#carrollian | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

martisa · 4 months

Text

Carta para Jenna 12/2023

Essa carta contém spoilers do filme Wonka

Cara Jenna

Começo essa carta já lhe dizendo para imaginar o que acontece quando uma confeiteira de mão cheia, visita, junto a seus amigos, o palácio do universo onde nosso imperador mora. Estou falando da Alice da confeitaria indo visitar nosso amigo, minha querida, ele pediu que ela fizesse uma milk-shake de fruta Tum Tum e a inocente menina achou que seria uma tarefa muito fácil, claro que a rainha dos espelho disse para ela que aquilo estava longe de ser uma boa ideia, mas a rainha só conseguiu dizer isso depois que o imperador já havia tomado cinco copos de milk-shake de fruta tum tum, bem, para a defesa da rainha, ela esteve o dia todo em seu país dos Espelhos participando de uma festa e só no final é que pode ir até o palácio. Foi engraçado, Alice, a confeiteira não sabia que a fruta TumTum daquele universo provocava reações adversas no imperador e aí quando a rainha terminou de contar e a confeiteira pensou que seria mais uma confusão do nível com a qual ela está acostumada em seu universo... O pobre Hattie, filho do chapeleiro maluco (que não é cunhado de Lizandra e nem irmão de Madeleine Hatter) levou uns catiripapo porque o imperador odeia todos os filhos de todos os chapeleiros do País das Maravilhas, Rosa não escapou do destino que se tem perto do imperador sob influência da TumTum, nem a confeiteira, foi um Deus nos acuda, o único que se safou foi o Ferguie porque ele é muito fofo e a rainha salvou ele de ser apertado até a morte pelo imperador. Isso causou uma instabilidade perigosa com a rainha mãe da Rosa, você sabe, os latinos valorizam muito essa coisa da família, a rainha de copas cubana foi até o palácio do imperador e deu na cara dele, tamanha foi a coragem dela e a Rainha dos Espelhos não deixou o imperador revidar, isso deu-se em uma longa discussão, mas tudo terminou bem com a Alice confeiteira cantando uma música sobre união, amizade, perdão, blá blá blá, deixa a massa descansar e blá blá blá. No final eles jantaram juntos e depois a confeiteira e seus amigos voltaram para a sua versão Disney do País das Maravilhas. Acho que ela gostou muito , quando a Rosa eu não tenho essa certeza, mas ok.

Nem só de confusões no País das Maravilhas vive a família Carroll. Como você bem deve estar sabendo, o filme Wonka (e que filme maravilhoso MEU DEUS DO CÉU) foi gravado em Oxford, não ele inteiro, mas algumas cenas, e isso descamba em nosso querido chocolateiro estar na cidade de Oxford, no filme na década de 30 ou 50, mas você sabe que se uma coisa se passa em Oxford, alguma canela terá, essa é o ditado que estão usando por aqui. Então o chocolateiro apareceu na Christ Church e antes dele abrir a boca perguntaram se ele faz chocolate com canela, ele foi dizer que não porque os ingredientes dele eram mais exóticos, ele foi expulso de lá, então ele encontrou o mesmo cara que fez a pergunta que por acaso era um professor de matemática e fotógrafo vitoriano (você deve saber de quem eu estou falando, o nosso imperador) e achou as histórias do Willy Wonka fascinante e assim como Wonka, esse nosso amigo matemática que se chama Charles, também era mágico e inventor, eles ficaram muito amigos, mostraram um para o outro suas invenções e trocaram experiência, Wonka fez para Charles um chocolate que curasse a sua gagueira e Charles ensinou a Wonka matemática básica para que ele pudesse não precisar de um contador assim que Abacus foi para a casa, você deve imaginar que se Willy não sabia ler nem escrever ele certamente nãpo saberia matemática básica. Foi uma troca e tanto e eles aterrorizaram Oxford naquele dia, então Willy Wonka foi chamado para um jantar na reitoria e o é claro que a senhora Liddell não gostou muito dele a princípio e o senhor Liddell disse algo como "não era você que estava cavalgando o John Ruskin uma madrugada dessas?" (é importante salientar que o John Ruskin estava tranformado em verme na ocasião) foi bem engraçado, mas aí ele conquistou a todos quando deu seus chocolates, Charles então convidou Willy Wonka para ir até o País das Maravilhas e experimentar fazer chocolates com os ingredientes de lá, Wonka achou a ideia e incrível e ele foi mesmo, fez chocolate com recheio de Tumtum antes que a Alice pudesse contar a ele que não se devia fazer nada com as tumtum, isso deu no que você já sabe kkkkkk, bem, e então de volta a Oxford ele precisou voltar para a sua época (30 a 40) e deu de presente de agradecimento para Charles um pote cheio de Choconela (chocolate com canela) Charles ficou muito feliz, você sabe como Charles fica quando dão canela para ele. Aí quando ele estava em sua época em Oxford ele foi visitar a Noddle na biblioteca Bodleiana e lá dentro ele experimentou um bombom de tumtum que ele havia guardado porque ele achou que era imune aos efeitos da TumTum, mas aconteceu de sabe quem estar lá? Max de Winter, agora a biblioteca Bodleiana tem algo em comum com a biblioteca da Christ Church. Ou quase não sei.

