Alice, Is This Cool?
“Johnny Depp has made it cool to like Alice,” was Miss Alice Llandudno Nicol Thompson’s answer to my question — Why do children today still love Alice in Wonderland? With Johnny Depp’s 3-D visual spectacle of a movie currently standing at a worldwide gross of $1,024,299,904, I suspect he made Alice in Wonderland very cool for a lot of Disney executives too.
But what about serious Carroll fans? How do they view Disney’s 21st-century technological efforts to keep the legacy “cool”?
“Despite the errors and license used by Disney in the story, it is Disney that continues to bring Aliceto the children of today,” comments Lewis Carroll Society member Keith Wright (Chairman and Editor, Daresbury Chronicle). “Tim Burton’s Alice, although not an Alice that Lewis Carroll would recognize, did contain the Wonderland characters and used some of the text from the books.”
Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) wrote his Alice books for children. His inspiration for Alice, namely Alice Liddell, is the focus of a magnificent 160th birthday celebration in Llandudno, Wales on May 4, 2012.
“Charles Dodgson was a man who enjoyed teaching children; he liked a child with an inquiring mind but he was not a disciplinarian,” adds Wright. And Alice Liddell was indeed a child with an inquiring mind. Her favorite expression was “Let’s pretend,” and so it didn’t take long for her to become Mr. Dodgson’s favorite child. She adored the fun escape an undisciplined teacher offered in the disciplined world of Victorian life at Christ Church, Oxford during the mid 19th century. Mr. Dodgson would take Alice and her siblings on fun outings, which always included exciting storytelling. The most famous outing of all is the one credited with Dodgson’s first full telling ofAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This took place on Friday, July 4, 1862. Soon after hearing the story, young Alice pestered Mr. Dodgson to write it down for her. Thanks to Alice’s persistence, Mr. Dodgson (who had never written down any of his amazing tales) finally did create the book and presented it to her as an early Christmas gift on Nov. 26, 1864. The book, which took Dodgson 18 months to finish, and which he originally called Alice’s Adventures Underground, was handwritten and hand-illustrated by him.
Miss Alice Llandudno, Nicol Thompson
Over 145 years later, artists and creators are still reaping huge rewards from adapting Lewis Carroll’s classic books for every form of media and for each new generation of audiences. Tim Burton and Disney opted to update the story so that it would be “cool” for today’s younger movie going audience. But how do literary societies such as the Lewis Carroll Society, which strive to preserve Carroll’s classics in their original format, feel about staying “cool” in terms of appealing to younger fans?
“There is no doubt that literary societies in the UK have their backs to the wall,” explains Keith Wright. The younger generations do not join literary societies. They see them as elitist organizations, which does not help. Meetings containing research papers are not accessible to a generation brought up on getting their knowledge in a fairly unchallenging way — that is via TV or the Internet.”
Mr. Wright is a good friend and in ways a teacher to Miss Alice Llandudno, Nicol Thompson, who admits she prefers “reading the book to watching the films.”
There are currently Alice weekends in many towns around England supported by the Lewis Carroll Society, including Oxford (where the book was born), Lyndhurst in Hampshire (where Alice Liddell lived after she was married), Blists Hill Victorian Town in Ironbridge, and of course Llandudno in Wales (where Alice Liddell vacationed with her family), which is preparing for its commemorative Alice affair on May 4, 2012. All these towns attempt to appeal to fans both young and old.
Llandudno has historically enjoyed a healthy tourist trade thanks to its connection to Alice Liddell. This connection grew stronger in the 1970s when local residents Muriel Ratcliffe and her husband Murray began to consider an idea for an Alice adventure.
The couple found a basement in a property in the town that was damp and often flooded. With the help of local tradesmen, they created and launched the Rabbit Hole. The Rabbit Hole tourist attraction complete with life-size models of the book’s characters remained very popular with tourists from 1990 until Muriel Ratcliffe decided to retire in 2009.
At this point the content was put up for sale and was purchased by entrepreneurs and owners of Alice In Wonderland Ltd., Barry Mortlock and Simon and Eileen Burrows.
Much like the approach taken by Burton and Disney, Mortlock and the Burrows saw an opportunity to build a bigger and grander Alice adventure, utilizing cutting edge technology to create a 21st-century experience that was both modern and educational for children of all ages.
They worked with local government to conceptualize a Llandudno Alice Trail, which would utilize key locations around the town, including a popular tourist spot known as Happy Valley.
“The upcoming Alice Day is an excellent opportunity to reaffirm the connection that Llandudno has with Alice, and also with the Alice Trail that the County and Town Councils have funded to be built in the town. This will feature sculptures, a giant pocket watch and a new bandstand in Happy Valley, which will have the various characters from the stories cast into it. We already have a Cheshire Cat in the Happy Valley!” says Llandudno’s Mayor, Greg Robbins.
Mortlock and the Burrows will continue development over the summer with a young creative team of 3D artists and technical wizards. Their big picture concept? A visual spectacle such as has never been seen before in any other attraction in the UK.
So what might Alice Liddell have said about these creative upgrades to her favorite story in her summer vacation town?
I don’t know for sure of course. I do know Alice was a talented artist herself whose favorite expression as a child was “Let’s pretend.” Hence I like to imagine she might be thinking “Cool!”
