Two Different Alice in Wonderland

The story of Alice in Wonderland is truly a timeless and interesting story that many can create their own special version of this classical piece. Lewis Caroll’s 1865 original story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a child friendly tale about Alice discovering the depths within Wonderland. The story is filled with nonsense and odd creatures, which is why it is known to appeal not only to children, but adults as well. As technology advanced throughout the many years, a new film version of Alice arrived, created by Tim Burton in 2010 titled Alice in Wonderland. Burton’s version took on a new take of Alice and the land she enters through a new mysterious uninviting land. While Caroll and Burton’s pieces of work have some similarities, the use of theme, characters, and plot are used in different ways to create their own unique take of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The plot of the two versions of Alice in Wonderland are seen to completely influence the overall storyline between novel and film. In the novel, Caroll intends to make a great dream-like adventure that is experienced by a 7-year-old girl who is bored by a riverbank and follows a white rabbit. Caroll creates the character of Alice to feel as a tourist to this bright and crazy unknown world she has entered through the rabbit hole, known as Wonderland. The novel’s plot of the adventure Alice goes through flows without any major issues occurring in between. In the film, Burton creates a mission where Alice is an older woman that is around the age of 20 and is set for an arranged marriage she does not want to fulfill. She falls into the rabbit hole also, but instead of entering the world she believed was Wonderland, she soon enters the world of Underland that is gloomy and filled with odd creatures. Her mission is unlike the joyous novel, Burton’s Alice must take over the throne from the Red Queen that is expressed through the Oraculum which explains what Alice must successfully do in order to achieve becoming Underland’s champion and saving them all. The film’s plot creates Alice to face an unexpected challenge of slaying the Jabberwocky to become the champion. The difference between the two creates a new vision of Alice, in the film, she is not simply presented in an innocent way as Caroll presents her, but people get to view a unique fresh version of her that is unlike any other. Another major aspect that affects the two versions of Alice, are the characters within it.

Throughout the film, the character of Red Queen shares the same the mood and attitude in both the novel and film. She can be easily distinguished by delivering the familiar line of the Queen whenever she is seen saying, “Off with his head”. A noticeable difference from the film is that the Queen is given the name Iracebeth, while the novel does not specifically give her a distinct name. By the film doing this, it gives the queen more power and that she is a significant part of the story. There are also minor characters that appear in the film that are not as heavily presented in the book such as the Jabberwocky, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the White Queen. The other main characters from the novel make a return in the film, the Cheshire Cat, March Hare, Mad Hatter, and the Caterpillar are transferred from Caroll’s novel to Burton’s film. The Caterpillar did not have a name in the novel, whereas in the film he is named Absolem. By implementing the returning and new characters it creates a type of diversity from the story itself. An equally important detail from within the film and novel is the use of different themes that hide in it.

The themes are a huge difference when comparing the novel versus film. Burtons film focuses more on a theme of feminist rising to power. It is seen that he uses multiple inspired aspects from Caroll within his film such as the character of the Jabberwocky and some of the creatures within Wonderland. However, entirety of the main concept of the film, makes Alice’s adventure seem more as a quest for power rather than the novel’s main theme. It does not focus as much on the theme of the journey toward discovering self-identity and growing as the novel does. Some themes are still similar from novel to film such as Alice making an effort to escape her Victorian reality, making it known the young personality of Alice has still not changed. It is also clear that Caroll focuses his novel upon a mathematical and philosophical theme, whereas Burton focuses his film mostly on a gothic and feminist theme throughout it. These different versions of themes make the mindset different for the viewer/reader on what the true message is of the whole story from the novel and the film.

Caroll and Burton’s well-known masterpieces share certain aspects while also, plot, characters, and themes are uniquely implemented to make two versions of Alice. They are both very different, yet similar in some ways. The transformation from novel to film takes a lot of thinking as to what should be added into it and what should not. Both contain the original basic aspects of Alice, but are told in different styles. Though Burton’s film is immensely inspired by Lewis Caroll’s book, he adds his own interpretation of Alice rather than simply another adaption of the overall story. Burton’s and Caroll’s Alice both have uniqueness and originality, which is what makes the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland such a timeless general story.