by Eda Gokcen.
One of my favourite childhood films I still adore and continuously find more depth and meaning within each time I view it, is the 1951 Disney musical adaptation of the British Victorian novels
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (1865)
and
‘Through the Looking Glass’ (1871)
. The novels were written by mathematician, photographer and author Charles Dodgson, who went by the pen name Lewis Carroll. Much of the author's personal life and characteristics are reflected onto the themes of the novels, with one catching most of my interest: identity. Carroll almost lived a life with two separate identities, much like the fictional character Alice (Kathryn Beaumont) who is established in the real world during a history lesson with her sister but has a world of her own in her dream. Within this dream there are many nonsensical characters who all reflect a part of Alice through her journey in life as a young girl growing up.
‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Decoded’
(Day, 2015)
states that the story has 7 levels:
fairy-tale,
social satire,
mythology,
theosophy,
philosophy,
and mathematics.
I’ll be loosely focusing on the philosophical level of Alice In Wonderland (Geronimi, Luske, Jackson, 1951) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. since the story can be seen as a philosopher’s exploration of the real world (Fraquo and Franchomme, 2017) from a young Victorian girl’s perspective. The main two characters which I believe to be emphasising this journey through puberty are the Blue Caterpillar (Richard Haydn) with his wisdom he must share with Alice and the Cheshire Cat (Sterling Holloway) with his self-awareness and entertaining madness.
The first shot of the Blue Caterpillar scene with Alice following the “A, E, I, O, U” smoke flowing through the leaves resembles the artistic style of Disney legend Mary Blair. Her concept art for the story influenced much of the final animation since the original illustrations by John Tenniel were too complex with too much linework to turn into animation. This was significant due to the historical context of the film as it was being made after WW2 with very low resources which had to be shared with the making of Cinderella (Geronimi, Luske, Jackson, 1950) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. at the same time. As a result, the film received much criticism about the dissimilarities between the original designs and the adaptation as well as the bland character design, with even Walt Disney himself calling Alice’s character unsympathetic (Gluck, 2013) . Additionally, the film was criticised for the narrative changes made by Disney, the main one being the merging of the two novels, and the adaptation also excluded some characters such as the Duchess and added some extra for comical purposes like the Talking Doorknob. Focusing back on the Caterpillar, we can see how this character continues the idea of mirroring as he mirrors Alice, a young girl soon to reach her sexual maturity in Victorian society, as he himself reaches his sexual maturity by going through metamorphosis. This idea of the characters reflecting parts of Alice, resembles the Jungian theory about dreams and how they reveal the hidden secrets about individuals known as the shadow archetype. In terms of mise-en-scene the design of the Caterpillar and the mushroom he sits on resemble a phallic shape, in addition, the leaves in the background of this frame have a red colour palette, emphasising both sexuality and danger. Between their dialogue, the Caterpillar recites his version of a Victorian poem taught to children “how doth the busy bee”, which instead focuses on a “little crocodile” and his efforts to look more attractive to the fish he will prey on. This foreshadows the Caterpillar’s own transition into a beautiful butterfly and reaching his sexual maturity, posing a threat to Alice who doesn’t want to give up her childhood yet.
Moreover, The Caterpillar reflects themes of wisdom and authority, his shape and image appear masculine, and his behaviour resembles an old man. He is judgemental, opinionated and confuses Alice as he forces her to question herself. This idea of authority and who has access to it changes from the masculine imagery of an old man smoking hookah to the feminine butterfly he turns into, adding to David Day’s theory of the social satire level of Alice’s story. His authority and dominance in this scene are visible through the film form as he is positioned higher in the frame, looking down at Alice from a low angle shot. The power he has over her is also shown through their dialogue as Alice’s response to the question “who are you?” indicates confusion about her own identity, further emphasised by the canted angle reverse mid-shot as she replies, “I hardly know sir”. The canted angle shot is a cinematography technique founded by German Expressionist director Weine in his revolutionary film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Weine, 1920) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. which is known for the psychological confusion and distortion of its characters reflected through not only cinematography but also, most importantly set design. Alice’s lack of understanding of her own identity when the Caterpillar asks who she is also furthers the idea of sexuality, since going through the changes of puberty confuses Alice about who she is or used to be as a child. This confusion is emphasised by various characters mistaking her for things she is not such as someone named Marianne, a serpent who eats eggs, a flower, or a weed and so on. Also linked to the confusion around identity is the twelve total changes in size Alice experiences throughout the film by drinking potions and eating cakes or mushrooms which transform the question of “who am I?” from one about external size into one about internal identity.