Ah querida Jenna, sei que você está lendo essa carta doida para saber como foi o amigo secreto, foi uma maravilhas, o Vittório Puzzo me tirou e me deu só um abraço, eu tirei a Sarah e dei a ela uma história onde ela termina com o Lucas, foi tudo muito lindo e perfeito, Charles tirou a Maria Beatriz e deu um livro todo lindo para ela, enfim, tivemos até comes e bebes esse ano. Para a nossa noite de natal a ceia vai ficar por conta da Pele de Asno, da Alice confeiteira e do Willy Wonka, mas eu falei para o Willy Wonka que eu não quero nada com leite de girafa e ele perguntou se pode substituir o leite de girafa por leite de Max de Winter e então eu mandei ele ir a merda, mas ele riu, então eu acho que está tudo bem, eu disse para a Alice confeiteira que ela pode fazer a comida que quiser, mas que eu não quero absolutamente nada que o Hattie coloque na cartola dele porque eu acho isso uma porquisse e nada que seja feito em recipientes em que a gata dela fique dentro e que ela não lava antes de usar, eu disse a Pele de Asno para ela fazer o bolo do amor, mas que não era para usar aquele vestido de sol porque as mangas do vestido ficam caindo em cima das tigelas e aquilo me dá aflição. O Lucas vai passar o natal com a gente, ele geralmente passa com o aniversariante, ele já disse que não é toda vez, mas ele escolheu dividir seu tempo entre a gente e sua família (mesmo que a família dele nunca saiba que ele está presente).

Bem Jenna, por ora isso é tudo o que tenho para te relatar, espero que essa carta lhe encontre bem, eu estou pensando em transformar essas cartas em episódios do meu podcast, o que você acha? Acho que seria muito divertido. Enfim, espero sua resposta.

Sua eterna amiga, Jaqueline

3 notes · View notes

wolpertinger-prince · 1 year

Text

Happy Halloween 🎃🖤

#actual real me #photos #mad hatter #carrollian #alice in wonderland

9 notes · View notes

nonsense-every-other-day · 2 years

Photo

Happy 170th birthday to Alice Liddell (b. 4 May 1852). ♠️♦️♣️♥️

Featuring (in a clockwise spiral):

Disney Store plush (2018)

Tokyo Disneyland “it’s a small world” grand re-opening plush badge (2018, Japan)

Tokyo Disneyland “it’s a small world” grand re-opening doll (2018, Japan)

Tokyo Disneyland “it’s a small world” grand re-opening porcelain figurine (2018, Japan)

Sprinkles Sugar ~Pink ver.~ figure (normal color version) from Sega (Fun Fan Amuse Prize Collection) (2020, Japan)

