Compare and Contrast Essay: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) vs. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Alice in Wonderland is a classic movie known by many. From vibrant colors to lighthearted singing, Alice in Wonderland provides perfect visuals for young viewers, quite the contrary to Tim Burton’s remake of the children’s classic. In the Alice in Wonderland adaptation, Burton puts a mature twist on the movie, making the movie more enjoyable to an older audience. While adding morals to the movie that the viewer can take away.  

Both the original Alice in Wonderland and the remake have a similar concept. The plot of the movies revolve around a girl who is seen as a dreamer by society. They both have visions of a world beyond their own. They then follow a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat, falling into a burrow, and into Wonderland. While having these similarities the rest of the movie’s plots could not differ more.  

In the original movie, Alice is a young girl who dreams of living in a world where “everything is what it isn’t.” After daydreaming and singing about her ideal world, she sees a white rabbit with a pocket watch rushing because he is late. Curious, Alice follows the rabbit and stubbles down the burrow the rabbit goes into. Alice then falls into a fantasy world where she is greeted by various characters, such as talking flowers, a disappearing cat, and a blue caterpillar. All these characters offer her help to find the white rabbit as well as guiding her to go home. Eventually Alice finds the only way to escape is to face the Quen of Hearts.  

In the adaptation of the movie, the movie begins with Alice as a young girl waking up from a reoccurring nightmare. Which consists of following down a dark hole and waking up to strange creatures: a rabbit in a waistcoat, a smiling cat, and a dodo bird. Alice continues to have this nightmare, until the age of nineteen. Once Alice reaches the age of nineteen, she is forced to attend a tea party that to her surprise is an engagement party to a man she has never met. Before having to say yes to his proposal she spots a white rabbit and chases after it. She then falls down a burrow and into a world seen in her nightmare. Upon arriving in this world, she is greeted by creatures excited for her arrival, asking her is if she is “the Alice.” Alice is confused but finds out it is her destiny to end the Red Queen’s Reign and to slay the Jabberwocky.  

Along with the significant differences in the plot, Alice is also portrayed differently in the two movies. In the original Alice is shown to be easily distracted with a vivid imagination. In the first scene Alice is seen receiving history lessons from her sister, however Alice does not want to listen or pay attention because the book does not have pictures. She finds the world she lives in to be boring and dull. Alice then imagines a world she considers to be her perfect world, filled with talking animals and bright colors. When she arrives in Wonderland, she appears very timid and fragile. The characters easily intimidate her, and she relies on them to get her through Wonderland.  

On the other hand, in the remake of Alice in Wonderland, Alice is portrayed as a dreamer, but in a way that shows her as independent and someone who aspires to create change. She lives in a world that is very controlled and is always told what to do by the people surrounding her. Even with this control Alice refuses to conform to society and follows her own path. When she arrived in Wonderland everyone had been waiting for her arrival, because she was the chosen one to slay the Jabberwocky. Alice feels that they must be mistaking her with someone else and feels that there is no way she could be the right person. Absolem, the blue caterpillar, informs her she is the destined one but is “barely Alice.” She takes this encounter as her being the wrong person but is confused since it is her own dream. As the movie goes on Absolem continues to state phrases describing where Alice is at. It is not until moments before she fights Jabberwocky and feels that she is not ready that she sees Absolem and begs for his help. Absolem then taunts her saying he cannot help her unless she knows who she is. Alice begins to state who she is and begins to realize that all her nightmares were memories of Wonderland as a child. Absolem then tells her she is Alice “at last.”  This moment shows that the moment Absolem had been pushing for had finally happened. Absolem’s point in telling Alice where she was at in being herself was to help guide her in finding confidence. Without confidence she could not fulfil her purpose of saving Wonderland. This also shows Wonderland was about more than escaping from her controlled world. She needed to find who she was and be okay with being considered “mad,” to be the person she was called to be. When she returns to her world, she stands up for herself and refuses the proposal of Hamish. She also takes over her late father’s trade business; conjuring up ideas that are considered “mad,” by the rest of her colleagues. 

Another difference between the movies is the use of Alice’s dresses. In the original Alice is seen wearing the same blue dress the entire time. Even as she takes the potions fluctuating sizes, she continues to wear the same thing, showing no real depth to the meaning of her outfit. However, in the remake Alice is seen constantly changing dresses as she grows and shrinks from the potions she is given. The first dress she wears is an old Victorian style dress, as she attends a tea party. Everyone else is also seen wearing this style of clothes. Alice conforms to her surrounding in this dress, making sure not to stand out. When she enters Wonderland, her dress changes from the Victorian style to a ruffled, whimsical dress, matching the surrounding Wonderland. When Alice leaves the Mad Hatter’s tea party, she changes into a blue dress with a blue flower detail, representing the child-like atmosphere of the tea party. When she is at the Red Queen’s palace, she wears a red dress with heart details to represent the queen. And when she arrives at the White Queen’s palace, she wears a muted, natural outfit to fit in there. It is also seen throughout the movie that other people are picking out her outfits, telling her how to dress and act to fit into their world. It is not until she knows who she is that her costume completely changes from a dress to armor. The armor represents Alice breaking free of having to conform and finally knowing who she is and what she wants. The armor also represents the confidence Alice has found in Wonderland. When she returns from Wonderland, she is seen wearing the same Victorian dress. But after leaving the tea party, is seen wearing pants in the next scene. This shows while Alice may have returned to her same, controlled world she realizes she does not have to be told what to do and she is allowed to be who she wants to be.  

One character who helps mentor Alice to be able to feel confident is the Mad Hatter. In the remake the Mad Hatter plays a tremendous role in helping Alice develop the confidence to slay the Jabberwocky as well as the confidence to be herself. When Alice first meets the Mad Hatter, he is at a tea party with two other characters.