Alice in Wonderland is a 19th century book about a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a Wonderland filled with different creatures made from the figment of her imagination. The book has been adapted into a Disney Film, and another 2010 version directed by Tim Burton. The book itself plays with different themes such as growing up, questioning identity, possible drug usage, but ultimately the use of dreams and imagination.
Alice before she falls down the rabbit hole in Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland
The storyline of the book doesn't make much sense, and Wonderland itself is a world with strange, shapeshifting, anthropomorphic characters. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology, which is why the use of it in the characters in this story links well to the idea it's all in her head. In the film Alice meets the smiling Cheshire cat, whose grin remains even as his body disappears. Dreams often contain objects morphing into new identities, and this characteristic is one of the cleverest ways that Alice’s adventures evoke the sleeping mind – along with her strange sense that time is playing tricks on her. Neuroscientists think that the phenomenon arises from the way the sleeping brain consolidates memories; as it cements the recollections, it draws links between different events to build the bigger story of our lives. When cross-referencing memories, they can become merged in the dreamscape to surreal effect.*
The Cheshire cat in Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland
The ideas and themes of the film i think link well to altered states, and i want to try and use them ideas in my own work.
References:
Cicurel, D (2015), '25 things you never knew about Alice In Wonderland', Metro, Available at: https://metro.co.uk/2015/07/04/25-things-you-never-knew-about-alice-in-wonderland-5267597/ (Accessed 25/11/21)
Resources, Alice in Wonderland.net, Available at: https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/ (Accessed 25/11/21)
*Robson, D (2015), Five things Alice in Wonderland reveals about the brain, BBC, Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150225-secrets-of-alice-in-wonderland (Accessed 25/11/21)
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