The Philosphy of Alice in Wonderland

Aside from the dynamic visual effects of this movie, Alice in Wonderland did an exceptional job in illustrating many philosophical ideas discussed by philosopher Rene Descartes. He claims that often there are no indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep. The 2010 movie and the popular 1951 Disney film were based on English mathematician and logician Lewis Carroll’s books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

The main character in the movie, Alice, falls into a “dream” or a place called Wonderland that is very real to her. In terms of Wonderland, the connection between the place and its title is that whatever Alice wonders manifests in her dream.

The movie begins with Alice in the “real world” where she feels that she is constantly being controlled. It is clear that Alice is a rebel at heart and wishes to do the total opposite of what the people around her want her to do. Shortly after Alice and her mother arrive to, what Alice does not realize to be, her engagement party her “real world” and “dream world” collide. Descartes believed that it was sometimes impossible to figure out what was real, our dreams or the “real world.”

Alice sees a white rabbit that no one else is able to see while see is in the “real world”. I no one else but Alice sees the rabbit it suggest that possibly this real world experience isn’t real at all but is simply a dream. Just as Alice is being forced into accepting a marriage proposal, she cannot resist the urge to escape this uncomfortable situation and chase the white rabbit which translates into chasing her dream. Alice follows the white rabbit into Wonderland where she is constantly being told that she is not “the real Alice”. “How can I not be the real Alice if this is my dream?” she continues to ask. The characters Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb look at each other with raised eyebrows when she replies as if to say this is not your dream.

At times Alice was able to control her dream though she may not have realized she could. For example, as the characters were being chased by the large beast in the beginning they told Alice that she should run or she would be eaten. Alice told herself that this was her dream and that she could not be eaten. Alice stood in front of the beast, and though he wounded her he did not eat her.

In the end Alice was able to defeat the jabberwocky which was the large beast that she was destined to slay. Alice constantly told herself that she could not slay the jabberwocky throughout her entire journey. It was not until she discovered that she had indeed been doing “impossible” things thought her journey that she declared that slaying the jabberwocky was another “impossible” thing she could do.

After her journey, Alice returns to “the real world” and takes control of her life. She is no longer the silent rebel that she was before she entered wonderland. She says what’s on her mind and she does not let doubt make things impossible for her to do.



Source by Maya Holton

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