A child’s imagination is shaped through story telling, whether it be fairy tales, folklore, fantasy, or a mix of all three. With active imaginations comes dreams and wishes, some for ponies others for parents. We have all encountered the tales about searching for love, loot and lost slippers, however the most intriguing are the stories of those who wish for different than their own. Who has not at one point or another wished to be someone or somewhere else? As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side. Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of OZ (1939), Nick Willing’s Alice in Wonderland (1999), and Dave Mckean’s MirrorMask (2005) are all filmic adaptations of novels based on a young girl’s desire to be in a world other than her own. Dorthy from The Wizard of OZ is looking to run away from her life in Kansas with her Aunt and Uncle, Alice from Alice in Wonderland is in search for somewhere to hide from performing at her parent’s garden party, and MirrorMask’s Helena wants to run away from her parent’s circus to join ‘real life’. Dorothy, Alice and Helena are three characters who illustrate a young girls transformation into maturity and reality through a journey into an unfamiliar place. Through the three girls, their journey into the unknown, the characters and obstacles they encounter along the way, as well as the emotional transformation they make as they find their way home, it will become apparent how truly similar these stories are.
The most strikingly similar aspect of these three films are the characters of Dorothy, Alice and Helena. They are all young, forthright, kind, and curious girls with wild imaginations. As prior mentioned each girl has different reasons for wanting to run away, different places they would like to run away to and different ways of expressing these dreams. Dorothy sings of “somewhere over the rainbow” other than the simple life she leads in Kansas. After Toto bites Miss Almira Gulch, a local townswoman, she threatens to get rid of him, and Dorothy takes Toto to run away with her. However on her way she encounters Professor Marvel, who tricks her into thinking her Aunty Em is sick so that she will return home before the approaching storm, which she does, however upon her arrival a tornado strikes and she is knocked unconscious while hiding for cover. Similarly, Alice is looking for a place to, however she is hiding from her parent, her overbearing voice instructor, as well as her crippling stage-fright. Illustrated by the different toys and dolls scattered around her bedroom, Alice uses play and acting to imagine where she would go to disappear to, eventually running away to the woods where a hovering apple appears until she is distracted by a frantic white rabbit who she rushes after, falling into his rabbit hole after him. Slightly different, is Helena who leads an exciting life of travel and performance, however all she wants is an everyday, run-of-the-mill childhood. Helena creates her own world through her elaborate drawings which mask her trailer, and eventually her bedroom at her Grandmother’s house, which she lives in after her mother falls ill, and the circus is no longer running. The night before Helena’s mother surgery, she awakes to the sound of circus music much like that of her friends, as she follows the music out of her apartment she stumbles across three street performers rehearsing in an alley, until two of them are consumed by shadows, and her and the other lone performer escape narrowly into a mysterious door. Each girls finds herself in a different world formed by their imaginations and different facets of their lives. Dorothy finds herself in opening her farmhouse door into The Land of OZ, Alice falls into a rabbit hole and ends up in Wonderland, and Helena escapes through a door and is suddenly in the City of Life.
When in these alternate worlds all three girls come across a wide variety of wild characters, many of them, resembling someone from their real life encounters. On Dorothy’s journey from Munchkinland to Emerald City she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion, who are all played the by same actors as the three workers from her farm in Kansas. When in Wonderland meets a variety of characters including the White Rabbit, Mr. Mouse, Major Catepillar, The Duchess, The Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, The March Hare, Dormouse, The Queen of Hearts and many others, all of which resemble toys from her bedroom or guests from her parent’s garden party. When in the City of Light and the City of Darkness Helena encounters several characters as representation from her real life, the Prime Minister resembles Morris, both the Queen of Light and the Queen of Shadows look like her mother, Pingo as Bing, and the Princess of Shadows is the mirror image of Helena. Among these characters there are a mix between friends, foes, and acquaintances. Although in all three film the young girls find themselves making fast friends, these relationships are quite different from one film to the next. Dorothy initially befriends a Scarecrow, who is in search for a brain, a Tin Man, looking for a heart and a cowardly Lion, all of which accompany her on her search to ask The Wizard of Oz to help her get home. All three of these friends along with Toto prove their loyalty throughout the journey and when they save her in the end from The Wicked Witch of The West. Similarly, when in Wonderland, Alice finds many companions who help her find her way back, and out of trouble. Along her journey Alice receives advice from Major Caterpillar who tells not to be afraid, The Cheshire Cat leads her journey with the rules of Wonderland, the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle teach her a new song, and encourage her to sing, the White Knight encourages her to be brave and the Tiger Lily gives her directions when she is lost. Alternatively, while traveling through The City of Light Helena has one companion, Valentine, who is aloof, egotistical and not very bright. Although easily distracted, he eventually proves his loyalty to Helena after turning her into the Queen of Darkness, he returns and help her find the MirrorMask, and her way home. Although Helena does not have other companion’s on her journey she has the guidance and advice from her mother that follows her, as well as the book of useful things that helps guild her journey, and find her way back to reality and her family.
