Alice in Wonderland

The sun was shining on the sea

Shining with all his might

He did its very best to make the billows

smooth and white

And this was odd, because it was

the middle of the night

An excerpt from the Walrus and the Carpenter, one of the many brilliant songs and poems from the Alice in Wonderland and through the Looking Glass series. Lewis Caroll's (a pseudonym I know) epic tale about a girl who finds herself in a world where everything is topsy-turvy and animals talk and the laws of physics don't work is one of my absolute favourites.

It's had many interpretations over time, with one of the most recent being Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which doesn't follow quite the traditional setting of Alice being a young girl but otherwise gives the story I twist that I wholly admire and thoroughly enjoyed. 

For those of you more familiar with the Disney cartoon, which leaves out much of the poetry from the literature (except of course for the sophisticated walrus and his sidekick, the brilliantly mischievous carpenter), you may find that this recent film focusses a little too much on Johnny Depp's ability to play the Mad Hatter and not enough on the central character, who is a little weak and not very exciting. However, I particularly love this film because of its central theme: the Jabberwock and the frabjous day. Anyone who has read the poem Jabberwocky can comprehend what a fantastic job Tim Burton and  his set of film writers did in interpreting a poem consisting of mostly nonsense and turning it into a key part of the film.

And of course, I can't write about this film without mentioning the futterwacken dance, performed by Johnny Depp - a man who has taken on so many extreme characters and never failed to entertain. It's a dance I'll admit never being able to master.

The reason I decided to blog about Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland is because she's been a massive influence in my life. When I was young, I performed in ballets based on the story. For my 22nd birthday, I held a Mad Hatter's tea cup party. The theme: Hats of course. And tea cups filled with champagne. If it wasn't uncool to reuse a theme, I'd have it for every birthday party, as that particular event was simply spectacular!! I'm sure all you shinty girls out there who attended recall buying me a teacup set which has seen much service in drinking non-tea. And Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always been, and will always be, one of my favourite books.