Alice by Mary Blair 70th Anniversary Limited Edition doll from Disney Store (2021)

Tsum Tsum plush (medium) from Disney Store (2016)

Tsum Tsum plush (small) from Disney Store (Tsum Tsum subscription box, May 2016, included a mini Dinah Tsum Tsum)

Tsum Tsum plush (mini) from Disney Store (2016 re-designed release)

Tsum Tsum vinyl by Jakks Pacific (2016)

Brass Key Keepsakes porcelain doll (2005)

Disney Store plush (mid 2000s)

Funko Rock Candy figure (2017)

Funko Dorbz figure (2016)

Disney Store ornament (2020)

Disney Tea Cup Cuties (Wave 1) from Disney Store (2021)

Disney Animators’ Collection Littles figure from Disney Store (2018, part of a 5-pc set)

Crystalux figure by Banpresto (2017, Japan)

Funko Mini Alice at the Mad Tea Party Attraction (01) Disneyland 65th Anniversary (2020)

Disney Store ornament (2013)

Happiness Moment figure by Banpresto (2013, Japan)

Hallmark ornament from Target (2016)

D-Stage 077 Story Book Series figure by Beast Kingdom (2021)

Disney Store Our Family Tree doll (2005)

Disney Store classic doll (2020)

Disney Fairytale Designer Collection Alice and Queen of Hearts doll set from Disney Store (2016)

Disney Store Japan plush badge (2018, Japan)

Brass Key Keepsakes mini porcelain doll (2006)

The World of Miss Mindy figure by Enesco (2018)

Q posket Sugirly figure (pastel color version) by Banpresto (2018, Japan)

Sweetiny figure (normal color version) by Banpresto (2019, Japan)

70th Anniversary ornament from Disney Store (2021)

Disney Animators’ Collection mini doll playset from Disney Store (2016)

Disney Showcase Couture de Force Alice masquerade figurine by Enesco (2015)

Q posket figure (normal color version) by Banpresto (2016, Japan)

Premium figure (pastel color version) from Sega (Fun Fan Amuse Prize Collection) (2019, Japan)

#Alice's Adventures In Wonderland #carrollian #disney alice #disney merchandise #disney

16 notes · View notes

agnesmontague · 9 months

Text

this used to be one of the most inexplicably cruel and strange parts of alice in wonderland to me, in a book that had bits of similarly absurd bouts of meanness but never to this violent extent; it's only after i learned that it was a parody of an existing, and rather cloying, poem that i realized what it was meant to do:

Speak gently! -- It is better far To rule by love, than fear -- Speak gently -- let not harsh words mar The good we might do here! Speak gently! -- Love doth whisper low The vows that true hearts bind; And gently Friendship's accents flow; Affection's voice is kind. Speak gently to the little child! Its love be sure to gain; Teach it in accents soft and mild: -- It may not long remain.

but it really was many many years later in the 2020s that i finally understood that this type of humor was centuries ahead of its time bc it circles back now to the similarly absurdist dril-esque humor of taking a nice thing and being so boorish about it that it makes you laugh. basically the poem was the 1865 version of this

#carrollian club #rambles #alice in wonderland #lewis carroll

117 notes · View notes

kamil-a · 2 years

Text

kind of hysterical that nightmare was like "heres a riddle. what do the king, queen, mad hatter, march hare, tweedle dee and dum, cheshire cat, duchess, caterpillar, ace of hearts, time, and the white rabbit all have in common?" and she was like "there's 12 of them" and he was like "exactly. there's 12 of them ^_^"

#she never read the book.#thoughtful honking #.....kind of carrollian of them tbqh

13 notes · View notes

murdering-time · 2 years

Note

If you don't mind making me some, I'll be happy to have some! And if you ever go to the tea place, you wouldn't mind if I tagged along would you? I don't like going to new places without company.. the whole.. Rat thing.

