[[Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)]]
[[cultural context; censorship]]
[[influences]]
Lou Bunin was a pioneer in the stop motion animation industry, and although the animation may seem rudimentary today, at the time in which it was made it was a groundbreaking peice of work.
Lou Burnin was born in Kiev and Immigrated to the United States as a child. He spent some time as an assistant to the painter Diego Rivera in Mexico. He also trained at the art institute in chicago, Paris, and at the art students league in New York City. Lou Bunin was an innovator in the stop motion animation field which at the time was still in recent development. Bunin was fired from his job at MDM during hollywood's post-war attempt to unifiliate their image with supposed communist sympathizers.
He ended up having to move to france in order to continue working on the film alongside a small group of left-winged animators. The project was like a refuge from those who were currently in exile from disney. Lou Bunin led the charge in the animation aspect, and the filming of live action scenes was done by Bower and Marc Maurette. Each scene had to be filmed twice, once in english and then again in french.
The movie was a huge production, and was created through a mix of independent and european funding.
[[disney]]
[[politics]]
This film faced heavy censorship. It was censored in britain due to villanifying portrayal of the queen. It also faced censorship in the us due to Disney's monopolization of the film industry. Disney's Alice was released around the same time and disney didn't want its depiction of image to be in competition with Lou Burnings version.
It states in the opening of the movie that key characters are placed into the story to represent real life people and political figures. ([[CBCnews ->Sources]]
The movie begins in oxford where Charles Dodgson is teaching. He and Alice take a boat ride, accurate to the way Alice’s Adventure In Wonderland is told to have first been created, Dodgson is telling Alice a story to entertain her. Lou Burnings Alice in Wonderland creates a surrealist sensation through a combination of live action and stop motion animation, it is saturated with popping colors and extravagant costumes. While in the conscious world the outfits and technology shown, such as the old cameras and the horses and carriages, place the story in the victorian era. It was due to the representation of the queen that the film faced such heavey censorship the united kingdom. (Absolute Monarchy: Crash Course European History -> Sources]])Alice in Wonderland was originally written by Charles Dodgson, (under the pen name alias Lewis Carroll) to be a nonsensical children's novel, with an absence of teachings of morality, based around the people in his life.
Alice herself was named after Alice Liddell, one of the daughters of a the Liddell Family that lived on the Oxford Campus. [[politics]] Charles Dodgson was teaching at cornel when he met the girls. He was a photographer and spent a lot of time around the family and Alice in particular. She was the most frequently photographed out of all the others. The real extent of his relation with children, specifically young girls, is something that has been questioned heavily by scholars, but there is controversy around what is considered inappropriate in different times and cultures, spicifically in relation to some of the photographs he had taken. Although nothing can be explicitly proven many agree that due to different writings and actions Charles Dodgson sounds like a creep. (The Secret World Of Lewis Carroll -> Sources]])
Alice was one of the many real life people to have an influence on the bizarre characters of alice in wonderland, but she is also believed to be the reason the novel was written. The story was never created to be published, instead it was a story Doggson had created to entertain Alice and her sisters, at Alice's request. This was something he had done many times, the only difference this time being that Alice asked him to write it down for her. This led to the original manuscript of the story titled “Alice's adventures in the Underground”To prevent the burnens Alison wonderland from being shown while Disney production went to legal matters too strange showings it will Burton's live action and puppet animation of Alice in wonderland. The some had been produced 3 years prior to Walt Disney as animation but disney went to great lengths to make sure that we burnens film would not be premiering before Alice-in-Wonderland when it was scheduled to At the Mesa fear and New York. Disney did not want opposing Representation of Alice-in-Wonderland they wanted their alice to be the one that people thought of when they heard the name. The case was eventually thrown out, but not untill disney had post-poned the movies air date by 18 mounths.