Photos courtesy of Alice In Wonderland Ltd. and Keith Wright
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
Alice — Meet Alice
“Without Alice there would be no Wonderland.” — Ian Turner
“Magic, beauty, color, amusement, character, intrigue, questions, excitement, puzzlement, amazement, fear, suspense, fun and a happy ending” are the reasons why Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland is still a classic today, according to Ian Turner, celebrity host of Llandudno, Wales’ Alice Day on May 4, 2012.
And Turner’s favorite character in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? “Why Alice of course. Without Alice there would be no Wonderland, no White Rabbit, no Mad Hatter, no Queen of Hearts, no Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, no March Hare and no Tea Party,” he comments.
Counselor Greg Robbins, Llandudno’s Mayor, explains that “the Town Council has kept the role of Miss Alice in a very special place.” The annual Miss Alice competition is an historical and distinguished Llandudno tradition. Girls aged between 8 and 10 years, who live in one of the 5 Llandudno wards — Craig-y-Don, Gogarth, Mostyn, Penrhyn, and Tudno — are all eligible to enter. Five judges preside over the entrants to the contest and the criteria for selection of the winner is based on the contestants’ knowledge of the Alice in Wonderland books, presentation and appearance on the day of the competition.
Once Miss Alice is appointed to this most prestigious of positions, her duties are fairly extensive. They include public appearances at the town’s most important events alongside the Mayor of Llandudno. This is after all the town where Alice Liddell, Lewis Carroll’s original inspiration, spent her summer vacations. “Miss Alice not only reminds everyone of the link that Llandudno has to Alice Liddell but also to the Victorian heritage of our town,” explains Mayor Robbins.
Alice Day organizers at Alice in Wonderland Ltd. are planning to bring together all the Miss Alice’s from 1982 to the present day for a very special reunion tea party which shall take place during a Victoriana Extravaganza weekend immediately following Alice Day. May 4, 2012 itself, which would have been Alice Liddell’s 160th birthday, will have the spotlight firmly focused on the current Miss Alice.
So how does 9 year old Nicol Thompson feel about the most important day in her year? I was curious to meet Miss Alice and find out.
“The Town Council has kept the role of Miss Alice in a very special place.” — Mayor Greg Robbins
When did you first discover the book Alice in Wonderland?
Mummy used to read it to me when I was tiny. It’s always been there. I must have about half a dozen different book versions (as I’ve handed on my baby versions now) plus about 4 different DVD versions. I prefer reading it to watching the films.
Why do you think the story is still so popular with children today?
Because it’s an adventure and children like to use their imaginations. It’s very popular with adults too and Johnny Depp has made it cool to like Alice!
Can you tell us what we can expect at your Mad Hatter’s tea party on Friday, May 4, 2012?
Lots of fun. The Town Band will be playing, there will be music, actors, street entertainers, birds of prey, art competitions, the Mad Hatter, Lewis Carroll (I mean Charles Dodgson, of course), Mayors and Mayoresses from all over the place, and 100s and 100s of guests. There will even be a Victorian fun fair in the town that weekend! And lots of cakes and jam tarts! I have even invited the Queen of Hearts - as long as she promises not to cut off anyone’s head! And the White Rabbit has promised not to be late for this very important date.
“The event I will remember forever is meeting the children from Chernobyl.”— Miss Alice, Nicol Thompson
What are you most looking forward to on this special Llandudno day?
That’s a tough one. There are lots of things but probably most of all is to see everyone having fun.
Which event in your Alice year so far was your favorite and why?
Another tough one, as there have been so many things. It was great fun being arrested by the cards, and amazing getting a VIP tour of Christ Church in Oxford and seeing the Jabberwocky. Closer to home, my fear of dogs was cured when I had to judge 6 dog shows. The event I will remember forever is meeting the children from Chernobyl. They have been through so much, have so little and are so poor - but yet they remain so happy.
“My advice to the next Miss Alice is to enjoy every moment as it is a dream and that dream won’t last forever.” — Miss Alice, Nicol Thompson
What has being Miss Alice and representing Llandudno meant to you? What have you learned during your year?
Llandudno is a beautiful place to live. I have always known this but being Alice has made it even clearer and has allowed me to share this with other people. Being Alice has also shown me that the things my Mummy and Dad have taught me, like good manners, politeness and speaking nicely are really important. How much nicer the world would be if everybody was like this! We’re lucky in Llandudno. Not only is it the Queen of Welsh resorts and the Daffodil Capital of Wales, it has also recently been voted the happiest place to live in Wales.
So being Miss Alice has meant the world to me - I was chosen to represent the town I love so much.
What advice will you give to the next Miss Alice who is to be appointed on May 26?
My advice to the next Miss Alice is to enjoy every moment as it is a dream and that dream won’t last forever. But at the same time, remember that you are representing Llandudno, your school, your family and yourself - make everybody proud!
Thank you Miss Alice Llandudno. You certainly make us curiouser and curiouser………..
For curious people:
www.wonderland.co.uk/wonderland-news
www.facebook.com/AliceinWonderlandLlandudno
Nicol Thompson (Miss Alice) and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of Deborah Thompson.
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
