Reviews of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and related work
- Sequel: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
- Entry: “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” (1871)
- Entry: “Haddocks’ Eyes” (1871)
- Entry: “Jabberwocky” (1871)
- Adaptation: Jabberwocky (1977)
- Entry: “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (1871)
- Adaptation: “Thru the Mirror” (1936)
- Adaptation: Alice in Wonderland (1951)
- Adaptation: Alice (1988)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865
)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
In addition to the famous nonsense, it’s got quite a lot of stylized childish behaviours; a rather forced cutesiness.
References here: Resident Evil (2002), “The Calorie Man” (2005).
‣ Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
Read in 2020.
Contrariwise.
The cutesiness seems less forced and the planning superior—despite the traditional twelve chapters blending into one another in a basically episodic scheme—but the puns and awkward reflections upon nursery rhymes and figures of speech are still no fun.
References here: “Crossover” (1994), BoJack Horseman (2014).
‣‣ “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” (1871)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
Read in 2020.
Probably the most famous acrostic in the English language, linking Carroll’s fantasy to reality, and simultaneously a beautiful reflection on the joy of caring for children: a brief joy immortalized in literature.
fiction text poetry untitled entry
‣‣ “Haddocks’ Eyes” (1871)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
Read in 2020.
‣‣ “Jabberwocky” (1871)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
A more complete and joyful “The Frost of Death Was on the Pane” (1866/1869).
References here: Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979), Rice Boy (2006).
‣‣‣ Jabberwocky (1977
)
Terry Gilliam (director).
The son of a medieval cooper saves the country, or so the story goes.
Cute. A near sequel to Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
fiction moving picture adaptation
‣‣ “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (1871)
Lewis Carroll (writer).
Read in 2020.
‣‣ “Thru the Mirror” (1936)
Seen in 2021.
Mickey Mouse reads Carroll in bed and goes through the mirror in his sleep.
The show-tune dance number is boring, but the animation is imaginative, especially the two-armed king card.
Disney animation fiction moving picture adaptation
‣ Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Seen in 2018.
This I think was the last time Disney had the title sung in sync with the credits; cf. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The huge number of credits for “story” bodes ill for the production and indeed there is no story. The adaptation is unimaginative and visual beauty is limited to the card army’s choreography near the end.
References here: “Once Upon a Planet” (1973), My Neighbor Totoro (1988).
Disney animation fiction moving picture adaptation