Analysis in Wonderland - American McGee's Alice Games
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2019
- A Halloween Special for "Analysis in Wonderland!" In honor of the day of frightful fun, we take a look at the cult classic video game "American McGee's Alice" and its sequel "Alice: Madness Returns" - both in one video!
For the record: a few people have been requesting the same two adaptations/reimaginings recently to be covered. These are the 1966 TV Play directed by Jonathan Miller, and the 1988 Czech film directed by Jan Svankmajer (both of which are mentioned in this video). My current plan is, in the name of popular demand, to take a peek at the 1966 TV Play sometime this November, and the 1988 Czech film sometime in December or January.
DISCLAIMER: This piece is made in accordance with the Fair Use Act, under the guidelines of criticism. All images and music used in this video are given credit in the video itself. I OWN NOTHING. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.
As promised in the video, here are the links to the fan pieces, used with permission from their creators...
Cosplay Photo: www.deviantart.com/crazy-maiz...
Mad Hatter Fanart: www.deviantart.com/snugglesta...
Cheshire Cat & White Rabbit Fanart: www.deviantart.com/ladyfiszi/...
JJ Hatter Fanart/Thumbnail Avatar the Work Of: www.deviantart.com/dragonlove...
This is all.
About Alice's relationships with the various denizens of wonderland...I have two theories about that. 1: that feeling the grief of losing her friends in wonderland, in particular Chess, that she feels it better to make them hate her, thinking that if and when she loses them again, the pain won't be as bad as the first time. Even jokingly reminding him of his death at the hands of the red queen seems like an attempt to deny and shrug off the pain of watching him die without being able to stop it. Also she could be feeling irrational anger at them for dying and now seeing them again is forcing her to accept the loss and the fact that since wonderland is real again, that they did actually die. Something that is hard for someone who has both a hero complex and a history of denying emotional pain when it comes to loss to cope with. 2: I seem to notice in the sequel she's more... sympathetic with the villains of the first game, even if it's only for getting what she wants. Even going so far as to have Lizzie, her dearest sister, being the face of the red queen. Now either that's her subconscious telling her that people that seem to be friends are not quite good, as we see with dormy and March hare...or it could be Bumby's conditioning. To see potential dangers and threats and to lower her guard to them while being wary of those who could actually help her. She's hostile to the Cheshire cat who does nothing but help her, she's at best patronizing or condescending to the mock turtle and she only apologizes when she thinks the bridge between them is burning and needs information. She's even on guard with the caterpillar. The only ones she's immediately kind to are the children that escaped the dollmaker. People she feels she needs to save. Or ones that she feels will give her what she wants. Like the Hatter. Both of which lead her to danger or have her do things that put her in danger, and end up with failure and betrayal respectively. Such as Bumby having her fetch "pills". IDK those theories just made sense to me.
The Alice series is actually my favorite game series of all time. I do see your criticism even if personally I don’t feel like I have ever had problems with the gameplay or characters. Great break down of the series though.
I have a tattoo of McGee's Cheshire and the classic drawing
These games are like Batman Arkham games. Think about it:
*One of the missions of the first game develops in a setting that is basically a pocket clock. In Arkham City, Batman has to fight The Mad Hatter's henchmen while allusinating he's falling on a pocket clock.
*The main antagonist of the second game is literally called Dollmaker, just like Batman's villain.
*The Mad Hatter is evil in the first videogame and much crazier in the second game. Much like the Hatter from the Arkham games.
*The third game that was about to be released is called Alice Asylum, pretty similar to Batman: Arkham Asylum.
In conclusion, these games are Batman games.
I can totes see this Alice beating the crap out of their Jervis.
Super fascinating how this game and how much people loved its aesthetic seems to have affected most subsequent Alice adaptations! Now it feels like it was "always" a dark story... The original is vague enough that it's all up to interpretation of course, but this is the way that's won out from coolness. Sounds like there was a lot of story potential here they just didn't pursue as far as they could, but maybe the third game will pick up that slack?
If the third game is released (still in pre-production stages, you see), I'm hoping for exactly that.
Great video JJ ;)
This is an interesting channel but the sound could be better