Abstract
Examining a range of transmedia adaptations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) through the lens of Neo-Victorian theories of haunting and ‘sexploitation,’ it is argued that modern reworkings of Alice are frequently haunted by the allegations of pedophilia surrounding Charles Dodgson, leading to an ‘(in)appropriation’ of the figure of Alice. Irrespective of the ‘truth’ behind such claims, in contemporary popular culture there has been a proliferation of sexualized reimaginings, including fiction, pornography, graphic novels, artworks, and videogames. The authors explore how Alice has been reworked in both empowering and exploitative ways by male and female writers, artists, and game designers. In the context of the allegations that have dogged Carroll’s posthumous reputation, they interrogate the insistent fascination with sexualizing the figure of Alice.
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
—Carroll (2007, 327)
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Notes
- 1.
When Dodgson first met Alice Liddell in 1856 she was four years old. Their friendship spanned the period 1856 to 1863, when the Liddell family mysteriously broke off relations with Dodgson. On the ‘Golden Afternoon’ of the boat trip, the point of origin for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice Liddell was ten years old. Dodgson’s missing diary entries (which have fueled extensive speculation) cover the period from 18 April 1858 to 8 May 1862. The age of sexual consent at this time was twelve years old. It is worth noting that Dodgson fictionalizes Liddell as a much younger child. Significantly, in the 1860s there was considerable debate about the sexual abuse of children due to the campaigns against the Contagious Diseases Acts. Feminist campaigners working to protect child prostitutes were continually hampered by the fact that the law sanctioned sexual activity in pre-pubescent girls.
- 2.
For more on this see Patrick Foster, ‘BBC failed to tell experts that Lewis Carroll documentary would include “paedophile” claims,’ The Telegraph, 14 December 2015, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/12050278/BBC-failed-to-tell-experts-that-Lewis-Carroll-documentary-would-include-paedophile-claims.html. Accessed on 6 January 2019.
- 3.
The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, 31 January 2015, BBC, 36.00 and 50.10 mins.
- 4.
The operation made over one hundred arrests across thirteen countries.
- 5.
‘Alice in Wonderland hooker’ is accessible here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/568368415443612561/.
- 6.
The image here of Alice in blood-drenched clothing evokes other neo-Victorian renderings of Alice, which emphasize the elements of madness, blood, and violence. For instance, American McGee’s Alice carries a bloodied weapon (her vorpal blade) and wears a dress soaked in the blood of her enemies. Highlighting the transmediation of McGee’s games, it is possible to buy Alice’s Vorpal Blade on the shopping website Etsy, along with other tie-in merchandise.
- 7.
Exceptions to this include the special issue (5, no.1) of Neo-Victorian Studies entitled ‘The Child in Neo-Victorian Arts and Discourse: Renegotiating 19th Century Concepts of Childhood’ from 2012, and Louisa Yates’s 2011 chapter ‘The Figure of the Child in Neo-Victorian Queer Families.’
- 8.
For example, the NSPCC held an expert seminar series on ‘Premature Sexualisation: Understanding the Risks,’ from which it published a report in March 2011. See https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/information-service/seminars-premature-sexualisation-understanding-risks.pdf. Governments in various countries have conducted similar enquiries.
- 9.
Some of the films that Marks refers to include: Alice in Fetishland (2000), Alice in Bondageland (2000), Fetish Fairy Tales 3: Alice in Summerland (2005), Alice in Savageland (2008), and Alice in Tickleland (2009).
- 10.
The version discussed in this chapter is the 2011 PS3 game.
- 11.
It is worth noting that the BBC documentary also interrogates new ‘evidence,’ which suggests that Dodgson may have had an inappropriate relationship with Alice’s elder sister, Lorina.
- 12.
Alice’s family is configured differently in McGee’s game. Alice’s father is called Arthur and is Dean at Oxford. Alice has only one sister, called Lizzie. By semi-fictionalizing Alice’s life, McGee has it both ways: she is freed from her biographical rootedness, while the retention of the Liddell name maintains the association with the Dodgson-Liddell story.
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Beller, AM., O’Callaghan, C. (2022). (In)Appropriating Alice: The Neo-Victorian Sexualization of Carroll’s Wonderland. In: Sanna, A. (eds) Alice in Wonderland in Film and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02257-9_14
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