And Alice Grew Up

I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.

 ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Growing up is hard…

We all have to do it one day even if we don’t want to, when we least expect it. And sadly, it’s not about changing your height…

We come to realize that we need to make decisions and be responsible for them.

We start to understand that life can be a fairytale only if we begin to write it with our own hands.

When does this revelation moment commence?

It can be a marriage proposal like in Tim Burton‘s movie – a moment you see you are not a little girl anymore but a wife-to-be.

It can be the death of parents and loved ones like in American McGee’s Alice, when there is no one in the world to look after you.

Or you can be desperate to reunite with your beloved and you’ll take whatever pill you’re offered and eat from whichever side of the mushroom to make it happen.

Well, I am speaking about Margarita from Bulgakov‘s Master and Margarita. To me she is the Alice that grew up but remained risky and adventurous. I am in no means comparing these two works of literature. I just want you to look at Margarita as once a very curious child like Alice, that is attracted to the unusual and has no fear while interacting with something magical.

She took the cream from Azazello like Alice took that “drink me” bottle with the same caution and the same excitement. While applying the cream she enjoyed observing the changes it was making to her body with an immense curiosity.

She let herself go and release her anger when she felt she had all the power to do so like Alice when she realized that she was dealing with a simple pack of cards.

You can see a lot of similarities between Alice and Margarita when you start thinking about it.

Most importantly she finds peace and serenity when her adventures are over and this time it wasn’t all for herself but also for someone she deeply cared about.

What do you think happened to Alice when she grew up?

The Importance of Being Alice: Part III

She is dangerous

 Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people. The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.

Just look at her… It is our Alice, she has an angry look on her face standing there with a knife.  The Cheshire Cat couldn’t be creepier…  That’s the vision of Carroll’s sweet fairytale created by American McGee in 2000.

The story is horrifying – Alice’s house was burnt down and she is the only survivor. That is a lot for a small child to bear; after losing her parents Alice needs medical help not only for her body but also for her mind and soul. Her psychiatrist records everything she is saying to him – which is of course about the Wonderland that she recently visited. The only thing that reminds her of it is her White Rabbit stuffed toy which is missing one button eye. He will make Alice travel back to the Wonderland again. But the Wonderland has also gone crazy, it became frightening and fearsome. The only way about it for Alice is to restore the order in the Wonderland which would mean to restore her own sanity.

Though the plot is very dark I really enjoyed playing the game, because all the details are very well thought-out. All the symbols from Carroll’s novel are there just not in the places you would expect them to be. For example, the Duchess whom Alice is supposed to destroy uses pigs to slow Alice down, plus she is trying to shoot her with pepper, saying  “With a proper seasoning you will make a good dish”. Weird, ha? But at the same time clever, in my point of view.

So the game is really curious and is getting curiouser every minute. Because we don’t see the stereotyped Alice here anymore, the story got a truly original twist without getting ridiculous. I think the film adaptation of the game would be a great success but the production is still under question (since 2004). 

I recommend the game to any Alice fan but beware you can get really addicted to it.