Language, Nonsense and Nature in Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' Books and their Representation in Film

The main points of the paper include:

Elements that are examined in the paper include language, nonsense and violence in connection to nature.

The paper will examine three films in relation to the three elements.

The author says something I've thought about myself, that his life with his many sisters had an effect on him as he grew up and may have led to (or at least been part of) his adoration of little girls.

He had health problems, ended up deaf in one ear, had weakness in his chest and he stuttered.

The author also says something I've thought of and agree with. Dodgson had a rough time being bullied by boys when he was in school. (And, as usual, nothing was done about it by the administration.)

Even when he uses 'nonsense' words it's possible to figure out at least what type of word they are such as an adjective or a noun.

Even though there is nonsense in the Alice books it does have meaning.

Violence is evident in the behavior of certain characters in both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. An early example is Alice talking about her cat catches mice and birds. Other examples include the caterpillar who is angry when he speaks and the pigeon that tries to fly into her face. The Tweedle brothers have no problem with physically fighting each other.

Violence can also be of a verbal nature as it is with Humpty Dumpty. The human characters can also be violent, especially the Queen of Hearts. Alice herself can threaten violence as when she threatens to pick the talking flowers.

Alice has to learn the rules and expectations in Wonderland which are quite different from what she's used to. (She adapts quite well, by the way.)

There is a question of just who inspired the book he wrote. There are some differences between the physical appearance of Alice Liddell and the Alice in the books.

Alice is curious and very determined. She's also a little bit arrogant.

The mother symbols are heartless and cold.

The Mad Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse could also work if they were portrayed as human beings. (Which they are in various adaptations of the Alice books. Usually this doesn't work very well, though.)

The paper then moves on to talk about certain Alice films, the first being Neco z Alenky. (It's a really, really, really weird film. ) The film is more nonsensical than the book. There's also a lot of violence in this version.

The characters never speak. Alice basically does voice-overs for them.

The Tim Burton film is next. Important days are named in Wonderland (which is not part of the original book.) In the sequel film Time is actually a physical character.

The Queen of Hearts is much more violent than the one in the book and her orders to kill people are carried out.

Overall the characters in the Tim Burton film are friendlier than in the book.

Alice is around twenty in the film.

She's very determined and never stops believing in herself.

Alice's parents appear in the movie but not in either book.

The White Queen in the film has little resemblance to the White Queen in the book.

The third film is the 1985 adaptation by Harry Harris.

Mouse's poem in the book becomes a song in this film.

There's not much violence in this version.

Alice is insecure, she focuses on getting home and she calls herself stupid.

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