Alice in Wonderland

Release Date: September 14, 1951

Watch Date: February 10 – February 11, 2023

 

    I’m going to address the elephant in the room, or my husband would be extremely annoyed with me. Was Lewis Carroll a pedophile? I don’t know. There’s certainly enough evidence to suggest that he was, at the very least, a creep. I don’t feel confident in adjudicating on an author from two-hundred years ago. But it made Bob uncomfortable knowing that there was the possibility of it, and I think it tainted the experience of the film.

    This movie, this story, is utter nonsense. There’s not meant to be a message. There’s not meant to be a point. It’s meant to be ridiculous and absurd. So it does that extremely well. Does it make me feel completely batty? Absolutely. I like well constructed plots, I like point A to point B. I like character motivation.

    So in that sense, this isn’t really the film for me. If you’re like me then it’s probably not the film for you either. But enough people must love it, because the Cheshire Cat is a classic character. The Mad Hatter and Alice still wander around Disneyland daily, with the Mad Hatter being one of the most popular characters to interact with. Even I will ‘I’m late, for a very important date, no time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late.’

    So good or not, nonsensical or not, it has clearly warmed into our collective cultural conscience. It has proven to have staying power. It is something that has changed language, has affected the way people view the world. So you can’t dismiss it. When people think of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ they’re not thinking of the book or the Tim Burton remake. They’re thinking of this film, decades later.

    Whether or not Carroll was a creep. That means something.