Analysis of Disney’s Movie Alice in Wonderland
Eman AbdalKarim
American University of Beirut
Abstract
Alice in Wonderland is a Walt Disney movie based on Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. This paper will analyze some scenes of the Disney film in contrast with the original story. Moreover, it will uncover some stereotypes and hidden messages that emphasize on drugs use, gender roles and class struggle.
Analysis of Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland is one of Disney’s unique productions with distinctive characters and distinguished plot line. The original narrative differs from the one depicted in the Disney film. The initial story started with a plot in which Alice was sitting by a river bank with her older sister as she reads a borrowed book. The book was boring, lacked images, had no conversation, and held no interest for Alice. Yet, Disney decides to start the movie with the history lesson, a scene that appeared in the Caucus Race. In an interview, a Disney representative explained the reason behind the arrangement and compression of some dialogue. It “give[s] more coherence to all that follows” (Walt Disney, 1951). Hence, Disney started with the history lesson. Also, the Disney movie dismissed some chapters of the novel such as: A Caucus Race and a Long Tale, The Mock Turtle’s Story, and The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill. Instead the movie is filled up with lots of fantasy that is different from the original tale creating an integrated story. Disney completes the movie by adding their touch of stereotypes and subliminal messages. There are number of scenes that call attention to gender roles, drug use, and class struggle. This essay will analyze these messages and explain their impact on children.
Alice, the main character of the movie, is a young teen between the age of ten and twelve. She is slightly younger than most female characters in Disney movies. Unlike the other Disney characters, Alice is not a princess who is “always ready for, longing for, hoping and dreaming for a man…they ‘want to be part of his world’, not create their own world”, but a child who envisions her own world (Packaging Girlhood, p. 67). She wishes to break away from routine and run to a wonderland, an imaginary world she creates. She then goes on a journey to this invented world, with no idea where it will take her. With no fear, she tours around a world that is enormously different from reality and full of strange characters. She is daring, curious and ready to explore the life around her. These are natural characteristics that most children have. Alice’s role is depicted in way to send positive message to girls in the same age; that a girl should use her imagination to fill her life with enthusiasm rather than being concerned with boys. On the counter to such positive message, the movie portrays a number of messages that enforce class struggle, gender roles, and drug use.
Gender roles:
Alice and Wonderland is not a typical Disney movie with a princess waiting for the perfect man. Yet, it did not escape Disney stereotypical messages about gender. In this movie almost all the leadership roles are fulfilled by women (the While Queen and the Queen of Hearts) who rule the two major kingdoms. While the headship is in the hand of these two women, we notice that the brain behind their operations rested in men’s hands. In the case of the Queen of Hearts, the Red Knight rules through the queen, as she is shown to be naïve and comically stupid. On the other side, the White Queen is the figurehead who is trying to rise up in power, however, it is the Mad Hatter who is leading and organizing a force against the Queen of Hearts. So the White Queen is nothing less than a symbol. This gives gender roles an obvious function in the movie “calling attention to the fact of gender caused children to agree more with stereotypes”(Moskowiz, 2010).
Moreover, the portrayal of the two queens is important, especially when considering their predicament of competition has an effect on Alice. The Queen of Hearts is depicted as a brutal, violent, frightened, and masculine. These traits are demonstrated as pre-conditional as the only way to rise in power. This particular idea is confirmed when the White Queen states that acting violent is against her vows and yet sends other to do her sadistic work, i.e. sending Alice to slay the Jabberwocky, to gain more power and maintain discreet support of her followers. The White Queen is illustrated as soft and feminine but lacks direct action. She needed someone like Alice, to save her kingdom, that ‘someone’ should embrace masculine traits to be able to do so.
Empowering girls through embracing courage in children’s movie may encourage positive inspiration, but to associate success with masculine characteristic is a bit archaic. This same idea is again reinforced in the end of the movie, when Alice becomes part of her father’s company, showing that she inherits this adventurous nature from him. While one can see this as a positive message, it traditionally abandon female gender role to embrace a masculine form.
Drug Usage
Other than the gender roles embedded in the story of Alice and Wonderland, the movie also illustrates various scenes that are related to the use of drugs. Alice’s adventure seems like a trip of investigation to examine the various types of drugs. The entire story is full of visual imagination and experience that can be closely related to that of hallucination. The movie contains many scenes in which rooms shrink, cats disappear, and tears become an ocean. All these are examples of drug usage and their effects.