And, don't worry about the outburst. It happens. I have a short fuse as well and I understand what it's like to lose a friend, even if Crane isn't completely gone, along with the distaste for someone who indirectly caused said loss. I'll probably force scarecrow to apologize to you.. Or at least get him close enough so you could throw a punch if you'd like.

BUT I'M GETTING OFF TOPIC. now please do ramble. I like hear you talk :] -🐀

Of course Dear Door-Rat. Now --

For example:

A leaky cup wouldn't hold tea but rather soup; A cracked cup would be too busy giggling to ever hold itself together; and a chipped cup would rather have fish than sandwiches and so over all would be useless.

Now then, consider that you wanted tea and sandwiches yet these cups could not provide. You'd have to get yourself a professional cup for speciali-tea. And a rather bitter cup for cruel-tea. Unless, of course, you were to have a citrus cup for zest-tea.

I, myself, am partial to craft-tea.

#🐀 anon #🐀 ask #I sincerely hope that this waffling makes you as happy as it makes me #jervis and his carrollian puns #maah

3 notes · View notes

your-local-grinning-cat · 4 months

Note

Thanks to this blog Chen’ya is now stating to grow in me a lot,,, thanks

*screams*

I’M GROWING IN YOU?!?!!!??? 🙀🙀🙀

#LET ME OUT #che’nya chats #twst rp #che’nya rp #broken + mad = fun #// ooc aww that’s actually really nice of you to say! 💜#// ooc I actually really liked the idea of being che’nya because we don’t see a lot of him in game so I can really have some fun #// ooc also i legitimately love the source material #// ooc irl I collect different Carrollian related books - I have over 90 at this point #// ooc and the original 2D animated Alice in wonderland movie is still one of my favorite disney movies #// ooc so role playing che’nya is SO fun

9 notes · View notes

gumjester · 1 year

Note

do you have any tips on writing riddlish ? I love the way you do it but I'm struggling so hard whenever I want to write it (⁠´⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠ω⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠｀⁠)

oh!!!!!!!! what a wonderful wonderful question!!!! i adore writing riddlish and thank you so much for your kind words about my interpretation of it, first and Foremost!!!

there are lots of ways to go about writing riddlish. i favour the "traditional" way if you will, of rhyming couplets, but i know others who have written riddlish with no rhyme scheme at all! however, i always found that the structure of rhyming couplets gives a good guideline to the sentence.

there is actually an official book on how to write riddlish that i have a physical copy of (though i dont have it with me at the moment :{ and i am struggling to find a digital version of it). if i recall correctly, the explanation of riddlish translation given in the book is that you take any regular degular sentence - say, "today i will go for a walk" - and just replace each of the words with either a synonym or approximation of the nature of the word. "Today" might become "present sunlight" or "now-ish hours" (there's a bonus tip! adding a suffix like -ish, -ness or -ful to a word always makes it read more carrollian, i find). "Go" might become "pass" or "make a way". "Walk" might become "path" or "two-legged advance". You can deconstruct the word as much or as little as you like and get super abstract if you would like the riddlish to be more indecipherable!!

fitting the sentence into the right rhyme and rhythm of a couplet can take some smooshing of the grammar and word choice, but i think thats a defining factor of riddlish! it gives it its whimsy! do not be afraid of it.

so for example, a fairly straightforward riddlish translation of "today i will go for a walk" might go something like "in now-ish hours there makes a chance / for passes and paths, a two-legged advance".

thats a fairly logistical breakdown, but my two most earnest pieces of advice for writing riddlish would be to keep your thesaurus close at hand, and be silly with it!!!! riddlish is a language based on nonsense and smushing words together. it doesnt have to sound a certain way. good luck to you !!!

#ask #THE MOST PERFECTEST BIRTHDAY QUESTION IN THE WORLD!!!!! A CHANCE TO TALK ABOUT RIDDLISH!!!!!#thank you for the question <333333 sorry if i went on a bit i just love riddlish chats #eah #ever after high #riddlish tag #?#gum talk

100 notes · View notes

sugaranddirt · 1 year

Text

I have just realised that Karoline Leach has not only changed the perspective on Carroll when she found the "cut pages of diary", which she describes in the preface of "In The Shadow of the Dreamchild": Supposedly, he proposed to little Alice, as claimed in numerous publications. Now that Leach has found a clear indication of a closer relationship with Ina instead, Alice's big sister, we can also look at "Wonderland" more clearly.

