Queen Alice and the Monstrous Child: Alice Through the Looking Glass

The main points of the article include:

The movie was a 'wild' success.

The 'dream-child has become a monster.'

In Alice in Wonderland Alice's size changes a lot. Not so much in Through the Looking Glass movie.

In the Wonderland book a lot of emphasis was on Alice and her identity.

Alice becoming a queen in the second book is tied to 'the monstrosity of childhood.'

Charles Dodgson had a 'deep and disturbing affection for little girls.'

Her 'monstrosity' was based on her status as an ever-more distant child-friend and childhood itself.

Wonderland was an 'anarchic, episodic nightmare.'

Looking Glass was more orderly, reflecting the chess game.

In Wonderland Alice gets out with her identity intact as such.

In Looking Glass Alice becomes an authority figure.

The dormouse might have been a representation of Dodgson.

The Dormouse's story at the tea party is actually created by both the dormouse and Alice.

The Looking Glass Alice is meek and mild compared to the Wonderland Alice.

Most of the poetry in Wonderland comes from Alice but not in Looking Glass.

Alice is sort of nasty to the Queen in Wonderland but deferential in Looking Glass.

Alice doesn't behave nice towards some animals in Wonderland but is nice in Looking Glass.

Irrationality is the rule for the characters.

Although Alice becomes a queen, it's a queen without any actual power.

Alice definitely wanted to become a queen.

In some cases queens are more powerful than kings in the real world.

Alice wants to keep her queen. It's a sign of her confidence in herself.

Alice is unable to recall her name in the forest where things have no names. In real life, when she got married she effectively lost her name.

In the Alice book Alice does not do anything physical to the queen. In Looking Glass she's shaking her.

The reader of Looking Glass is given a choice to decide who was dreaming who.

Wonderland is driven by Alice's anger and frustration. Looking Glass is driven by her desires and goals.

Main Index

Main Alice in Wonderland index page