Works influenced by Alice in Wonderland

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Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have continuously had a large cultural influence since they were published. Even today, Alice and the rest of Wonderland continue to inspire or influence many other works of art—sometimes indirectly; via the Disney movie, for example. The character of the plucky yet proper Alice has proven immensely popular and inspired similar heroines in literature and pop culture, many also named Alice in homage.

Contents

[edit] Themes

Numerous works have borrowed the characters and incidents of the Alice books to illustrate "altered state" experiences brought about by psychedelic drugs. Other works focus on the prepubescent eroticism or "lolita complex" subtly evident in the main text. In addition, Wonderland's bizarre, completely illogical setting has inspired darker works about a loss of the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Perhaps because of the contents of his books, it is often said that Lewis Carroll was an opium addict. However, there is no evidence for this -- see the article on him for details. On the other hand, his fascination with little girls, to the point of photographing them nude, is very well documented. In his diary entries, he expressed interest in surreality, the subconscious, and the borders between sanity and insanity.

[edit] Medicine

The name of the neurological condition Alice in Wonderland syndrome, in which objects are perceived to be substantially larger or smaller than in actuality, is derived from passages in the book.

[edit] Psychology

One of Carl Jung's favourite quotes on Synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, where the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards".[1]

[edit] Literature

  • Finnegans Wake by James Joyce is famously influenced by Alice. The novel is about a dream, and includes such lines as: "Alicious, twinstreams twinestraines, through alluring glass or alas in jumboland?" and "...Wonderlawn's lost us for ever. Alis, alas, she broke the glass! Liddell lokker through the leafery, ours is mistery of pain."
  • Paradox in Oz, by Edward Einhorn, is a sequel to the Oz books that is also heavily influenced by the Alice books. It is filled with logic puzzles reminiscent of the books, and begins with an allusion to the White Knight's poem about an aged, aged man. Some consider the Oz books to be almost an Americanized version of Alice In Wonderland; they are both satirical fantasy stories about young girls visiting a magical land.
  • Tad Williams' science fiction "series", Otherland, is heavily influenced by Alice. There are sections involving a Red Queen, the chess-squares concept from Looking Glass, and the evil men following the protagonists take the form of Tweedledum and Tweedledee several times.
  • Vladimir Nabokov translated Alice into his native Russian. His novels include many Carrollian allusions, such as the spoof book titles that run through Ada, or Ardor. However, Nabokov told his student and annotator Alfred Appel that the infamous Lolita, with its paedophilic protagonist, makes no conscious allusions to Carroll (despite the novel's photography theme and Carroll's interest in the art form).
  • British writer Jeff Noon has inserted many Carrollian allusions into a series of cyberpunk novels, beginning with Vurt (1993), that are set in a fantasy-future Manchester. In the books, Noon applies a logical extension of the Wonderland and Looking-Glass World concepts into a virtual reality cyberverse that characters occasionally get lost in. One possible interpretation of the books is that everything happens in the dream of Alice, akin to the supposed "dream of the Red King" in Through the Looking-Glass. Noon also wrote Automated Alice, which he punningly calls a trequel to the Alice books. In this illustrated novella, Alice enters a grandfather clock and emerges in future Manchester, which has many bizarre denizens including an invisible cat named Quark and Celia, the Automated Alice.
  • Alice Liddell is a character in the Riverworld series of science fiction books by Philip José Farmer.
  • Sign of Chaos, written by Roger Zelazny as part of The Chronicles of Amber features two chapters taking place in a manufactured Shadow designed to resemble Wonderland as part of a drug-induced hallucination.
  • Gilbert Adair paid tribute to Carroll in a further Alice adventure: Alice Through the Needle's Eye (1985)
  • The Looking-Glass Wars written by Frank Beddor depicts an alternative to Carroll's Alice, implying that Carrol in fact stole the story off Alyss (AKA Alice Liddel) who had been sent to the real world from Wonderland when the Red Queen overthrew Wonderland. It follows her exploits with the familiar characters, however suggesting that they are cooler than the distorted childish versions Carrol depicted from "Princess Alyss's" Stories.
  • Alice in Quantumland, by Robert Gilmore, is an allegory of quantum mechanics told through the adventures of Alice's explorations of the world of modern physics, with quanta depicted as eccentric characters similar to those in Wonderland, and quantum laws as the nonsensical or counter-intuitive rules governing Carroll's world.
  • A New Alice in the Old Wonderland
  • Paul Auster's City of Glass contains a reference to Chapter IV: Humpty Dumpty of Through the Looking-Glass.
  • HaJaBaRaLa, a Bengali story by Sukumar Ray, depicts the protagonist - a little boy - who enters into a fantasy world full of fantastic comic creatures.
  • Thomas Ligotti's 1985 short story "Alice's Last Adventure" is a present-day horror tale using Carroll-derived imagery.
  • Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach contains numerous references to Alice in Wonderland.
  • Used as a major subtext in Joyce Carol Oates's novel Wonderland.
  • Clive Barker's Abarat and sequels use the device of a girl transported to a strange fantasy land.
  • Neil Gaiman's Coraline
  • Robert Doucette's "Why a Raven is like a Writing Desk: A Wonderland Mystery"(2006) a short fable that attempts to answer the riddle from the Mad Tea-Party.
  • Go Ask Alice Is a popular book amongst teens, whose title is taken from the psychedelic song by Jefferson Airplane, White Rabbit, which took major imagery from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • The first novel in the Echo Falls series by Peter Abrahams called Down the Rabbit Hole features the main character, Ingrid Levin-Hill, starring in a stage production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

