Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is a fantasy adventure movie that has enthralled fans all over the world, both young and old. The magic of the classic fairytale never disappears, and even today, it is still considered one of the greatest stories ever written.
Surely there are a lot of things to uncover from Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland. It is a refreshing take, more like a continuation of the 1951 animated film. Everyone knows the story but, we have got a few other facts about the movie that you might not know:
The Raven And The Writing Desk
Lewis Caroll’s question, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” has puzzled fans for ages. For sure, there is some answer to it, but there’s none. The movie also showed a scene where the Mad Hatter asked this question. Even then, there was no answer.
The author, in fact, formulated that question with no exact answer in mind. But, fans were so persistent that he gave a very vague answer. “Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is ‘nevar’ put with the wrong end in front.” Nevar is spelled like that because when you reverse the letters, you get ‘raven’.
What’s In A Name?
To give more identity to the characters, Tim Burton gave them specific names rather than calling them the way they were named in the novel. The White Rabbit is called Nivens McTwisp, the Mad Hatter is Tarrant Hightopp, and the Dormouse is Mallymkun.
This alteration in the names is a creative direction that gives more distinctiveness to every character. Even inanimate objects were blessed with names. It is no strange thing at all because Wonderland, after all, is a very bizarre world.
Wars Of The Roses
Literature has always had some drop of historical ink in it, and Alice in Wonderland is no exception. In one of the scenes in the movie, Alice was seen painting white roses with red paint. This can be taken as a symbol of loyalty to the Red Queen. But, there is actually more than that.
This can be loosely referenced to the Wars of the Roses from 1455 to 1487 where tremendous imperial wars took place, and it was going to decide who would sit on the English throne. The white rose was the symbol of the House of York, while the red rose was the emblem of the House of Lancaster. This is also the inspiration for George R.R. Martin’s popular novel, A Song of Ice and Fire.
The Chess Game Battlefield
The final battle scene in the live-action adaptation gave us a spectacular view of the two sides fighting for the crown. Did you notice that the ground they were fighting on looked like a chessboard?
This is a hint that this was a game of chess! It simply made a reference to the second book entitled Alice Through The Looking-Glass.
When Inspiration Strikes
How Lewis Caroll came up with this story is quite simple: he was tasked to entertain three children while babysitting them. He told them Alice’s story about wanting to go on an adventure.
The children, amused and wide-eyed, asked him to write the story down, which gave birth to two amazing Wonderland novels.
