Trevor Williams
Trevor is a junior at Vanderbilt University majoring in history and philosophy. He is the vice president of the Vanderbilt chapter and a member of many other conservative organizations. He passionately enjoys the outdoors.
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Disney Pixar’s latest film, Alice in Wonderland, is certainly a graphic feat. The 3D technology, actors moving seamlessly through wonderfully animated environments, imaginative creatures, and a half-animated, half-human Johnny Depp contribute to a movie that will awe audiences visually. Beyond that, however, the movie is a bit of a mixed bag.
In terms of the updated characters, plot, and themes, this version of Alice in Wonderland has become a thoroughly "modern" affair. Gone are many of the peculiar features that made the original novel and film great. They have been replaced by ideologies characterized by rootlessness and materialism. To begin with, consider a number of the character alterations.
The film’s lead actress, Australian Mia Wasikowska, makes for a pretty, strong-willed, and eccentric Alice. Though she handles her role well, I was not fully satisfied with the script's characterization of Alice. Alice is depicted as being intelligent, independent, and quirky early on in the movie, which contrasts to the highly creative but ditzy and ultimately dependent Alice from the '51 film. While the new Alice likely has more appeal to the feminists in the audience, many will miss the traditional depiction.
Other characters undergo more drastic changes. The Mad Hatter, played by Depp, becomes a more prominent figure in this film, while the Cheshire Cat, by far the most memorable character after Alice in the old film, sadly plays only a forgettable bit part. The Queen of Hearts transforms from a hulking, commanding, grossly belligerent figure to a short, conniving, bluntly sinister one. The White Rabbit’s role is cool while it lasts, but he isn’t there much, while the monocle-wearing caterpillar takes on the role of adviser for Alice and even gets his own death scene.
Completely new characters are even added in this film. The most important is the White Queen, who takes on the role of "good queen" opposed to the evil Queen of Hearts. Anne Hathaway’s takes up the role and proves the most intriguing character in the film. Like her portrayal in Sweeny Todd, Hathaway is made to look ghostly pale, but she also wears a black lipstick which creates an appearance that is angelically pure and mysteriously seductive.
Coming into this movie, I expected a remake of the Alice in Wonderland classic with updated visuals and a Tim Burton twist, but I quickly saw that this movie is supposed to be more of a sequel. Unfortunately, this movie cannot be said to assume the full sense of that word. Not only are new characters added and defining ones significantly altered, this rendition also loses much of the mystery and flair that made the original Alice great.
Wonderland is supposed to be a place that is radically opposed to the realm of everyday life. It was meant to be the literal result of Alice’s wish that the world would turn to “nonsense" and that "nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
The original Wonderland was a supra-moral world to the point of absurdity, but this version unfortunately makes it out to be a run-of-the-mill Good vs. Evil one. Further,
the characters in the original were interesting because they were the opposite of their prototypes in real life. For example, the original Queen of Hearts was interesting because she was needlessly loud, arbitrary, idiotic, and uncouth - characteristics unbecoming of a ruler, to say the least. In contrast, the updated Queen has many all-too-real characteristics of ruler, which makes her an utterly believable, but boring, evil, female version of Napoleon.
Other characters were meant to be totally arbitrary as well, expressing the nonsensicality and strangeness of the world they live in. Unfortunately, Disney churns out characters that audiences can relate to and cheer for, as the Mad Hatter goes from an insane man who has the unshakable desire to have Alice as his guest for tea to a person reasonably trying to save the world from evil. The White Rabbit is meant to have one role, to be late and run away, but he helps Alice in this film. Again, everyone seems perfectly content with the Queen’s role in 1951’s version, but in this one her power hangs on threads.
[Minor Spoilers ahead]
This sequel’s disloyalty to the old plot and characterizations is disappointing, and some of the themes and messages it passes off are as well. In the original Alice in Wonderland, Alice learns an important lesson: that the world is alright as it is. In this film, however, she learns nothing. While I was expecting Alice to gain maturity from her adventure and want to settle down in the real world, she instead remains discontent with the more than satisfactory life laid out for her. The film has a very "Americanized" ending in the bad sense of the term, suggesting that Alice need travel the whole world before settling down into a rooted life. It is also an absurdly feminist ending as well, as it expressly promotes the idea that women need find "Mr. Right" as opposed to finding someone realistic and likeable by having Alice turn down a somewhat flawed but very good mate. This idea has had a destructive effect on marriage.
Coupled with the anti-marriage themes in the plot are those of mercantilism and globalism. Alice is going not just going on a new adventure at the film's close, she is embarking on a mercantile venture. This is in lieu of the opportunity she had to marry a Lord, which would have meant a rooted and stable life for the young Alice. Even hints at globalism work their way into the film, as Alice's business prospects will take her to China of all places. A cosmopolitan and materialistic lifestyle, in conformity with feminist ideals, is promoted here, as opposed to one characterized by rootedness and family life.