[edit] Humour

  • Alan Coren published a short story about Lewis Carrol being late at the printers, with the consequence that no proof reading took place before publication of his poem "January" (T'was chilly and the slimy roads / Did shine and shimer in the rain...) The story was published in "The Rhinestone as Big as the Ritz" (1979).
  • Brad Craddock recently published a humorous book entitled Alice's Misadventures Underground (2006), wherein he promotes the idea that Lewis Carroll was a fraud, stealing all his ideas from the unknown Victorian author and rival: Lewis C. Swanson. The novel revamps the Alice in Wonderland story with various parodies of literary styles including T.S. Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.P. Lovecraft, Gertrude Stein, Charles Dickens, Jack Kerouac and many others. The book satirizes the institutions of education, war, religion, and the current political climate in the United States.

[edit] Art

  • Dorothea Tanning's 1943 painting Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1946) is evocative of Alice in Wonderland, though with mysterious threatening overtones.
  • Steve Martin's first album, Let's Get Small is taken from his comedy routine of the same name. He uses "small" as a substitute for "high", which refers to a drugged state. Considering that being "small" is nearly as arbitrary a description as being "high", the routine is surprisingly absurd. But the idea that drugs can make you "small" is clearly similar to the experiences of Alice. (Fusing both descriptions it could also be a reference to The Phantom Tollbooth, which features a character that is both small and high.)
  • In 1956 Charles Blackman heard an audiobook of Alice's Adeventures in Wonderland, and painted a series of 46 paintings of Alice with other characters from the series.

