pandorascontextualstudiesmdx

[pandorascontextualstudiesmdx]

Peter Thomas (workshop)

Based on the workshop yesterday I tried to apply what we were told by Peter in relation to the ‘Theory’, ‘Practice’ and ‘Personal’ Venn diagram, in which he described the importance of having as much as possible in both of these three categories so that the intersection is where your question and subject matter lie. I can draw my topic of why and how Alice in Wonderand is prevalant in contemporary culture falls into these three catgories for me, due to the theory behind the argument I want to make ; about Consumerism, Nostalgia, and fair usage of characters and stories. The relavance to my practice as an Illustrator; Book Illustration, character design, set design and product design, and also relates to me personally, since I love tactile images and environments that I can explore such as the ones in Alice in Wonderland, and the theme-park style, and the Victorian influences in the dressing of the characters.

My plan from this point onward is to plan my case studies for the essay and discover more ways the books have been interpreted visually, post updates on this blog and edit photos I have taken so far, plan and design my final essay structure.

[pandorascontextualstudiesmdx]

.·:·.  ♣ ° ♤  Alice : Madness Returns  -  W o n d e r l a n d  ♤ ° ♣  .·:·.

“Madness is not a state of mind. Madness is a place. Let’s go there, shall we?”

[pandorascontextualstudiesmdx]

The Alice in Wonderland effect

The phenomenon of Alice in Wonderland having as much cultural impact as it did is incredible. This considering that the story itself was invented by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) in the 4th of July 1862, when he told the story to Alice Liddell in Christchurch, and she begged him to write it down. After which it brought the attention of George Macdonald’s family, whom then after being received so well encouraged Charles Dodgson to seek publication for his manuscript. After which it was taken on by Macmillan, published in 1865, thereafter gaining international success in the many years to come.

As a child I loved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and anything themed as such, and have noticed how much it has been reproduced and how the images originally drawn by John Tenniel for the book are so iconic. From Disney to Ukrainian film studio KyivNaukFilm, there are many interpretations of film and television series that have taken the original story and re-created it as something new, or trying as best they can to remain faithful to the original. Not to mention the countless television series that have used the character archetypes and plot from the film to create a parody of Alice using their own characters in a special episode. There are also examples of tv series and animated shows that loosely take parts of the original story or its characters, and weave it into their own narrative, with themes and character names etc, but largely existing as a standalone version that can escape comparison.

At what point does Alice become so far developed and changed that it isn’t Alice anymore? And why has such an odd story captured so many people’s hearts, to the point where a huge immersive show about its origins and reinventions is planned to open at the V&A in June 2020? I want to look at as much visual responses to Alice as I can and look at the motifs that people have found so charming, exploring just how widely it has been reproduced and why it is so loved.