Despite its flaws, Alice in Wonderland, is a worthwhile and at times very good movie. While some of the changes are disappointing, it’s still worth a watch.
On February 15, the Arizona Senate passed a "sweeping" immigration bill. Thankfully, it's not one of the nature that Gutierrez has been agitating for Obama pass. Rather, Arizonans have reaffirmed their right to have their police force ensure public safety and to have a healthy environment for their citizenry to find work and provide for their families. Patriotic Americans should hope to bring these common sense policies to their states as well.
In a time of domestic economic and political turmoil, it is my feeling that the U.S. would be better off with a humble foreign policy and should find some way to end its seemingly endless wars. Reports from the Middle East indicate no end in sight, as increasingly heated relations between Israel and Iran have led some to push for the U.S. to intervene.
Surprisingly, though, it seems that Iran may finally be backing down from its characteristic bellicosity, as President Ahmadinejad has agreed to prove that his nuclear program is entirely peaceful by sending Iran’s uranium to Western states like Russia and France to be converted into fuel, which would alleviate concerns that the program would be dedicated to bomb construction.
Despite the promising news, there are still doubts:
BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says that even now there will be scepticism over whether this Iranian change of heart really means anything.
The US is pressing hard for new sanctions against Iran because of the nuclear programme, so this could well just be a case of the Iranian government playing for time, trying to weaken forces lined up against it, he says.
This is the first sign of peace from Iran in a long while, and this is timely news, since the West has too many problems at home to continue expending itself abroad. The U.S. Army itself is even going through a difficult period of transition, as it can’t even seem to definitely decide on whether it wants Muslims and homosexuals among its ranks.
Whether these movements are the results of the West’s addiction to political correctness, or this is all part of Iran’s mischievous plot to "weaken" our "forces" that Leyne suggested, I can’t say for sure, but either way, peace sounds good for now.
Yesterday it was asserted that Osama bin Laden, who forever changed the way Americans look at the world on September 11, 2001, released a new recording in which he claimed responsibility for last month's failed terrorist attack and threatened that similar attacks would continue until America ceases its support for Israel.
While the message on the tape is almost certainly true, there remains deep mystery about the messenger who delivered it. Some reputable news sources have raised the question as to whether the various tapes released since 9/11 are truly authentic. A recent BBC documentary found that "much of the widespread fear in the post-9/11 world has been fabricated by those in power for their own interests" and that chasing al-Qaeda is like "chasing a phantom enemy."
There are several videos and pictures of Osama bin Laden that are known to be fakes. We are still uncertain, however, who is responsible for these videos. Some suspect al-Qaeda since Bin Laden is their only household name and any message they would want to send would be best heard coming from his mouth. On the other hand, any Westerner who wanted to raise levels of fear or provide an impetus for skewing debate about the Middle East could utilize this medium as well.
Just this month it was discovered that an alleged picture of Bin Laden on a US State Department's Rewards for Justice website was in fact a doctored image of Gaspar Llamazares, a leading far-left Spanish politician and a member of the Communist Party. An FBI spokesman told El Mundo, the Spanish newspaper which revealed the story, that the forensic artist responsible for the updated picture of Bin Laden was unsatisfied with the FBI's imaging resources and "decided to make use of Google images on his own initiative." The leftist in question, Llamazares, is considering taking legal action against the FBI.
This 1998 photo of Bin Laden (left) was doctored using elements of a photo of Gaspar Llamazares (right).
Bin Laden is one of the most infamous, shadowy figures on the planet. We may never know the day he dies, whether it has happened already or not, but his influence will unfortunately remain. Regardless of who is delivering the message, we can be certain that it will hold true – there will be more attacks – and unless the West can free itself from the blinders of political correctness, our ability to confront these threats will remain compromised.
Recently, Senator Inhofe made this point, and while his proposed solution is certainly debatable, he makes a very interesting ideological statement. If the West wishes to have any chance in protecting the livelihood of its own, it must shed the poisonous ideologies that put us in harm’s way and put its faith back into common sense and reason as the basis of our policy.
While everyone is familiar with Pat Robertson’s insensitive and irrational remarks that the earthquake which hit Haiti this week was the result of a pact with Satan that the fathers of the nation allegedly took to free Haiti from its French colonial masters, few have taken note of one celebrity's invocation of one of the Left's many “gods” as the cause of the quake.
Actor Danny Glover has stepped forward with his proposed theory, claiming “Global Warming” to be the cause of the natural catastrophe. His explanation for this was not even a pseudoscientific explanation of how the earth’s alleged heating could somehow be connected to the shifting of plate tectonics, rather he basically claimed that global warming was releasing its wrath on us humans for failing to conclusively recognize its existence at Copenhagen.
Apparently, not only does global warming cause colder winters, it also causes earthquakes as well! Who knows what it will be capable of next?