, Disney hated it because he thought it was too bizarre,” England said. “It’s pretty psychedelic.”

Reyes said the possible drug references are easier to detect with age.

“It takes out the magic,” she said, going back to her double-meaning idea. “But it’s still enjoyable.”

Though some see drug references in the story, it doesn’t make it unrelatable as a whole, interior design sophomore Laura Quintero said.

“There is always a point where you feel lost,” she said, about daily life.

At one point in the story, Alice and the Caterpillar have a discussion about self-awareness.

“Who are you,” the Caterpillar asked.

“I—I hardly know, Sir, just at the present — at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then,” Alice replies.

Quintero said the theme is often emulated in more modern literature, like in Pocho by Jose Antonio Villarreal. She said the protagonist is trying to assimilate into American culture, and it’s like being in a different world.

Paola Wu said she sees several homages to Alice in Wonderland in one of her favorite movies, The Matrix.

They are living in an imagination and they have to take the red pill to get to the real world, she said. She pointed out the element of the white rabbit, remembering in the movie the protagonist follows a girl with a white rabbit tattoo.

It is still alluded to in many movies and books, even last week’s episode of ABC’s “Lost” referenced the tale. The character Jack Shephard references two cats from the story, and the book itself appeared in a scene.

Agger said the story can be relatable to everyone.

“We are increasingly all Alices,” Agger said, “trying to make sense of a shifting world in which the boundary between reality and fantasy blurs to the point of near identity.”

“We are increasingly all Alices, trying to make sense of a shifting world in which the boundary between reality and fantasy blurs to the point of near identity,”

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