[edit] Comics and animation

  • In the seventh season of The Simpsons, Lisa Simpson is almost lured into a library by Alice until she shows that the Mad Hatter has her at gunpoint in "Summer of 4 Ft. 2".
  • Alice makes an appearance (in passing) in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; more significantly, she is a main character in Moore's Lost Girls, which imagines her having erotic adventures.
  • Neil Gaiman has used Carollian imagery in his Sandman series. In one issue, a minor character called Zelda is depicted as Alice in a dream.
  • Alice appears in a number of graphic novels, such as Haunted Knight (where Alice meets Batman).
  • Hatter M. by Ben Templesmith is a comic book based around the character Hatter Madigan from the The Looking-Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.
  • The Mad Hatter is a recurring Batman villain, who has appeared in DC Comics since 1948. The Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) is quite insane, and is often portrayed as speaking only in quotes from Lewis Carroll’s books.
  • Nippon Animation produced an anime of Alice in Wonderland in 1983 to 1984. This anime adopted an original story that Alice and her rabbit Benny take a trip to Wonderland and go home for each episode.
  • Rozen Maiden focuses on a set of magical dolls that fight one another to become "Alice", alleged to be a creature of perfect femininity, purity, and beauty. A white rabbit that guides the dolls through worlds is also prominently featured.
  • Kiddy Grade features two fraternal twins named Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They also pilot a ship known as the Cheshire Cat, which has powers similar to that of the Alice in Wonderland feline.
  • Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rondo, an anime that focuses on the completion of a fictional sequel called The Eternal Alice.
  • Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, an anime and manga by Clamp, is a sexy animated parody of Alice. In Cardcaptor Sakura, another anime by Clamp, the title character dresses up like Alice for an episode in which she shrinks drastically. In the third season, Sakura is sucked into a copy of Alice in Wonderland in which characters from the anime appear as characters in the story.
  • Alice Academy (Gakuen Alice) An anime series tells the story of a girl named Mikan Sakura, who is enrolled in an exclusive school for the people who have special powers called "Alices".
  • The anime series Serial Experiments Lain tells the story of a girl who is drawn into the cyberspace "underground" of the Wired, and features a character named Arisu ("Alice") Mizuki (this character is a second use of one created by the scenarist, Chiaki Konaka, for the animation "Alice in Cyberland").
  • An anime short film based on "Alice in Wonderland" was made by Sanrio, starring Hello Kitty as Alice. Released as part of "Hello Kitty & Friends".
  • Additionally, the anime series InuYasha also follows the adventures of a young girl who is drawn into a fantasy world when she falls down an old well. Viz, the company who translated the series into English, translated the title of the third episode as, "Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again" and the second movie was called "The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass"
  • The manga Alice 19th by Yū Watase involves Alice's older sister being drawn into a darker Wonderland.
  • The comic Alice In Sexland by Mashumaro Jyuubaori is a mirror story to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland except that the character enters an extremely perverse and sexual fantasy world where she ends up participating in a wide variety of sexual adventures stemming from orgies and having sexual intercourse with a tree.
  • Brandy & Mr. Whiskers is somewhat similar to the Alice books; the main heroine falls into the Amazon because of a white rabbit, and encounters creatures like bickering twins and a tyrannical dictator.
  • Bizenghast is a manga-style American comic by M. Alice Legrow. It makes many references to "Alice."
  • Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, in an interview with the writer of the graphic novel, Grant Morrison, his take on Batman was described as "a remake of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", to which he replied "I'd read the Alice books and decided to put Batman into a similar situation - where he goes into a strange place, strange things happen to him and then he comes back out at the end, none the wiser." [1]
  • In Garfield and Friends, there was a U.S. Acres episode called "Orson in Wonderland" and Orson T. Pig experiences being in the story "Alice in Wonderland".
  • There was an episode of Animaniacs titled 'Mindy in Wonderland', which spoofed the novel and the Disney movie by having Buttons the dog chase Mindy down a rabbit hole, having humorous meetings with the famous characters.
  • Antarctic Press released an 'American style Manga' version of Alice in wonderland
  • Ouran High School Host Club In episode 13, titled "Haruhi in Wonderland(不思議の国のハルヒ), Haruhi's dream about the day of her admission into Ouran becomes an Alice in Wonderland-esque fantasy.
  • "Neco z Alenky" (Alice) A 1988 full-length stop motion animation by Czech Republic artist Jan Švankmajer.
  • Alice in Sunderland - Carroll's connection with Sunderland, and the area's history, is documented in Bryan Talbot's 2007 graphic novel.[2]

