Understanding Alice in Underland

Twin and I went to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which I have been looking forward to for lo! these several months (unusual for me unless it is a Jane Austen movie!) because of the promise of phenomenal weirdo visuals.  And because of the prospect of Johnny Depp in a moldy top hat, frizzy red wig, and rainbow-hued makeup, too, I admit.

Well.  Twin loved it, which made me happy.  He tried to read Alice in Wonderland for the first time just a few weeks ago, and shall we say he was less than entranced.  I read both Alice books as a child, and I didn't think about whether I liked them or disliked them; I was fascinated by the characters, the images, the slightly skewed ideas and topsy turvy logic.


One set of my family's nicknames was taken from Jabberwocky, as a matter of fact.  My mother was Mimsy (close enough to Mommy, or Mumsy, which people in England actually sometimes use); and since "all mimsy were the borogroves" and I was so like my mother, I was Borogrove.    The Alice books were a part of our family life, and references to them, their world, their vocabulary, and their logic (my father was a logician, and I adored logic problems) were rife.

I loved some of the effects and colors and ideas in the movie - I want  to shake myself up a little.  Why not do a portrait with violently red or blue or purple hair and lime green skin with magenta highlights?  I definitely have my favorite, "safe" color combinations.  I will always love them and gravitate toward them, but I think a little  conscious rocking of the boat would be a good idea for me.