After having to find out her identity through the conversation with the Caterpillar, Alice now has to find out where she wants to go in life and the character of the Cheshire Cat is introduced. The scene begins with Alice walking along the forest which now seems very dark with strangely colourful pops of light illuminating the trees, and nonsense signs everywhere pointing towards “this way” and “that way”. The sound bridge of the Cat’s singing is heard with no sight of him, creating an atmosphere of confusion. The field of view gets smaller as we see a mid-shot of her noticing the singing while trying to find her way, as this mixture of obscure sound and surreal setting ruin Alice’s spatial awareness. We cut back to a long shot as the Cat’s voice and its echo gets louder and clearer as the lighting seems almost like one for a theatre stage, adding to the sense of misplacement and emphasising the uncanny landscape within her dream. The first glance we get at the Cheshire Cat shows only his grin hovering above a tree branch. Alice takes a second look in a reverse shot with confused facial expressions as she tries to figure out who or what is speaking with her. Almost as if the Cat can read her mind, he reveals his body and continues singing. This is the first indication that he symbolises guidance for Alice during her adolescence. The idea of the Cat being inside Alice’s mind but also seeming aware of his position suggests he represents her subconscious. Supporting this is the argument that he has schizophrenia, which according to Carl Jung, among other mental disorders enhances the individual’s ability to connect with their subconscious. Furthermore, as he lowers from the tree with Holloway’s performance resembling a dive into water, he disappears again but we see his paw prints on the ground in a close up, with the camera tracking to follow him from the tree branch to the ground, past Alice and back up onto another tree. This extensive use of tracking implies that Alice as well as the audience are closely following him, further suggesting that he is a figure of guidance.
The Cheshire Cat does help and lead Alice for certain tasks, but he also occasionally confuses her, mirroring the mind of an adolescent as the changes from childhood to adulthood often create confusion about identity or purpose. This sense of confusion is firstly established in the setting of this key frame with the odd signs and random pops of colour indicating chaos. Later the Cat points out the obvious in his speech while playing with the words to make it sound tricky as he tells Alice “It really doesn’t matter which way you go”. He also points to multiple directions when talking about which way the White Rabbit went. This chaos and confusion leads to frustration as Alice states she doesn’t want to go among mad people, suggesting she doesn’t want to become an adult just yet, but the Cheshire Cat as a symbol of her own subconscious tells her “I’m not all there myself” not only making one of the most iconic puns in popular culture but also letting her know that she has already began the transition into adulthood whether she likes it or not. This line also implies that he acknowledges his own madness and therefore, is more self-aware than any other character in the film and represents the true nature and reality of the mind.
Despite the criticisms of Alice in Wonderland at the time of its release suggesting it had no narrative structure, no morals and no depth with unsympathetic characters and too many differences from the original novels, other interpretations of the film have provided different perspectives. Analysing the film from a psychological point of view, for example, reflects much of the theories of Carl Jung about dreams and what they reveal about people. David Day’s suggestion that the film has not just some morals but multiple levels of meaning varying from philosophy to mathematics reflects the author’s personal touch to the story which are still visible in the animated adaptation. Perhaps a simpler way to analyse the film would be from a feminist perspective which still proves the early criticisms wrong, as the many interactions Alice has with the nonsense characters in her dream reflect her struggles as a girl growing up in the Victorian era, forced to strip away from her childhood. Although it is easy to fall down this rabbit hole of different perspectives when analysing such a complex children’s film, one thing is certain that the simple question of “who are you?” will continue to intrigue audiences and encourage them to question themselves like Alice did, and every individual must do.
by Eda Gokcen.