[edit] Television

  • Alias (2001 - 2006) The cult-favorite television series set amid the world of international espionage has drawn comparison from fans and critics to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, particularly for its female protagonist dealing with themes of alternate realities and identities, and order/disorder. Sydney Bristow, the series' central character, counts Alice as one of her favorite books, and is given a third-edition copy as a gift.
  • An episode of Forever Knight, "Curiouser and Curiouser", features many allusions to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. These references include a toy caterpillar, a child's mobile with Dodos, and quotes from the Jabberwocky.
  • Lost (2004 - ) The fifth episode of the first season of this popular TV series is entitled "White Rabbit". The rabbit in question is actually Jack Shephard's father. Jack sees him on the island and thus begins to follow him, much like Alice follows the white rabbit in the novel. Additionally, a mysterious force on the island, which other survivors have deemed as a monster, can be compared to the Jabberwocky, the dark creature said to be a manifestation of Alice's innermost fears in the book.
  • The seventh season episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, "Sabrina in Wonderland" heavily referenced Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • An episode of Star Trek entitled "Shore Leave" features a recreated white rabbit and Alice, brought to life by a computer which can make thoughts become reality. Another Star Trek reference to Alice is made in the motion picture Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which cetacean biologist Gillian Taylor (played by Catherine Hicks) is welcomed aboard the HMAV Bounty by Admiral James T. Kirk with the words: "Hello, Alice - welcome to Wonderland!".
  • The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season mirror universe episode "Through the Looking Glass" took its name from the book.
  • This is Wonderland (2004 - ) A Canadian legal drama/comedy following the main character Alice De Raey as she encounters characters ranging from the truly desperate to the bizarre, partly inspired by the characters in the books.

[edit] Film

  • Mrs. Miniver, the classic 1942 film, includes scenes in which Greer Garson as the title character and Walter Pidgeon as her husband read and quote from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland while they and their two little children stay in their home's air-raid shelter during the Nazis' World War II bombing of Britain.
  • In 1959, Walt Disney released Donald in Mathmagic Land, which was partly influenced by Alice in Wonderland.
  • Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Porno, a 1974 porno, is based directly upon Lewis Carroll's story, with some slight twists. An interesting movie beyond the porno, with catchy songs.
  • Alicia En La España De Las Maravillas (1978, Jorge Feliu, Spain) features four Alices wandering through 40 years of Spanish history.
  • Labyrinth, a 1986 film directed by Jim Henson, counts the Alice books among its influences. It has a distinct Carrollian flavour. After all, it is the story of a young girl who must brave a strange fantasy realm populated by unusual talking creatures, in which she must solve a number of puzzles.
  • Alicia en el Pueblo de Maravillas (Cuba 1991), social comedy about bureaucratism.
  • Jurassic Park (1993) The programmer creates a program called "white rabbit" which bypasses the park's security so he can make his escape.
  • The Matrix (1999) features a protagonist, Neo, who tags along with a gang after he sees one of them sporting a white rabbit tattoo, and his mentor, Morpheus makes reference to it. The Wachowski brothers who directed the film have stated that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a running theme in their Matrix trilogy.
  • Donnie Darko (2001) recasts some Carrollian elements in a darker storyline: a state of dream or nightmare, a demonic rabbit man, a (golf) hole in the ground. Donnie is also shown extending his hand through a mirror, recalling Through the Looking Glass.
  • Spirited Away (2001)
  • Resident Evil (2002) has several references to the stories—notably, the main character who is unnamed until the credits reveal that she is called Alice. Also, the T-Virus is tested on a "white rabbit", the commandos open a mirror to reach the underground train-station ("Through the looking glass") and the villain is a holographic entity controlled by a computer called the Red Queen, who at one point in the film, attempts to get the main character to behead one of the other characters infected with the T-virus. ("Off with her head!")
  • MirrorMask (2005) has obvious features borrowed from both of Carroll's books.
  • Tideland (2005) has character Jeliza-Rose frequently reading and quoting from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and rabbits and a rabbit hole make appearances with references to the books.
  • Pan's Labyrinth (2006) bears some similarity to Alice in its young female protagonist who enters an underground fantasy world in search of escape from the tensions of her home in 1940s Spain after the Spanish Civil War. The film, directed by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, received three Academy Awards, exceeded in its year only by the best picture winner, The Departed.
  • Silent Hill (2006), based on the video game of the same name (see below), has some influence from Alice. Deborah Kara Unger, who appears in the film, said in an interview that Silent Hill was like "Alice in Wonderland meets Dante's Inferno".
  • The Last Mimzy (2007) casts the white rabbit as an integral part of a plan to save the people of the earth. It is based on Mimsy were the Borogoves, the 1943 short story by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (writing as Lewis Padgett).
  • Living Neon Dreams (2007) A film that mixes real life with Alice-based hallucinations that was due to star Marilyn Manson.
  • Phantasmagoria (2007) A gothic interpretation of Alice starring Manson (who moved over from Living Neon Dreams due to delays).