I've always wondered, why he put the Liddell sisters in the book in the shape of the animals in the "Caucus Race" chapter, but there's still a big sister at the beginning and end of the book. Also, now that I'm currently working on a new german translation, I really wondered about the last pages of the book. This melancholic, emotional and longing end that is just Alice's older sister daydreaming at the river – this could actually show us more about Dodgsons true feelings towards Lorina. It's almost like she's taking over as the main protagonist and the narrator of the story seems to connect much more to her, than to Alice.

The narrator accompanies Alice but often comments on her behaviour and idiosyncrasies. With astonishment and a kind shake of the head, he talks about the girl "who likes to pretend she is two". With the big sister at the end of the book, however, he is much more neutral. She is not a girl one wonders about, but a young woman with sentimental feelings, which are romantically and lovingly staged by the narrator.

Just something I noticed and that I feel like has not been discussed properly yet.

#carrollian #literature #alice in wonderland #lewis carroll #charles dodgson #karoline leach #in the shadow of the dreamchild #alice liddell

15 notes · View notes

martisa · 7 months

Text

carta para Jenna - 18/09

Cara Jenna

As notícias aqui não são exatamente das melhores, na verdade é das mais terríveis. Primeiro que nosso querido amigo Eduardo foi de vez para o País das Maravilhas, infelizmente eles nos deixou aqui na Terra para morrermos de calor. Ele partiu no Domingo (pelo menos foi no domingo que ele se foi) e isso afetou geral, estão todos de luto com sua partida, o lado bem é que ele foi para o País das Maravilhas, como acreditamos, mas ainda sim é um caso muito triste.

Ainda não pegamos as fotos do carrollsday, mas te garantimos que não é uma mídia perdida, pelo contrário, ela está muito bem guardada, mas devido a contratempos e alguns problemas técnicos, ela ainda é inédita.

Não sei se te contei, mas vou contar de novo, Desde fevereiro estamos presos no que a criadora chama de "Luscaslore", que é o nome que ela deu a todo o conjunto de produção ficcional inspirado naquele menino, o Lucas, estamos todos os dias tendo ideias para histórias novas, como isso nunca foi embora, uma hora irrita, você sabe, de qualquer forma ele é um dos nossos agora.

Eu fiquei sabendo que virá uma grande onda de calor nos próximos dias e eu passarei todos esses minutos debaixo da água, agora moro próximo de um rio, é o que eu mereço e que o que eu vou fazer, não nasci para passar calor.

As coisas por aqui estão um pouco melancólicas por causa do Ed, e do calor que se aproxima, tem também essa coisa do Timothée e da Kylie que pegou todos de surpresa e ninguém acha isso uma boa ideia.

As notícias boas é que temos pelos menos uma ouvinte do nosso podcast, mas eu vou ir atrás de outras pessoas para nos ouvirem, nosso episódio sobre o Lewis Carroll foi muito bom e eu deixarei o link dele aqui para você conferir. (em anexo a carta). Temos um mês bem cheio no mês que vem, com agenda quase toda lotada em viagens e eventos.

Acho que infelizmente, por enquanto, isso é tudo o que tenho a lhe contar, mas espero mesmo que coisas novas e boas aconteçam logo.

