I've been putting this post off for a very long time, hopping that I would be able to come up with something meaningful to say. I'm not sure that is gonna happen anytime soon, but it's time to move forward in the project, so here goes nothing. I will try to do better next time.
Alice in Wonderland represents the first movie in this series that does not feature a princess. So why did I include it? Two reasons: I thought it would be important to look at the first female protagonist not involved in a traditional fairy tale romance, and secondly, I have never liked this movie and I'm trying to find nice things to say about it. In this second instance, I am the one who has issues with the movie even though my general impression is that Alice does not suffer nearly the same level of condescension that other Disney Heroines receive, with the exception of those people who think that Alice in Wonderland is only an advertisement for the wonders of psychotropic drugs. While I'm sure that psilocybin is a fine thing for some folks, I would like to focus on the other aspects of Alice's character that don't involve her future stint in rehab.
When we first meet Alice, she appears to be another lazy child who has no interest in learning. Alice quickly reveals that it isn't so much learning she is against as she is lack of stimulation. She is a child of immense imagination who needs a more interactive form of education that simply sitting there and being lectured at. Given her demonstrated knowledge later in the film, it seems to me that she is a girl merely in need of an afternoon well wasted on utter nonsense, which is a good thing because after about 12 viewings of this film, I've come to the conclusion that that is what this movie is about, and appreciation of nonsense.
In this latest viewing, I finally stopped trying to force grand meanings out of every single segment. I partially blame Kevin Smith and the opening airport sequence in Dogma for tricking me into thinking that the wonderland story had to have deep, multi-layered meaning. When I stopped trying to put all the pieces together, I was able to appreciate the movie on it's own terms. What I discovered was a wonderfully creative dreamscape piece, with Mary Blair's artwork being the truly magnificent focus point. This movie is less a coherent narrative, and more so an ever shifting piece of art. The movie has captured the random connections and digressions that tend to make up our own daydreams. In this instance it is the daydream of a very bright 11 year old girl.
My favorite aspect of Alice as a character is that she isn't perfect. She can be headstrong and stubborn, but she also can think for herself and get out of problems by herself as well. Her temper is that of any ordinary child, and she feels authentic from beginning to end. She is curious about the world she finds herself in, but she can only tolerate so much nonsense before she begins to long for a world that makes more sense to her, a sentiment I share with her more deeply every day. Unlike many of the other films, there aren't any male characters that have any real power. The Cheshire Cat is the only one who isn't a complete bumbling idiot in one way or another, and I think he barely makes the cut (plus, I'm not sure his gender is ever really defined). The films authority figures are Alice's tutor, and the Red Queen, both woman, albeit on opposite sides of the spectrum. The male figures are either crazy, pompous old wind bags, or a bit of both. If there are any lessons in the movie, I think you have to look at Alice's song she sings to herself, "I give myself such good advice, but I seldom follow it." Alice is caught in a world without worthy authority figures and she must look to herself for guidance, only to discover that knowing what to do, and actually doing it are two very different things.
