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20 July 2011

Alice in..Gothic-land?

I've been wondering, why are people and especially us goths so interested and fascinated by Alice In Wonderland? I see many gothic clothes inspired by Alice, for example I have an coat called Alice Coat and all over the internet there are images of Alice reinterpreted in a gothic way. I think the answer is to be found in the era the book was written and the places where the story is developed (dark and weird) and also Alice character itself.

Though Alice has never been described in her clothing, Carroll lets us suppose she was dressed as girls used to dress at the time he wrote the novel. AIW was written in 1865, full Victorian era. Girls were thought good manners, including how to properly drink tea. *-*


I think japanese gothic lolitas started the "cosplaying" of Alice first. and especially due to the disney cartoon. Their clothes are inspired by Alice. Main characteristic of the Alice clothing are the puffy sleeves and skirt, the contrasting white apron with laces, white or black and white striped thights or socks, black mary-janes, and absolutely the black bow on the head!



Also, maybe the character of Alice itself is an inspiration for goths. She doesn't stop at appearance, I mean, she talks to a a weird cat, to singing flowers without any hesitation! And instead of being afraid, she get more and more curious about this weirdness. She isn't scared of telling her own ideas and she doesn't let herself be changed.

In my opinion , if Alice was written now, in modern era, she would surely be an alternative girl. She has her own ideas that she stands for though nobody understands her. She lives in her own world and wishes about a different world where people don't judge by appearance. She is herself all the time and she happens to go against the rules. If she was just a regular girl, she would have never been such an interesting character. And maybe it's this that inspired us to impersonate her.


10 comments:

Unknown said...

@swofter: I agree with you! :) But I expected more from Burton..in some way the movie disappointed me a bit. But overall it was amazing :D

Mar Qaroll said...

Pfft, Burton's movie was a HUGE disappointment. I don't even...I agree with Swofter. I expected more from Cater and Depp, especially, not to mention it being DARKER. This is Burton we're talking about; he could have done so much more...

Yes. Alice in Wonderland is so wonderfully, darkly inspiring~

Anonymous said...

This is BallerinaDark (sorry my pc has a glitch and doesn't let me comment with my account >_<)

Yeah if he only did it in a Nightmare Before Xmas/ Corpse Bride style it would have been WAY better..it would already have become a cult movie! :) I think this is the worser Burton's movie. Also the remake he did of Charlie and the chocolate factory was rather disappointing...I wonder what happened to him..did he lost his genius?? Let's hope it's just a temporary fase xD

Flora-Fairy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Flora-Fairy said...

I'm glad there I am not the only gothic person in this strange universe who isn't obsessed with the wonders and magic of Alice In Wonderland ^^
I have thought hard about this question of yours and finally came up with a (rather long - sorry!) answer.

I do not believe that Alice was exactly "mad" or "crazy", but instead, just a normal 7 year old child. When she is sitting on the riverbank with her sister, she gets bored and does what many people do when they're bored - find something else to do. A child's imagination can go beyond the reality of things - thus comes Wonderland. I admit that Alice may have some form of a disability/problem with her brain or nervous system that makes it hard for her to tell reality from fantasy when she is too deep into her imagination.

Then again this is just a story & they're are many stories out they're were extreme and non-realatical things happen (Vampire/Werewolf marathon anyone?). And Carroll had constantly said that Alice Lidell was based on the actul human person Alice Lidell.

Onto how some of us goths are somehow attracted to this childhood-like story (although I do not really agree that this story is really understood by young children with some of the way it is worded, or maybe it's just they way they structured their words...)

There can be many reasons why some goths (this does included reasons for other 'non-goths' aswell) are attracted to Alice In Wonderland.

* It may be that you're parents, friends, family members, aqauitences are in love with the story of Alice In Wonderland and that has influenced you to love it aswell

* Tim Burton recently directed a movie based on Alice In Wonderland, although, I was disapointed with it, I hoped it to be darker (then again he did just direct it, and many other people had an influence/worked on writing the actul storyline of the movie).

*Alice In Wonderland also has an influence on many Gothic Victorian clothes, I unfortunatley cannot go further on with this idea though, sorry!

*As well as clothes, the story does also have an influence on many (might I add, wonderful) gothic online/console video games. Might I highly reccodmend Alice Is Dead Part 1,2,& 3 (and there is to be possibly a 4?),(I remember a while ago BallerinaDark did a post on these online games. Which you can view here: http://gothicdivinemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/01/alice-is-dead-game.html & here: http://gothicdivinemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/09/alice-is-dead-chapter-3-game-is-out-now.html - Aswell as that one of my favourites: American Mcgee Alice & The sequel Alice Madness Returns.


Well that is my idea of why goths (also non-goths) may be attracted to Alice In Wonderland, thankyou for bearing with me and reading til' the end if you did :)

~ Flora-Fairy
x

Unknown said...

@Flora-Fairy: wow what a comment! XD I agree with your "theories" on Alice and goths :) AIW is a very difficult story for children. I remember I barely understood it :)

PinkPlumFairy said...

@ Flora-Fairy
Great comment. I did also never find something dark in Alice (maybe that's why Burtons movie wasn't dark at all ;) I haven't been that dissapointed, I liked the artworks a lot, there was just no tension...)
However. I don't think Alice was ever meant to be dark and mysterious, it's a story from a maths prof: think about the lack of adjectives, the strange sentence structure, and most of the story consists of missunderstandings.
I also think Alice is just a normal girl. I mean, try to tell to a seven year old: "on the next mountain top is an UFO" and he will very likely believe it. It's nothing strange about she believed in this whole world surrounding her, because abnormality just became normal there. A childs fantasy is much wider than ours and this is why I don't think Alice is crazy, she's just as crazy as every seven year old girl is.
It says Caroll was in love with the small Alice Pleasance Liddle, but after noticing that, her parents didn't allow her to meat this guy anymore. So he wrote a novel for her.
Maybe that's why the story is out of a childrens view, but not for children, he loved the little child, but also hoped she would be mature enough to love him. Strange theory maybe, I admit...
But I like Alice a lot, too. Mainly because it looks at the essence of the language we're speeking. And it was the theme of my graduation ;)

Anonymous said...

I've played a video game called Alice: Madness Returns. It's a twisted wonderland with a gothic looking Alice. It's a sequel to American Mcgee's Alice, but I never played that one as I never knew about it.
So yeah.

Unknown said...

@Anonymous: I never heard about that game! I will check it out :) also I never see the Mcgee's Alice..I will get information! Thanks for telling

@PinkPlumFairy: It's true Alice was just a 7 year old but when you start reading the book you almost forget about her age because she sounds too smart for her age..and maybe Carroll did it on purpose...because he would see her as a grown woman maybe... :S I think he had some mental issues..xD

Lilly Peppermint said...

American McGee's work with Alice, as Flora Fairy mentioned, is what initially drew me to Alice in Wonderland. In my opinion, the Disney movies were disappointing in comparision. I discovered American McGee in 2003 when I was 10, long before I was a Goth but the game (and the new sequel, Alice: Madness Returns) remains one of my favourites. Well worth checking out for any fan of the darker side to Alice in Wonderland.

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