Da sua querida amiga, Gabriela Jakeline Varilovisky

PS: Como eu acredito que não mandaremos cartas antes da quinta feira, dia 21, apenas nos deseje bastante sorte sobre o julgamento dos recursos dos assassinos do Luquinha, a gente quer muito que eles sejam presos.

o anexo

#carrollian #lewis carroll #charles dodgson #alice liddell #alice in wonderland #alice no país das maravilhas #carta #letter #podcast #relato #edward wakeling #Spotify

4 notes · View notes

princesssarisa · 9 months

Text

Sometimes I think of one review, on Amazon I think it is, of the 1999 version of Alice in Wonderland. It complains about the ending, where Alice overcomes her stage fright and sings for her parents' party guests, but sings "The Lobster Quadrille" instead of the planned "Cherry Ripe." The reviewer disliked that Alice is "defiant" by singing a different song than the one her parents and her governess chose.

They obviously have a slightly different worldview than I do, or at least demand stricter obedience from children than I'm in favor of. Because as far as I'm concerned, Alice's choice to sing "The Lobster Quadrille" is what makes the ending of that version.

Admittedly, I'm not entirely fond of the script's choice to make Alice's journey through Wonderland revolve around teaching her courage to conquer her stage fright. As I wrote in my review of the film last year, the whole concept is slightly preachy and un-Carrollian. But I can accept it. I'm not sure if I would have accepted it as well, though, if Alice had sung "Cherry Ripe" at the end. After she gains the courage to stand up to the Queen and King of Hearts, wouldn't it be disappointing for the end result to just be "She uses her newfound courage to obey her parents and governess"? The fact that she gives the performance on her own terms, and sings a funny nonsense song of her own choosing instead of an inane Victorian parlor ballad, is more in keeping with the lesson she learned in Wonderland.

Besides, at the beginning of the movie, when she begs her mother not to make her sing, her mother guilt-trips her into agreeing to do it with obnoxious emotional manipulation. ("All the guests are so looking forward to it... your father and I will understand, though we'll be very disappointed.") Isn't it satisfying to see Alice be just a tiny bit defiant after that, and sing her own silly song rather than entirely give in to her mother's wishes? Particularly when, after their initial surprise, the guests love "The Lobster Quadrille."

#alice in wonderland #1999 #rambling #thoughts

38 notes · View notes

mocktortis · 3 days

Text

So recently I've been seeing this bit of information around that "Lewis Carroll was a mathematician and he was inspired to write Alice in Wonderland because he was really frustrated by the contemporary math of his time." Specifically people kept bringing up imaginary numbers.

And that struck me as weird, because I have read a lot of writings on Alice, and I had never come across this before. I have the mega-version of the Annotated Alice, and multiple copies of Alice with introductions from pretty well-known Carrollian scholars. They all mentioned that Carroll's real identity was the mediocre mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, but never really tied that with Alice. Even The Annotated Alice, which was edited by the math guy Martin Gardner, only has math related footnotes when math (usually arithmetic) is specifically brought up by the text (such as when Alice is struggling to remember her times-tables). I should probably warn you now, there will be math in this post.

So... where does this claim come from?

I asked people for sources, and I got one response that was actually useful. They admitted they didn't have an academic source, but told me to try googling "Alice in wonderland math". It was the best lead I had (one person told me verbatim "Google is free". Classy), so I put it into Google and came up with a decent amount of results. The first article I found linked to another article from 2009 by a doctoral candidate at Oxford called Melanie Bayley. Unfortunately, the article is only available if you make an account with New Scientist, which I was not keen to do. I moved on, continued reading through poorly written articles and 10 year-old blogs, looking through their sources to see where they were getting their information... and every single article and blog post linked back to Bayley's article from 2009, or an op-ed she wrote for NY Times (also blocked behind a give-your-name-to-the-fae type deal). Fortunately, one of my family members actually has an NY Times account already, so I just asked if I could use their account to access this article.

Eureka. After reading through so many misinformed and poorly explained sources (one of which just copy-pasted Bayley's article into their blog), reading Bayley's actual article was like a miracle. It was so well-written, well-researched, and actually solidly convincing. I was nearly crying at just how beautiful the thing everyone else was ripping off really was. This encouraged me to make an account to read her New Scientist article.

