Alice’s Wanderland
Alice. 3 worlds. Reality. Dreams. And a combination of both.
Alice’s Wanderland is a 2D animated Surrealist adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which explores the synthesis of dreams and reality though Alice’s search for identity and control.
Art, Creative Direction and Story Deborah Ho
Music Production Chris Coucouvinis
The Real World
The real world is a dull, boring and overbearing place. It lacks colour, vibrancy and feels cold. In Alice’s eyes, every aspect is precise, straight and rigid; including the people in it. Her family consists of her mother; a strict presence, her father; a very cautious man; her uncle; ignorant and oblivious, and her two twin cousins who are very closed off from the world. Alice lacks a connection to her family in the real world, which leads to her need to escape it.
The Dream World
The dream world is an escape for Alice. It is a light and pastel place, filled with curves and loose energy. By lucid dreaming, Alice is able to control her identity and the way people perceive her. She is also able to make her dream world the complete opposite of her reality.
Of course, she soon realises the complete opposite doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. Problems start to arise as the “opposite” of her real world isn’t quite what Alice imagined. The inhabitants start to go crazy because they don’t need to follow the strict rules of reality. The Queen may be independent unlike her mother, but she is actually domineering and aggressive; the Mad Hatter is not as cautious as her father but his silliness is annoying; the Caterpillar is significantly more insightful than her uncle, but has an air of arrogance. Tweedledee and Tweedledum are more engaging than her twin cousins but they bother Alice too much. Alice is able to control their actions and aims to discipline them.
The Surrealist World
The surreal world resolves the two contradictory realms of dream and reality. It is a desaturated and neutral place filled with blues and purples.
Alice’s new “surrealist” family is a marge of the good and bad in both worlds and mixes original surrealist imagery by Magritte and Dali to inform their behaviour and new personality traits. The Mother Hybrid has the ability to paint herself, her Father Hybrid is more flexible, her Uncle Hybrid is a better listener, and her Twin Hybrid cousins are slightly more open. The surreal world is reality and dreams combined; with an increased energy in its architectural structure and the people within it.