In addition, we witness the slowing sensation of time and movement in the scene where Alice falls into the rabbit hole. She takes longer to admire the hole as she falls—longer than the real time a person experiences falling down—and ample time to explore inside the hole. Another example of drug usage is the caterpillar Dodo. It is an insect which smokes a water pipe; commonly used to inhale marijuana in western societies. In this scene, Alice (and all children) are introduced to the way drugs are used. The same insect also asks Alice to eat a mushroom she will become bigger in size and her mind will expand. This might be a dangerous message for children, that if someone hand you something you should take it. A similar incident when Alice partake a substance that says “consume me” without thinking about its consequences. This is another risky message send to children.
Class struggle:
In one of the scene, where Alice was walking through the forest, she met the twin Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The twins decided to tell her a story about walrus and carpenter. The way the carpenter and walrus were demonstrated emphasize on class differences; the carpenter was holding a hammer and wearing apron indicating that he is from a lower class, while the walrus was holding a case, wearing a tie and hat and smoking a cigar signifying a higher class. “We’ll sweep this clear in half a year, if you don’t mind the work,” says the carpenter after realizing that the beach they are on is dirty. To this, the walrus replies in singing: “Work?! The time has come to talk of other things; of shoes, and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings!” This dialogue implies that the parties involved are of different classes.
In the same narrative, the carpenter is thrown half-way into the beach by the walrus who used the carpenter’s hammer to lift him off the ground. The carpenter then sees oysters. The walrus then lures the little oysters into a little shed built by the carpenter on the beach so he can eat them. The walrus makes the carpenter believe they will share the oysters, but once the carpenter goes into the kitchen, the walrus eats them all. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum narrate this event and show that curiosity may leads to one trouble. This is quite possibly at a theme that kids would understand. However, the story also shows the inequality in a capitalist society between the upper class and the lower class, something perhaps too complicated for a child to identify. Children learn that in the real world there are those like the walrus who have control over other people and treat them in an unfair manner.
A similar occurrence happens shortly after, where the rabbit is pursued by Alice into his house. In the house, Alice eats a cookie and enlarges in size again. Frightened, the rabbit calls the newly enlarged Alice a monster. He sees Dodo and asks for his help. Like the walrus, Dodo simply smokes his pipe and speaks declaratively, as if showing off. Like a boss, he directs a lizard (Bill) to get Alice out of the house. Apprehended Bill flees Away to avoid the trouble, but Dodo finds a way to bring him back and support him whilst going up the ladder and says, “You’re passing up a golden opportunity….you can be famous!” (Walt Disney, 1951). He propels Bill down the chimney, even though Bill was constantly trying to seize him and forge back. This scene definitely triggers a visual interface into the Industrial Revolution when the proletariats were promised a harmonious ever after in heaven if their jobs were competently done. Similar to the bourgeoisie, Dodo attempts to compel Bill into performing his job by highlighting that Bill would become distinctly famous. After this failed planning attempt, Dodo, with the rabbit’s aid, though not willingly accepting to take part and hands him a match to ignite the fire, and decides to burn down the house. Like the walrus story, this scene clearly depicts the conflict between the upper and lower classes. Whilst watching this specific scene, children are not aware of the underlying reason behind it and would question vaguely, specially that they “incorporate some powerful myths and stereotypes about people from what they see on screen” (Media Education in the Practice Setting, n.d). Although this scene seems to be frank and child-friendly, it definitely signifies the cornerstones of class conflicts and discrimination (superior versus inferior), a topic definitely to be redefined for children. It is critically important to highlight the fact that these children must not, under any circumstances feel inferior or class bound in their society.
Conclusion
Disney movie Alice in Wonderland, like many other Disney movies, is full of stereotypes and subliminal messages. Even thought this film in particular did not depict a typical Disney princess, it however could not pass without adding Disney touch of stereotypes. The roles of the two queens show that women could be in power, however, they would not succeed without the help of men, nor would they be successful without a masculine characteristic.
Moreover, the tale contains number of scenes that expose children to drug uses. The entire film is full of visual imaginations that are closely related to those of hallucination. In addition, the film reinforces the idea of class struggle through various scenes by showing characters from both classes, in which the higher class is always the superior and the lower class is the inferior.
References
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