Alice in Wonderland: Difference between revisions

A parade of the surreal, with all the logic of a dream -- anddream—and invoking the madness of quite a lot of mankind's so called 'logic' -- ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' is a children's classic, filled with allusions to Victorian trivia, most of which is now [[Weird Al Effect|long forgotten]]. ([[The Annotated Edition|The book ''The Annotated Alice'']] by Martin Gardner explains all of these, from jokes to basic trivia. It contains both volumes, with Tenniel's original illustrations.)

The story begins when Alice follows a white rabbit, who just happens to be wearing a waistcoat and a pocketwatch, down a rabbit hole. She falls, very slowly, into a corridor lined with doors, all locked, and a key that fits only into the smallest one. After some misadventures with food and drink that make her change size, she escapes in a pool of her own tears. Outside, she finds a land filled with strange creatures and talking animals. Few are entirely rational. After several bizarre incidents, including the Duchess' Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Alice defies the tyrannical Queen of Hearts and wakes up. It was [[All Just a Dream]] -- definitely—definitely-third person narration clearly states that this is so.

** Most modern adaptations have to explain that "treacle" is a word for "molasses",<ref> Also a case of [[Separated by a Common Language]], as it is still called treacle in Great Britain</ref>, and and that a "cravat" is a stiff collar that men used to wear before neckties became popular. One adaptation actually ''does'' has Alice call it a tie. Some of the humor might go over the heads of modern readers, like the Hatter claiming Alice's hair "wants cutting", a comment that would have been incredibly rude in Victorian times) and the Duchess claiming that she was "twice as rich and twice as clever" as Alice. "Rich" and "clever" were used to describe contradicting terms, making her comment an impossibility.

* [[Forgotten Trope]]: Carroll's ''Alice'' stories have outlived much of the Victorian trappings they satirize. His poem about the "little crocodile" parodies Isaac Watts's [[Tastes Like Diabetes|saccharine]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20131026182220/http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20295 original] about the "little busy bee" -- an—an example of a whole class of Victorian poems that children were taught in order to instill virtue.

* [[Identical Twin ID Tag|Identical Twin ID Tags]]s: The Tweedles have their names embroidered on their suits.

* [[Magic Pants]]: In the original John Tenniel illustrations and in nearly all adaptations, Alice's dress grows and shrinks with her. It's Wonderland -- nothingWonderland—nothing else makes sense, so why should this? Averted in the [[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Tim Burton version]], however.

* [[Victorian Britain]]: The setting of the real world portions -- obviouslyportions—obviously, [[The Present Day]] when it was written, but notable since most adaptations keep the time period.

=== Adaptations with their own trope pages include: ===

=== Other adaptations of ''Alice in Wonderland'' contain examples of: ===

==== There was also an animated series by Nippon Animation, fondly remembered by many in Europe and other parts of the world not the US. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs7VxRjG5lE&feature=related English dub of first episode]: ====

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}Alice in Wonderland]]