Poor Message Portrayed in Alice in Wonderland For several decades, parents have been allowing their children to watch Disney movies based on the misconception that they are appropriate for children of any age. Whether it be princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, or other movies such as Bambi and The Lion King, parents have always found these films to be suitable for children. However, many of these movies contain a much deeper issue then meets the eye. One movie where this occurs is Alice in Wonderland. In the movie, Alice in Wonderland, a poor message for children is displayed through the extensive use of various drugs and the lack of consequences that are shown as a result at the end. Alice in Wonderland opens with Alice being …show more content…
From the moment she finds him, he is smoking out of a pipe. He uses the smoke that he produces to spell out the letters while he is talking to her. Here, she inhales the smoke that he is breathing in her direction, which would have enhanced the high she felt from the substances that she consumed prior. The substance that the caterpillar is smoking parallels with both hookah, because of the way he consumes it, and opium, because it originates from a plant. As her time with the caterpillar continues, she also takes two pieces from a mushroom, which cause her to both grow and shrink suddenly. This occurrence directly aligns with one taking “shrooms”, which would be followed by more hallucinations. Immediately after leaving the area with the caterpillar, she encounters the Cheshire Cat in the forest with trees that light up in different colors and make sounds. Again, hallucinations generally “include lights, colors, lines, or simple geometric shape” (Borreli). The things that she experiences in the forest parallel completely with hallucinations because not only does she see lights and colors in the trees, but she also sees lines and other, simple geometric shapes that make up the Cheshire Cat. However, at this point in the film, she has encountered many different substances, which would result in more drastic hallucinations. As Alice in Wonderland progresses, she experiences many more scenarios, such as the Mad Tea Party and the Queen of Hearts. Finally, at the end of the movie, she finds her way back out of the rabbit hole. However, she believes that all of the characters that she encountered in Wonderland are chasing her. This paranoid experience at the end parallels with a “bad trip”, which “include[s] terrifying thoughts and nightmarish feelings of anxiety and despair that include fears of losing control, insanity, or death” (NIDA), but
It is amazing that nearly all critics of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland focused solely on the character and adventures of the female protagonist/hero. A somewhat right-wing and didactic critique at Decent Films writes, “Alice embodies the gender feminist narrative of vibrant young girls losing their mojo as they come of age in patriarchal society.” The woman’s magazine, Jezebel, while praising the movie as “refreshingly feminist” seemed to notice only that the hero who fights against the forces of evil is a woman. Jezebel mentions other characters, but does not take the time to catalogue their relationship to feminism. In an Associated Content piece by Adriana Tanese-Nogueria which does, commendably, explore the feminist theme much more richly than many other reviews, still, the main focus is on Alice’s journey of feminist liberation. But Lewis Carroll also takes a look at the men in this story. Men during the Victorian era were known to have the control over the household and have a job. Their lives were around getting the perfect wife and making a lot of money. So when one reads some of the characters in Alice in Wonderland, one can see some difference in how he portrays some of the characters.
Many of us have seen a Disney movie when we were younger. Disney movies captured our attention with their good morals and successful conclusions of finding their true love. The animations and music transform us into a land of magic where anything is possible if we just believe. Disney movies wrapped us in the idea that good always triumphs evil, that happy ever after exists. We have become the generation of Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmatians, Dumbo and Snow White as children now have not heard of these or have watched them. Some of these movies have been recreated and released in high definition and on DVDs in the past few years, but the structure and themes of the movies stays the same. However, we never stop and think about the undertones in Disney movies. They contain abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, and gender stereotypes, which is not appropriate for children. They may not understand what abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, alcohol or gender stereotypes are at their ages but do we want them to think that it’s normal. When we think that little girls watch these movies where the female characters are controlled by man or need a man to watch over them, they are not creating good role models for them. Would we not want them to have a better understanding that women do not have to have a prince charming to be happy, women can be independent and have careers and yes find love but not give everything up so their prince charming has the control.
Alice in wonderland has compelled many artists and writings to adapt, Lewis Carroll 's book into movies. The original animated movie of Alice in Wonderland came out in 1951; which was produced by Disney. There have been many remakes, but for the purpose of this essay the 2010, live action remake by Tim Burton can reveal the most change. Keeping these two versions in mind, it is possible to get a snapshot of some ways American culture has shifted over the 59 year period. There are five main changes of importance from the original and the remake of Alice in Wonderland. Those changes are: the age of Alice, the dynamic of characters in Wonderland, the Gender roles, the violence, and the agency of Alice throughout the movie. These key changes can be linked to many subliminal messages being conveyed about American
Try to watch this film completely innocent I, they are not focusing on the opening song in Aladdin being violent they are focusing on the story. Disney films continues to do this today, not as much although, as well as Disney films having jokes I go over children's head, and make parent snicker, the film starring an inappropriate joke kids do not understand. Disney films takes a lot of risk; however, the children typically are too innocent to notice these slight imperfections in the
Many of us have seen a Disney movie when we were younger. Disney movies captured our attention with their mortals and successful conclusion. The animations and music transform us into a land of magic where anything is possible if we just believe. Disney movies wrapped us in the idea that good always triumphs evil, that happy ever after exists. We have become the generation of Beauty and the Beast, The 101 Dalmatians, Dumbo and Snow White as children now have not heard of these or have watched them. Some of these movies have been recreated and released in high definition and on DVDs in the past few years, but the structure and themes of the movies stays the same. However, we never stop and thought of the undertones in Disney movies? They contain abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, and gender stereotypes, which is not appropriate for children. They may not understand what abuse, violence, dysfunctional relationships, alcohol or tobacco are at their ages but do we want to think it is normal. When we think that little girls wat...