[edit] Radio

[edit] Classical music

Music inspired by, referencing, or incorporating texts from the Alice books include:

[edit] Popular music

Hard rock bands have used ideas from Alice In Wonderland, usually with a sense of parody and both Nazareth and Paice Ashton & Lord making albums called "Malice In Wonderland"-the latter using one of the Peter Blake paintings for the sleeve

  • Stevie Nicks has a song titled "Alice" on her 1989 album The Other Side of the Mirror. Its lyrics mention Alice and the Mad Hatter (view the lyrics here).
  • Virginia Astley has released a lot of Alice-related work, including her LP From Gardens Where We Feel Secure with sound effects recorded a few miles south of where Alice's adventures began; and songs like "Tree Top Club," "Nothing Is What It Seems," and "Over the Edge of the World".
  • Tom Waits released an 2002 album entitled Alice, consisting of songs that were written for a stage adaptation of Alice.
  • The video for the Tom Petty song "Don't Come Around Here No More" portrays Alice, the Mad Hatter, and other Wonderland elements. Producer Dave Stewart appears as the Caterpillar.
  • Cradle of Filth's song, "Malice Through The Looking Glass"
Stefani in an Alice costume performing "What You Waiting For?" in front of an image of the White Rabbit.
Stefani in an Alice costume performing "What You Waiting For?" in front of an image of the White Rabbit.
  • The music video of the Gwen Stefani song "What You Waiting For?" is Alice-inspired and shows the Queen of Hearts' garden maze and a mad tea party.
  • The first album by UK synth-pop duo Erasure was entitled Wonderland
  • The Erasure video for "Breath of Life" from the album "Chorus" has imagery from Through the Looking Glass and Andy Bell has stated in an interview that the song was inspired by "Alice in Wonderland."
  • The Birthday Massacre, Queen of Hearts
  • The bands Alice in Chains, The Alison Wonder Band & The Alice Band.
  • On Aerosmith's 2001 album, Just Push Play, the song 'SUNSHINE' talks about Alice and other characters of the book. In the music video, Steven Tyler is shown trying to protect a young, blond Alice in the woods, along with depictions of the Red Queen, the White Rabbit, etc.
  • The indie rock band Bright Eyes, on the album Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, has a song named "Down in a Rabbit Hole," which uses the phrase to describe the effects of drug abuse.
  • Blue Man Group's White Rabbit
  • Queen-of-Disco Donna Summer has a song from the 1980s called 'The Wanderer', in which she states "Alice went to wonderland but I stayed home instead".
  • Canadian Rock Musician Matthew Good's song 'Failing The Rorschach Test' references Alice and a rabbit many times in the song by saying "Hey rabbit" and "Hey Alice".
  • Marilyn Manson's 2007 album is titled "Eat Me, Drink Me," possibly referring to the Alice in Wonderland books, as his new works is heavily influenced by Lewis Carrol among other things.
  • Jewel released an album and single with the title Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.
  • the Red Paintings's song "The Streets Fell Into My Window" quotes from the original novel.

