Cuban Missile Crisis Reflected In Alice In Wonderland

The Cuban Missile Crisis Reflected in Alice in Wonderland

The noted M. Esther Harding once said “Conflict is the beginning of consciousness” . The essence of quote is further explored in Tim Burton’s Disney film Alice in Wonderland. In the movie Alice is described as a British girl who is somewhat rowdy. At the beginning of the movie Alice is at her fiance’s garden party when she once again falls down a rabbit hole and embarks on a series of adventures while reuniting with a variety of characters in the magical world that she had previously entered. Some of these characters that are Alice’s old friends, or enemies, include the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit as well as the Queen of Hearts. She is told she must end the “Red Queen’s” also known

The characters in this film seem to resemble the conflict that was taking place during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Mad Hatter’s character displays what a stereotypical gentlemen might act like; however, the fact that he is known as a “Mad” Hatter demonstrates a type of deterioration within society which seemed lost at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With mankind losing it civility by creating missiles and threatening to launch them, the Mad Hatter’s decline as a gentleman exhibits what was happening to society as a whole during the Crisis. At the Mad Hatter’s tea party scene the pots are boiling and whistling aggressively with their lids about to blow off. This suggests a correlation with the missiles that were so close to being launched. The inhumane attitude going on in both the Cuban Missile Crisis and Alice in Wonderland shows a slowly declining society. Another character that illustrates a connection with the Cuban Missile Crisis is the White Rabbit. The rabbit seems to be an agent of change. As Alice keeps following the Rabbit, he gets her deeper and deeper into trouble as well as into Wonderland. This symbolizes both powers, the USSR and the United States, goal for development and to be ahead of one another at every second in everything from elements such as technology to allies. This created pressure and social unrest because of the fear that the Cuban Missile Crisis generated. Throughout the movie the rabbit 's watch always marks the same time which is 5:00. Something to note during the film is that the rabbit repeatedly says that he is late. This represents the fact that both forces did not show any sign of ending the crisis creating the idea that it would persist for an eternity. Both of these characters show a correlation with the pressures and conflicts of the cold war by having inhumanity and deterioration as