On their journey these girls also encountered several obstacles, which helped them in their growth. For Dorothy, her greatest barrier between her an Kansas was The Wicked Witch of The West, whose flying monkeys capture her and take her to the Witch’s castle. When Dorothy landed in The Land of Oz her house landed on The Witch’s equally evil sister, killing her, as a reward Glinda The Good Witch of The North gave Dorothy The Witch’s magical ruby red slippers, these slippers are what leads the Witch to try to kill Dorothy, however her friends save her, and Dorothy destroys the Witch with water, and they return to Emerald City to see Oz once again. When in Wonderland, Alice faces many physical obstacles, constantly unable to control her size, she is constantly growing to great heights, and shrinking back down in inappropriate times. On top of Alice’s constantly changing size, and inability to find her way around, there was Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts, who was violent and irrational, constantly trying to behead Alice’s many companions, and acquaintances. Helena, like Dorothy had several physical barriers when on her journey to return home, such as The Queen of Darkness’ spys, the ever lurking shadows taking over the City of Light, as well as The Queen of Darkness, and her daughter, The Princess, who has taken over Helena’s life at home after running away. Although The Queen never poses danger to Helena, she wants to keep her as her daughter, and ‘pet’, The Queen’s possessive qualities are what lead The Princess to run away and take over Helena’s life, after she stole the MirrorMask from The Queen of Light. Once posing as Helena, The Princess begins to rebel, yelling at her father, smoking, bringing boys home, and destroying all of Helena’s drawings, in an attempt to destroy Helena’s route to the real world via the MirrorMask.
One of the many other similarities between these three characters are the journeys in which they embark on, and the routes they follow to find their way home. When traveling Dorothy has the yellow brick road to lead her to The Wizard of Oz who she needs to take her home to Kansas. Meanwhile she has her ruby red slippers which she later learns is her key back home to her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry, not the Wizard of Oz. Glinda explains to Dorothy that she needed her to realize that “The next time I go looking for my heart’s desire, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. If it’s not there, then I never really lost it to begin with.” After expressing her growth and understanding about the importance of one’s home and family, all she has to do was click her ruby red slippers together and say, “There is no place like home.” Similarly, Alice is also on a search for home, but has to search for the White Rabbit to find her way back. For Alice, the Cheshire Cat acted as a Yellow Brick Road, leading her along her travels, and helping her comes to the realizations she needed to. On this journey through Wonderland Alice had to grow up and conquer her stage-freight, as the White Rabbit expressed once she found him, that he lured her into Wonderland with the hovering apple to force her to beat her fears, once she expressed her bravery and self-confidence, he led her out of Wonderland with the hovering apple. Helena’s journey was much like Dorothy’s in her need in realizing the importance of her family, as well as needing to mature and appreciate the world she lives in and the life she leads with her parents. Helena spends her journey looking for “the charm,” which turns out to be the MirrorMask, which she then has to find a window to look through so she can make her way home. Although Helena does not have other companion’s on her journey she has the guidance and advice from her mother that follows her, as well as the book of useful things that helps guild her journey, and find her way back to reality and her family.When she finally finds her way into her own live through the MirrorMask, Helena merges with The Princess of Shadows, and illustrates her evolution into a woman, and her appreciation for her family.
Upon their return home, each girl illustrates her transformation into a young woman. Dorothy awakes in her bed surrounded by her Aunt, Uncle, and her friends, and describes her adventure to them. As Dorothy closes the film saying, “There is no place like home,” it is instantly apparent that she has learned her lesson, and has a new found appreciation for her family, and where she comes from. When Alice awakes she does so with a new found bravery and a boost of confidence as she sings at the garden party in front of the oh-so-familiar guests. Although Alice expresses her growth through her ability to perform, she also does so by singing not the song she had rehearsed, but a song she learned in Wonderland, illustrating her new-found independence she gained after finding her way home. Similar to Dorothy, Helena wakes safely in the company of her father, who assures her that her mother is well. As the viewer watches Helena react to the news, and sees her appreciation for her father’s presence, it is instantly apparent that Helena gained maturity through seeing her world from another perspective.
In closing, The Wizard of Oz, Alice In Wonderland, and MirrorMask are three films that take the viewer through the journey of young girls imagination, as she works through her inner conflicts in order to mature and appreciate her surroundings. Although Dorothy, Alice and Helena accessed their imagination in different forms, travelled to different worlds, encountered different lessons and barriers, they all worked through their issues within themselves to allow for growth. Each character, whether through the door, or down the rabbit whole entered a new realm on independence. Although the world may have been imagined, the journey was real.
Works Cited
Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Nick Willing. Perf. Tina Majorino, Miranda Richardson, Martin Short, Whoopi Goldberg, Simon Russell Beale and Robbie Coltrane. Hallmark Entertainment, 1999.
Bacchilega, Cristina. Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative Strategies. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1997. 61-62.
MirrorMask. Dir. Dave McKean. Perf. Stephanie Leonidas. DVD. Destination Films, 2005.
The Wizard of Oz. Dir. Victor Fleming. Perf. Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. DVD. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939.
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