It was also due to Disney's prearrange contract with technicolor that Lou burnens Alice-in-Wonderland had we filmed in and school color which did add to the surrealist ambience of the film but did not well withstand the test of time
Disney was an extremely powerfull industry at the time, it still holds a monopoly over the animation industry. Theaters declined to show Lou Burnins film for fear of losing Disneys patronage. ([[ Senses of Cinema -> Sources]])
The Thief of Bagdad (1924) is another adaptation of a novel (Arabian Nights) that Disney also recreated (Aladin) and dominated their retelling over all others so it would take prescedence in the colective mind of the veiwers.Other characters that are said to have been inspired by real life people are the Cheshire Cat, the queen of hearts, the Mad Hatter, the caterpillar, the duchess, the dodo character is said to be a self insert by the writer. The book is not only a fantastical retelling of the people he knew in real life but also the culture he was immersed in. However, the story was being told for Alice, therefore the main focus was on the characters from her life, such as her parents (the Mad Hatter is said to be based off of alice's father, as well as linking to a cultural reference of hatters (people who made hats) losing their minds due to mercury poisoning.) It is also speculated that the white rabbit is based off of the real Alice’s dr, or tied into the symbolism of a white rabbit leading to the underworld, although Douglass only says that he created the rabbit to be the complete opposite of alice. (The Messed Up Origins of Alice in Wonderland -> Sources]])
there are many references to poems and writings, as well as historical figures and old sayings.
Although it is stated clearly in the text (through the mad musings of the dutchess) that this story is meant to have no morals, there does seem to be multiple cultural critiquing inserted into the story by douglass.
This makes alice in wonderland not only a mythological fairytale, but also a biographical record and a social satire.
Alice or Něco z Alenky, which translates to "Something from Alice" was released 1988 by Jan Švankmajer, a Czech filmmaker is another stop motion animation that is loosely based on the original “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” by Charles Dodgson. where Lou Burnins film utilizes the sense of unreality that comes from combining live action and stop motion Alice utilizes the discomfort with the puppets it has chosen to animate and has lots of obvious dark symbolism.
Despite being made in different times for different reasons these movies share some remarkable similarities. Such as the alternating between live action and stop motion animation that creates a surrealist effect and having content that would force it to face obscurity in the face of the film [[disney]] created which dominated the market.New waves/ New aesthetic
Heavy symbolism, which the story is well known for. A large portion of the story takes place within the subconscious. To create the sense of distorted reality the creators use animations and effects to create a sense of departure from reality. It used ansco color instead of the superior technicolor due also to disney's influence and their pre-existing arrangement with technicolor. This has caused the film to degrade poorly throughout time. This created a very surreal atmosphere through oversaturated sets dimmed through time. Due to the fragile nature of the film there is a good portion of the film that is said to be missing.
The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) is an early stop motion animation that likely influenced the creation of the film. Burnin, Lou, director. Alice in Wonderland | 1949 | Full Movie. YouTube, YouTube, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA-WJFK3DgU.
yowp. “Cartoons of 1951, Part One.” Tralfaz, 2015, tralfaz.blogspot.com/2015/12/cartoons-of-1951-part-one.html.
Crowther, Bosley. “THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Lou Bunin's Version of Lewis Carroll 'Alice in Wonderland' Opens at Three Theatres.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 July 1951, www.nytimes.com/1951/07/27/archives/the-screen-in-review-lou-bunins-version-of-lewis-carroll-alice-in.html.
Coast, On The. “What Are the Hidden Meanings behind Alice in Wonderland Characters? | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 31 Oct. 2015, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/alice-in-wonderland-full-of-symbolism-author-says-1.3293570.
CrashCourse. “Absolute Monarchy: Crash Course European History #13.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYPAFqQgbqE.
Day, David, and Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Decoded. Doubleday Canada, 2015.
Documentaries, Timeline - World History. “The Secret World Of Lewis Carroll (Alice In Wonderland Documentary) | Timeline.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7mrIJCjTdc.
Heslin, David. “Forgotten Dreams: The Tumultuous Life of Lou Bunin's Alice in Wonderland (1949).” Senses of Cinema, 20 Mar. 2018, sensesofcinema.com/2018/alice-in-wonderland/lou-bunins-alice-wonderland/.
Solo, Jon. “The Messed Up Origins of Alice in Wonderland (Pt. 4) | Disney Explained - Jon Solo.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 Dec. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhH3gz_Pivc.Double-click this passage to edit it.