Monday, August 2, 2010

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

After the movie starring Johnny Depp came out recently, I was talking with a friend about the original story.  I knew I had read it a few times as a child and I recognized the ephemoral and dreamy quality in the movie but I was certain the story was not the same as the book at all.  He assured me that the story in the movie was the same except for some minor differences and of course I had to re-read it and find out for myself.  The movie was in no way like the book except for the main characters....Alice, The Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, etc.  However, the situations were entirely different.  I think the screenplay for the movie must have been written using the poem "Jabberwocky" from the book since it is the only time the JubJub bird, the Bandersnatch, the Jabberwocky, slaying the Jabberwocky, frabjous day or the vorpal sword are ever mentioned and upon which the entire movie is based.  Well, enough about the movie.  The book was as dreamy and silly as I remembered.  It would be like waking from a very bizarre dream and writing it all down which is why I must have liked it as a child.
There is a new childrens book trilogy by Frank Beddor which begins with a book called The Looking Glass Wars in which Wonderland is not an imagined fantasy world but real.  The new Alyss is heir to the throne of the Red Queen when her murderous Aunt Redd kills Alyss' parents and steals the throne.  Alyss escapes with the Hatter but they are seperated while fleeing to our world through the Pool of Tears.  Alyss is lost and alone in Victorian England.  The Hatter is searching every corner of our world to find Alyss and return her home to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.  I think it sounds interesting and puts a whole new twist on the original Alice's story.