Task 3

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was a mathematician at Oxford; he is also known to be the author of the famous tale of Alice in Wonderland. According to Woolf (2010) the first book that was published in 1865 was called Alice’s Adventure Underground, and a year after that an extended version of Alice’s Adventure Underground was published and it was called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In 1871 Lewis Carroll had also published a sequel which was called Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. The tale of Alice in Wonderland has been popular ever since it was first published in 1865. The tale has also influenced many famous artists such as Salvador Dali, Walt Disney, Ralph Steadman and many more including the award winning film Director Tim Burton. Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland happens to be the latest version so far of at least 20 other film versions and TV shows, all inspired from Lewis Carroll’s original novel.

Woolf (2010) states the tale of Alice in Wonderland was based on the dean’s daughter Alice Liddell, a child that Lewis Carroll knew. Many have wondered about Lewis Carroll’s relationship with the 10 year old girl to whom he first told the story to. Carroll also was a portraitist and also took pictures of Alice Liddell. Out of the 3000 pictures that he took throughout his life half of them were of children and 30 of them happened to be of girls in the nude and seminude. Now a days having nude photographs of children is something socking, In addition to this BBC News Magazine (2012) also states that “to many modern minds, a man who regularly formed friendships with young girls is inherently suspicious”. However Woolf (2010) states that in the Victorian times this was rather normal and that the Victorians “saw children as a state of grace; even nude photographs of children were considered pictures of innocence itself” According to Woolf (2010) Alice was Carroll’s first and most favorite and although there is no strong evidence it has been said that Carroll had an unhealthy attraction towards Alice. However BBC New Magazine(2012) states that although the story was based on a little girl that Carroll know does bring out some taught but the fact that he photographed girls in the nude does not help his case for the modern mind. But it cannot be forgotten that Lewis Carroll lived in a period “were childhood innocence was being forged, influencing how children were represented in the 19^th century literature aimed at them”. In addition to this BBC News Magazine (2012) adds that many experts that analyzed his case states, that Lewis Carroll might have had a desire for little girls, but these desires were not necessarily sexual. Jenney Woolf who wrote the article “Lewis Carroll’s Shifting Reputation” for Smithsonian Magazine in 2010 and the author of “Mystery of Lewis Carroll” also agrees with this theory.  

According to Woolf (2010) in 1960’s during the Countercultural Movement this was a protest movement that was led by American youngsters who were forming a culture of their own. During that period Lewis Carroll’s work had been associated with drugs. However BBC News Magazine (2012) states that although Carroll’s work does have drug influences within the text especially when “Cheshire Cat disappears leaving only the enigmatic grin behind. Alice drinks potions and eats pieces of mushroom to change her physical state. The caterpillar smokes an elaborate water pipe. The whole atmosphere of the story is so profoundly disjointed from reality”. In addition to this this was the period were opium was legal, but there is no evidence that Carroll was on drugs when he wrote the story. This association had be done during the 60’s 70’s and 80’s this was the period were LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs were very common.

Alice in Wonderland has been interpreted many times by several artists in diverse media such as animation. In spite of the fact that the very first set drawings that had been made for Alice in Wonderland were the ones done by Sir John Tenniel, many of us think of Walt Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland of 1951. According to What a Wonderful Dream (N.A) Although Carroll was the kind of person who was very hard to please which made it very hard for Tenniel to work with, Lewis Carroll’s story and Tenniel’s art work were a perfect match. Tenniel’s Illustrations in black and white and was made through rough sketches which formed the basic shapes. Later Tenniel would adjust further and include detail by using ink and Chinese white before the final illustration goes onto the block wood. Phantomwise (N.A) although the tale of Alice in Wonderland is based on Alice Liddell the character with in the story was not meant to be Alice Liddell. The girl in Tenniel’s illustration was blonde in addition to this Carroll did suggest two blond models for Tenniel these models were Mary Hilton Badcock and Beatrice Henly. However Tenniel did not use a model for the illustrations but his Alice was defiantly a blond. It is also noticeable that Tenniel’s illustrations of Alice tend to have an expressionless face in most of the scenes. 

