DD as an Alice in Wonderland retelling?

[diggum]

Watching DD lately, I'm beginning to see a lot of correllations to Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass.

Both deal with a mirror as being the edge/portal to another land/time.

Both main characters begin their adventure following a rabbit obsessed with time - one is late for some event, the other is patiently waiting for an event, and in both instances the protagonist is not made aware of what that event is.

Swayze's character turns out to be a child pornographer. Lewis Carroll is well known for his early photographs of naked girls, as well as a slight predilection for young girls.

Both stories contain an irrational, annoying Queen (one an actual queen, the other a stiff PE teacher who believes everything she does is right.)

The two punks who are hiding in Roberta Sparrow's cellar, could almost be a threatening Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

The poem in Looking Glass of the Walrus and Carpenter could be seen as somewhat related to the Fear/Love "cult" almost, and both reflect views of religion and following blindly without reflection.

I'm sure there's more, though I suspect one could find similar references in all kinds of stories - maybe these themes are classic archetypes that are touched upon in most tales. Just some interesting ones that stand out in my head a bit more.

[Syx]

I think Through the Looking Glass has almost always been used as a basis (in one way or another) for any stories that have come since then involving whimsical journeys to other worlds where everything is turned upside down. I could be wrong but I think this is the first story (or at the very least the first famous one) that has used such a huge degree of abstract symbolism to send what normally would be a very simple and blunt message. Most stories that do this nowadays pay homage to Wonderland somehow.

I'm not sure if the obvious comparison to Frank & the White Rabbit would be too accurate though. I rather think his vague and cryptic messages that just seem to run Donnie around on a wild goose chase make him more of a Cheshire Cat-type character.

[lozer003]

The following is from www.ruinedeye.com/cd/symbol.htm

Alice in Wonderland - rabbits & more
There are many similarities between the two narratives. Donnie falls asleep, and hears, then sees Frank, a 6-foot tall rabbit-costume wearing being. Alice's summer slumber brings a vision of a talking rabbit wearing human adornments. Frank tells Donnie to follow him, & leads Donnie to a golf course. Alice chases her rabbit, following him right down the rabbit hole. Character introduction and water/metal symbolism aside, the golf course/rabbit hole relation seems obvious. Like Alice's rabbit, Frank acts as Donnie's guide in the mad world of the "underground". (This aspect is suggested by Donnie's poem.) Alice's rabbit is a servant of the Queen / Frank is a being manipulated by the master force. Alice and Donnie are similar in their confusion and curiousity, both are desperate to figure out what is happening to themselves. Also... eat me/drink me similar to Donnie's pills, both characters are changing lifeforces -- Alice grows tall / shrinks, Donnie grows stronger & superhuman-like when he's sleepwalking. These physical changes give solution to the current dilemma the character is facing, but also cause feelings of isolation and fear. And... The mirror imagery of Donnie's bathroom communion place with Frank is similar to Through the Looking Glass.

[diggum]

thanks for that link!

[Pax]

Certainly there are Alice parallels in this film. And, as I said in some other post on this board, the movie owes a great amount to Stephen King's "IT." Kelly notes this somewhat in the commentary, Rose is reading it when we first see her. Read this novel, it is scary, touching, sad, and dreamlike. Gee, that sounds like something familiar

[what]

how does DD realate to IT?

[Michael]

I thought about this Alice in Wonderland connection, too, but I wasn't thinking about the holes in the golf course. I was thinking about Frank saying "Follow me" as they jump down the (Stephen Hawkings) wormhole. What do you think?

Michael

[Pax]

"Darko" relates to "IT" in several ways, of course it's not an exact parallel or even as obvious as "Alice." I don't want to say too much for those who haven't read the book, but one of the themes in the novel is that the group of heroes are being manipulated by a higher force to accomplish a task, and that once the task is done, they begin to forget about what they've done. In fact, a scene in the novel features characters awaking with odd memories or feelings that fade almost immediately. As I said, not exact, but certainly an influence on "DD," as Kelly noted.

[WATERHEAD DOWN]

:) ;) :D ;D >:( :( :o ??? :P :-[ :-/ :-*TEXTTEXT



Through the looking glass DONNIE is

[OMYGODITSFULLOFSTARS]

DONT FORGET THE WIZARD OF OZ

OZ IS ANOTHER UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYONE DOROTHY KNOWS IS SOMEONE ELSE

AND GOD KNOWS THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE THE PRIMARY UNIVERSE

[Pax]

FullOfStars, heh. Yeah, you're right. Lessee, Donnie is Dorothy, Frank is the Scarecrow (cuz the actor that plays him has always struck me as a poor man's Keanu Reeves, and dear Lord, if you're a poor man's Keanu Reeves you must be dumber than a bag of hammers,) Mrs. Farmer is the Wicked Witch, Rose is the Good one, uhhhh...Eddie is the Tinman (cuz why the hell not,) and one of Donnie's friends can be the Cowardly Lion. And the two bullies can be evil Flying Monkies. Hell, works for me. ;D