...rents do not want to see their children suffer through anything but if children choose to disobey, they would probably understand life lessons better. It might be the cruelest but perhaps the most effective way for children to learn, such in the case of Alice where her body parts were out of porportions in the story. The famous Japanese Proverb, “fall down seven times, get up eight”(Moncur, 1994-2007) is true for many children. Children strive to experience things. Often when they fail, they will get back on their feet and figure another way to succeed. Alice confronted many kinds of struggles while she was in wonderland but she managed to navigate way through and she lastly got back to reality. Every child experiences disobedience behavior and every parent and caregivers experiences dealing with children's disobedience behavior. The cycle is most likely to repeat.
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.
Lewis Carroll's Wonderland is a queer little universe where a not so ordinary girl is faced with the contradicting nature of the fantastic creatures who live there. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a child's struggle to survive in the condescending world of adults. The conflict between child and adult gives direction to Alice's adventures and controls all the outstanding features of the work- Alice's character, her relationship with other characters, and the dialogue. " Alice in Wonderland is on one hand so nonsensical that children sometimes feel ashamed to have been interested in anything so silly (Masslich 107)."
There are billions of books in the world, all with different plots and styles. However, the one thing they all have in common is that they all have literary devices. A literary device is any technique a writer uses to help the reader understand and appreciate the meaning of the work. Due to the use of these devices, books that would otherwise have nothing in common can be compared. For instance, the books Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman have different plots and themes. But when both are examined closely, it is evident that they utilize many different and similar literary devices.
In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism.
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
One of the main purposes for writing Alice in Wonderland was not only to show the difficulties of communication between children and adults. In this story, almost every adult Alice talked to did not understand her. At times she messed up what they were saying completely as well, which many times stick true to real life circumstances. This book shows that kids and adults are on completely separate pages on an everlasting story. Carroll points out that sometimes children, like Alice, have a hard time dealing with the transition from childhood to adulthood, 'growing up.' Alice in Wonderland is just a complicated way of showing this fact. Lewis Carroll's ways with words is confusing, entertaining, serious, and highly unique all at the same time. And it's safe to say that it would be difficult to replicate such and imaginative technique ever again (Long 72).
As Alice’s journey following the White Rabbit continues, she found her standing in his home. When Alice saw the strange drinks and cookies on the table, her desire to grow got the best of her and she began to taste them. Alice began to change size after drinking the mysterious liquid, “…she had drunk half the bottle, she found her head pressing against the ceiling and had to stoop to save her neck from being broken” (Carroll 44). This event relates to the theme of Alice growing up. Alice being small when entering the house symbolizes her being a child. Her yearning to become bigger is representative of her want to grow up and become an adult. Although, after drinking the bottle Alice becomes unsure if she really wanted to grow. The transitioning between sizes shows how Alice is torn between wanting to stay a child and wanting to become an
The characters in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are more than whimsical ideas brought to life by Lewis Carroll. These characters, ranging from silly to rude, portray the adults in Alice Liddell’s life. The parental figures in Alice’s reality portrayed in Alice in Wonderland are viewed as unintellectual figures through their behaviors and their interactions with one another.
Alice in Wonderland belongs to the nonsense genre, and even if most of what happens to Alice is quite illogical, the main character is not. “The Alice books are, above all, about growing up” (Kincaid, page 93); indeed, Alice starts her journey as a scared little girl, however, at the end of what we discover to be just a dream, she has entered the adolescence phase with a new way to approach the mentally exhausting and queer Wonderland. It is important to consider the whole story when analyzing the growth of the character, because the meaning of an event or a sentence is more likely to mean what it truly looks like rather than an explanation regarding subconscious and Freudian interpretations. Morton states “that the books should possess any unity of purpose seems on the surface unlikely” (Morton, page 509), but it’s better to consider the disconnected narrative and the main character separately, since the girl doesn’t belong to Wonderland, which is, as Morton says, with no intrinsic unity. Whereas, there are a few key turning points where it is possible to see how Alice is changing, something that is visible throughout her journey. Carroll wants to tell the story of a girl who has to become braver in order to contend with challenges like the pool made by her own tears, or assertive characters, like the Queen.