During a
Pirates of the Caribbean high I picked up the DVD of Burton's
Alice in Wonderland.
Johnny Depps' disturbing visage as the Mad Hatter on both front and back covers of the DVD put me off watching it.
I had to summon Dutch courage to put the disc into the machine.
Glad that I did, as this film was different to expected. Okay, so the Hatter is still creepy, as is Matt Lucas' Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Yet the story is more of an adult fairytale masquerading as Disney sprog-fodder.
The dark undertone that filters through Lewis Carroll's original stories is amped up by Burton. Wonderland
is Underland, with the violence and cruelty so often bubbling to the surface.
There's an all-encompassing theme to the tale: opium.
Alice's strange 'dreams' are undoubtedly 'pipe dreams' linked to the hallucinations from the taking of opium. From her father's business intentions at the beginning, the drugs that make her change size, Absalom's blowing of smoke in her eyes, through to the final opening of trade with China - which was primarily the forcing of opium from India onto the country in exchange for goods.
The intention is hammered home in the final scene. Absalom the hookah-smoking caterpillar is with Alice as a butterfly. The
hookah originated in north western India for the smoking of opium and hashish.
I like this other, darker level brought to the fore. Cute characters offset the creepier ones, and overall the imagery is appealing, with exemplary acting, voice work and CGI.
As for the Mad Hatter himself, Depp mentioned millinery and mercury, which assists in accepting the visage
The use of mercury compounds in 19th century hat making and the resulting effects are well-established - mercury poisoning is still known today as 'Mad Hatter's disease'.
...
Hatters commonly suffered from 'hatter's shakes', a form of nerve damage which gave symptoms similar to Parkinson's Disease and which is still known today as 'Mad Hatter's Syndrome'. A neurotoxicologist correspondent of mine has put forward the view that hatters could have been mad in either or both of the 'angry' or 'insane' senses. He states that "Mercury exposure can cause aggressiveness, mood swings, and anti-social behaviour. It is therefore likely that the mercury in hat making did led to 'mad' hatters both in terms of rationality and plain old grumpiness."
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mad-as-a-hatter.html
