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The Alice in Wondrland/Looking Glass stories have been told in many ways, but it all started with the book and its almost equally famous illustrations of the characters and situations. Aside from several film versions of the story, the Disney cartoon version of the 1950s is also quite familiar to many. In recent years, following its policy to make live-action remakes of its cartoons, Disney had another opportunity to tell the story, but, being directed by Tim Burton, the result was a slightly different cocept, but nonetheless visually innovative.

 

A follow-up sequel 'Alice Through The Looking Glass', not directed by Burton, took a somewhat different track to the story-arc of the Looking Glass book and, although retaining many of the characters of the original film, was arguably not so successful.

 

 

Media references channelling the Alice stories and phrases from the stories are too numerous to mention. Even if you have never read or seen the Alice in Wonderland films, it's one of those works whose words and phrases have infiltrated common culture.

Aspects of Alice's expeditions to Wonderland, and what/who she found there

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The Lion and the Unicorn are involved in an ‘altercation’ in the latter stages of ‘Looking Glass’
The Looking Glass book refers to a number of Victorian nursery rhymes, some of which are supposedly educational. Humpty Dumpty is best known (Humpty Dumpty was actually a cannon), but the Lion, (symbolic heraldic beast of England) and the Unicorn,(the symbol of Scotland), are supporters of the coat of arms of the United Kingdom and the rhyme is centred on the historical conflict between the two kingdoms, resolved when James Stuart became king of both countries following the death of Elizabeth I

 

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Featuring in a poem quoted within the story, this fearsome beast would not normally form part of a Wonderland costume line-up but we mention it because f it features in climactic scenes in the Burton ‘Alice’ version.
That said, for obvious reasons, Jabberwocky outfits do not come ‘off the peg’ and when Terry Gilliam directed a low-budget film based on the beast, the costume was built backwards so that the wearer’s legs/feet looked more birdlike

 

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