Bayley references back to a paper published in 1984 by Helena Pycior, At the Intersection of Mathematics and Humor. Pycior is a Professor at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, an MA in math, and a historian. Her paper is rigorously researched and does a fabulous job of explaining mathematical advancements (especially symbolical algebra) in the late-18th to mid-19th centuries, Lewis Carroll's own education in mathematics, and his more serious writings on math as Charles Dodgson. Pycior also highlights a line in the chapter Alice's Evidence, when Alice remarks, "I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it, which is eerily similar to a line in Augustus De Morgan's Trigonometry and Double Algebra ("With one exception, no word nor sign of arithmetic or algebra has one atom of meaning throughout this chapter,"), a math textbook Carroll definitely read. Pycior's paper is very technical, however, and might not be for everyone. But it is a great foundation for Bayley to base her claims.

While I would highly recommend reading Bayley's articles, I understand not everyone will be interested, so I will summarize:

Bayley's analysis mainly focuses on sections added by Lewis Carroll after 1864. Carroll's original manuscript, written for Alice Liddell and her sisters, is missing several scenes from the final published version, and there are some scenes in the manuscript that were extended in the final version. The scenes Bayley dissects are Advice from a Caterpillar, Alice's first meeting with the Duchess, Alice's conversation with the Cheshire Cat, and A Mad Tea Party.

Bayley first covers the chapter Advice From a Caterpillar. She connects it to De Morgan's Trigonometry and Double Algebra. Helena Pycior points out that Carroll was "clearly inspir[ed]" by De Morgan, and references De Morgan in a few of his academic works published under his real name. Bayley draws attention to De Morgan's use of the Arabic phrase: "al jebr e al mokabala" —the original Arabic name for algebra. Bayley explains that it means "restoration and reduction". I actually don't think I can put it much better than she did, so I will use an excerpt from her article:

"Restoration was what brought Alice to the mushroom: she was looking for something to eat or drink to “grow to my right size again”, and reduction was what actually happened when she ate some: she shrank so rapidly that her chin hit her foot."

A little later, Bayley adds:

"De Morgan... proposed... that symbolic algebra should be considered as a system of grammar. “Reduce” algebra from a universal arithmetic to a series of logical but purely symbolic operations, he said, and you will eventually be able to “restore” a more profound meaning to the system – though at this point he was unable to say exactly how."

Part of the Caterpillar's "advice" to Alice is "Keep your temper", after Alice complains that she keeps changing in size. Alice assumes he means not to get angry but, as Bayley explains "To intellectuals at the time, though, the word “temper” also retained its original sense of “the proportion in which qualities are mingled”" ie. tempered steel, tempered glass, tempered chocolate etc. Bayley proposes that the Caterpillar is using this meaning of the word temper— meaning his remark would be advising her to keep her proportions the same, even if she can't stay the same size. That remark becomes relevant after Alice tries changing her size with the two sides of the mushroom: when she tries just the small side, her torso shrinks and brings her face so close to her feet she can scarcely open her mouth; when she tries just the large size, her neck stretches to ridiculous lengths. Only when she tries a bit of both in a balance— tempering them— is she able to change size while keeping her proportions.

Alice next encounters the Duchess in her kitchen, and the Duchess' notably ugly baby. As the Duchess leaves for croquet she throws (literally throws) her baby at Alice, who catches the baby and takes it outside, reasoning to herself that the violent Duchess and her Cook would likely kill the baby if Alice were to leave it there. As Alice looks down at the baby, she realizes it is turning into a pig, and she releases the baby-turned-pig into the wood.

Bayley's interpretation of this scene is as a satire of projective geometry— and specifically the "principle of continuity", laid out by French mathematician Jean-Victor Poncelet. Poncelet's description of the principle (via Bayley) is “Let a figure be conceived to undergo a certain continuous variation, and let some general property concerning it be granted as true, so long as the variation is confined within certain limits; then the same property will belong to all the successive states of the figure.” In Bayley's NY Times article, she explains it more clearly as, "[the principle of continuity] involves the idea that one shape can bend and stretch into another provided it retains the same basic properties— a circle is the same as an ellipse or parabola."

