Preface
In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, portrays the story of a little girl named Alice with the imagination as big as the fantasy world which she enters when he released the children’s book on November 26, 1865. With impulsiveness and curiosity, Alice adventures down a rabbit hole “never once considering how in the world she was to get out again,” (Carrol 3) and finds herself in a mysterious world of strange creatures, potions, and mad tea parties. Through the challenges and obstacles that Alice withstands, she discovers more about self-identity and the journey into adulthood.
While creating visual art and images of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” I had a lot to consider. I wanted to make sure that I grasped her eagerness for adventure and temerity to follow the peculiar white rabbit carrying a watch “out of its waistcoat pocket” (Carroll 3) down a hole to Wonderland. By wearing a blue dress with the film-influenced black hairband (fig.1), I hoped to capture the innocence of the seven-year-old girl. Without knowing where she was going, Alice simply plopped down the hole into an untraveled world. This shows her curiosity, which I wished to portray. Looking down into a whole new world, not giving it a second thought, Alice dives into something she never would have expected.
After adventuring through potions and size-changing cakes, Alice meets the Cheshire Cat and gets advice on the path she should take next. Combining the animation of the Cheshire Cat created by Disney that I saw in my childhood and surroundings of my house as well, I modernized the image pictured in the book in chapter 6 (Carroll 90). Again, the well-known blue dress and blonde hair make an appearance. In the children’s book, Alice’s hands are behind her back in a way that almost every young lady is told to stand. I even find myself relying on this pose in uncomfortable situations. I took a different direction and changed the position of the model’s hand to her hips. In this view, she looks more confident and strong-willed like Alice was instead of the submissive stance that she originally had.
In figure 3, I wanted to make the most of the infamous tea party that Alice invites herself to and insists that “There’s plenty of room” (Carroll 95-96). Again, the corresponding character for Alice wears a blue dress and black headband. The March Hare is styled with a blue tie and brown faux leather jacket. The corresponding Mad Hatter character is a statement of its own with bright, vibrant red hair, a checkered bowtie, and a semi-tall black hat. The table is set with plates and teacups with Alice set off by herself just as Carroll writes (96). Taking the photo in the opposite way of the sun, the camera captures the shadows of the trees on Alice, March Hare, and Mad Hatter’s faces. As in the story, the characters continue with riddles and bicker with one another. One can see how the March Hare is looking for the Hatter to say something or respond, not the other way around. I wanted to make sure that the viewer could see this power that the Hatter has over the March Hare.
The Mad Hatter is such an important piece to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” so I wanted him to have at least two photographs to himself. Figure 4 represents Hatter as the first witness in the trial of the Knave of Hearts in chapter 11. He carries bread in his right hand and a teacup in his left. While I did not have a traditional teacup, I thought that a mug would do just as well. In figure 5, I wanted a close-up of the Hatter to show the importance of his character. I made sure to incorporate the writing on the Hatter’s hat ¨In this style 10/6″. After doing some research I learned that this could allude to the cost of the hat: 10 shillings and 6 pence (Thing). With some face paint, a red wig, and a bowtie, we easily transformed the model into a modernized Hatter.
From the collection of five photographs, I cherished in the fact that I expressed just small parts of the excellent children’s story that Lewis Carroll wrote. The part of life that I am in is about finding out your ideas and expressing your identity, and this is just the phase of life that Alice is entering. Through the help of my family members and a lot of time during a world pandemic, I aspired to create art that could relate to and entertain any type of viewer in any part of life.
Works Cited
Brown, Emily. “Alice Looking Down the Rabbit Hole.” 2020. JPEG file.
Brown, Emily. “Alice and the Cheshire Cat.” 2020. JPEG file.
Brown, Emily. “The First Witness.” 2020. JPEG File.
Brown, Emily. “The Mad Hatter.” 2020. JPEG File.
Brown, Emily. “The Mad Tea Party.” 2020. JPEG File.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 1865. Project Gutenberg,
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm. Accessed Day + Month + 2020.
“Cheshire Cat.” Disney Wiki, disney.fandom.com/wiki/Cheshire_Cat. 27 April 2020.
Thing. “Mad Hatter Day: Interesting Facts about This Famous ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Character.” The Economic Times, Economic Times, 2 Oct. 2016,
economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/mad-hatter-day-interesting-facts-about
this-famous-alice-in-wonderland-character/articleshow/54630601.cms.
Easy Does It Emily 