[edit] Computer and video games

  • The Super Mushroom powerup used to change size in the Super Mario Bros. games was inspired by Alice in Wonderland
  • In the 2000 video game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the way Link, the game's hero, reaches Termina, the parallel world where the game is set, is reminicent of Alice in Wonderland.
  • Wonderland (1990), an illustrated text adventure by Magnetic Scrolls.
  • In the Bloody Roar series of fighting games, one of the main protagnists is a young Eurasian woman called Alice the Rabbit, who's Zoanthrope transformation is a white rabbit.
  • American McGee's Alice is a macabre computer game, which takes place after the two Alice books. Following a housefire that kills her family, Alice is sent to an insane asylum. Ten years later, crazy, depressed and ultimately unhappy, she is called back to Wonderland, where she must confront the wicked Queen of Hearts to save Wonderland, as well as herself. A film adaptation titled Alice is in production.
  • Thief: The Dark Project has an early level that involves breaking into a huge mansion. As one goes deeper inside, it becomes "curiouser and curiouser"—resembling Alice more and more. The game Thief: Gold expanded this idea with an additional section to the mansion, known as "Little Big World" to fans, that involves first passing through a very small village and emerging in a gigantic kitchen. Thief was developed by Looking Glass Studios.
  • The RPG Kingdom Hearts includes Alice as a somewhat important plot character. She serves as one of the Seven Princesses of Heart sought by Maleficent and her group of Disney villains to open the Final Keyhole in Hollow Bastion that would lead to the literal Kingdom Hearts. Also, Disney's version of Wonderland appears as one of the first worlds.
  • The Silent Hill series contain a few references of Wonderland, in a contrasting homage to its surreal world. The best example of this is in the first game, where a door puzzle at the Alchemilla Hospital involves coloured blocks imprinted with the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Mock Turtle and The Queen of Hearts.
  • Windham Classics' "Alice In Wonderland" adventure game for the Commodore 64.
  • In one stage of Rockstar's Manhunt the player is required to chase a man in a white rabbit costume through a prison complex.
  • In the PC-98 game Mystic Square of the Touhou Project, one of the boss characters is named Alice. She is quite clearly inspired by the story; the BGM for the Extra Stage where she appears again is titled "Alice in Wonderland", and playing cards appear as enemies. The mid-boss is a King card soldier. Alice later returns in Perfect Cherry Blossom and subsequent games of the series, but loses the wonderland allusion and becomes a puppeteer.
  • In the hentai game Angie in Decadence Land, You play two girls who have to go through adult challenges in order to advance in status in a world based on the Wonderland concept.
  • There is a freeware card game for the PC by Malcolm McLean. Cards have their tops torn off as the Queen of Hearts executes them. http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~bgy1mm
  • In Square Enix's Grandia III for PlayStation 2, a group of crab-like enemies use an ability called "Lobster Quadrille," a reference to Chapter 10 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

[edit] Other games

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Through the Looking-Glass", by Lewis Carroll, Ch. 5, Wool and Water.

    'It's very good jam,' said the Queen.
    'Well, I don't want any TO-DAY, at any rate.'
    'You couldn't have it if you DID want it,' the Queen said. 'The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday--but never jam to-day.'
    'It MUST come sometimes to "jam to-day,"' Alice objected.
    'No, it can't,' said the Queen. 'It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know.'
    'I don't understand you,' said Alice. 'It's dreadfully confusing!'
    'That's the effect of living backwards,' the Queen said kindly: 'it always makes one a little giddy at first--'
    'Living backwards!' Alice repeated in great astonishment. 'Inever heard of such a thing!'
    '--but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both ways.'
    'I'm sure MINE only works one way,' Alice remarked. 'I can't remember things before they happen.'
    'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' the Queen remarked.

  2. ^ Robertson, Ross. "News focus: Alice in Pictureland", Sunderland Echo, 27 March 2007. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.