Fictional Alice from the original manuscript

                                                       A sketch of sketch of Liddell

Tenniel drew Alice in a blue dress, white pinafore and blond hair. This look had been widely used and became well known in later works of Alice in Wonderland such as Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland. According to Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site (N.A) the idea of Alice in wonderland had started back in the 1920 this was when Walt Disney had produced “The Alice Comedies”. In 9133 Walt Disney bought the rights to Tenniel’s Illustrations the reason for this was so that they will use Tenniel’s illustrations as the basis of the characters for the live action remake. According to Kate Lismore (N.A) it was Al Perkins who was the storyboard artist at the Disney studio and the director David. S Hall who first proposed Alice in Wonderland. However, according to Pickavance (2011) their concepts for the live action remake had been rejected by Disney because their concepts visually resembled the works of Sir John Tenniel. In addition to this Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site (N.A) states that their concept art had the visual style of Tenniel’s because the animators use Tenniel’s work as a starting point and to as the basis for the characters as Walt intended. Mark Pickavance (2011) also states that “The modernist look of Wonderland, was created by background artist Mary Blair, was dramatically enhanced by exceptional use of colour, which is much more striking than the previously muted pastel shades that audiences had experienced with Dumbo and Bambi”. Although Al Perkins and David. S Hall’s concepts had been rejected due to having the visual style of Tenniel’s illustrations, by looking at both Tenniel’s and Disney’s illustrations of Alice in Wonderland one can notice many similarities in the characters.

According to Frost (N.A) When observing Tenniel’s Illustrations and compering them with Disney’s illustrations one can notice many similarities such as Cheshire Cat “the cat is occupying the same bodily position, but despite being slightly more caricatured, he appears very much the same.”

Dodo is another example where a lot of similarities can be noticed. According to Frost (N.A) Disney’s Illustration of Dodo have the same body form as Tenniel’s illustrations of Dodo in a way this may be the possibility that “Disney’s illustrators stayed true to Tenniel’s illustration then the Disney writers did to Carroll’s text.”

Disney Dodo Model Sheet

The same goes with the Tenniel’s illustrations of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and Disney’s illustrations. It is hard not to notice that Disney’s illustrations have been drawn upon Tenniel’s illustrations.

Although there are many similarities within Tenniel’s and Disney’s Illustrations, Tenniel’s illustrations are rather simplistic while Disney’s illustrations are bright, colourful and Alice was given a mainstream face. Other artist who illustrated Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland had their own interpretation of it. These interpretations were done depending on the style and astatic of their time. According to Lismore (2014) unlike Tenniel’s illustrations, Ralph Steadman illustrations tend to bring out a surreal feel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. This is portrayed in the way the characters look because just like Tenniel’s illustrations Ralph Steadman illustrations are rather simplistic. Lismore (2014) also states that although Ralph Steadman’s Illustrations happen to fall in a dark atmosphere Steadman’s illustrations are quite appropriate. When comparing Steadman’s Illustrations with the illustrations of   Marjorie Torrey 1955 one can notice the contrast between both styles. Lismore (2014) states that Marjorie Torrey’s illustrations are more natural and the way Marjorie Torrey illustrated Alice with brown hair brings out the original Alice Liddell.   

Reference list

Pickavence Mark, 2011. Looking back at Disney’s Alice In Wonderland: refining the animator’s craft. [online] available at :http http://www.denofgeek.com . [Accessed 13 December 2014].

Woolf Jenny, 2010. Lewis Carroll's Shifting Reputation. [online] available at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/lewis-carrolls-shifting-reputation-9432378/. [Accessed 14 December 2014]

Frost Erin, n.d.

Anon, n.d. Sir John Tenniel.[online] available at: http://aliceinwonderland.evanderweb.co.uk/tenniel.html. [Accessed 10 December 2014]

Anon, 2012. Is Alice in Wonderland really about drugs?. [online] available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19254839. [Accessed 05 Decemver 2014].

Anon, n.d. WHY IS ALICE BLOND AND/OR WEARING A BLUE DRESS? SHOULDN’T IT BE YELLOW?. [online] available at: http://still-she-haunts-me-phantomwise.tumblr.com/post/38633527006/why-is-alice-blond-and-or-wearing-a-blue-dress. [Accessed 20 December  2014].

Anon, n.d. About Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" movie. [online] available at: http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice1c.html. [Accessed 13 December 2014].