Bayley suggests that Carroll's rebuttal to this is based off Poncelet's use of the word "figure". If the figure of a triangle can change its shape while remaining a triangle, then the figure of a person (or baby, in this case) can also change its shape. As Bayley puts it "What works for a triangle should also work for a baby."

Skipping ahead to the Mad Tea Party, Bayley proposes that the characters of the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse, are paralleling the concept of quaternions, proposed by William Rowan Hamilton in 1843. Hamilton's Lectures on Quaternions was the first way of representing rotations in three dimensions with algebra, and it was well-known enough at the time that it is reasonable to assume Carroll had read it, or at least seen arguments relating to it.

Here is Bayley's explanation of Hamilton's quaternions:

"Just as complex numbers work with two terms, quaternions belong to a number system based on four terms. Hamilton spent years working with three terms – one for each dimension of space – but could only make them rotate in a plane. When he added the fourth, he got the three-dimensional rotation he was looking for, but he had trouble conceptualising what this extra term meant. Like most Victorians, he assumed this term had to mean something, so in the preface to his Lectures on Quaternions of 1853 he added a footnote: “It seemed (and still seems) to me natural to connect this extra-spatial unit with the conception of time.”"

Breaking that down a little more (serious math alert): a complex number is a number with two terms, a real portion (represented by a), and an imaginary portion (represented by bi), and is written as a+bi. One of Hamilton's quaternions would be represented like this: a+bi+cj+dk. (I don't really know how they work either.)

In A Mad Tea Party, the Mad Hatter says, "It's always six o'clock now", trapping the party at perpetual teatime. The Hatter's explanation for this is that he quarreled with the personification of Time, and in retaliation, Time is keeping the clocks at six for the foreseeable future. Without Time, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and The Dormouse keep rotating around the table, as if in a two-dimensional plane. It is possible that this is Carroll's way of poking fun at the absurd idea that time would factor into an expression meant to determine the movement of objects in space.

And it is this final section of Bayley's article which gets misinterpreted into the claim, "Lewis Carroll was inspired to write Alice in Wonderland because he was frustrated by imaginary numbers."

I want to end with this: we have no proof Carroll intended any sort of mathematical allegory in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He seemingly did his best to keep his life as a mathematician and his life as a popular children's author separate from one another. Most of his surviving writing's on his inspirations for Alice make no mention of Math. That said, Melanie Bayley's article provides a truly fascinating interpretation of some of the most beloved episodes in Alice, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone who wants to believe it.

If you're interested in reading more, this is a free PDF of Melanie Bayley's NY Times op-ed. The first page is an email someone sent to friends that contained the article, but the full article is underneath.

Also, this article by Art Publika has a great overview of both of Melanie Bayley's articles, plus some extra background on Carroll, and so many pictures.

#alice's adventures in wonderland #alice in wonderland #pig and pepper #a mad tea party #alice's evidence #Melanie Bayley #long post #very long post #this took me forever to research and write out #so glad i'm finally finished #math

6 notes · View notes

twistedtummies2 · 7 months

Text

Fifteen Days of Disney Magic - Number 6

Welcome to Fifteen Days of Disney Magic! In honor of the company’s 100th Anniversary, I am counting down my Top 15 Favorite Movies from Walt Disney Animation Studios! To introduce today’s entry, I have only this to say: “Most Everyone’s Mad Here.” Number 6 is…Alice in Wonderland.

This is the other film, alongside “The Great Mouse Detective,” where I feel – if you know me well – it’s high placement will not remotely be surprising. Whereas, if you don’t know me well, it will likely be VERY surprising. Honestly, I can settle why “Alice” is so high on my list with a single sentence: Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” stories are my favorite books, and I personally think the Disney version is the best movie treatment of the books, as well as one of my personal favorites. That’s really all I NEED to say. But you came here to hear me ramble, I think. Possibly. Maybe. So I guess I have to. :P The history of Walt Disney and “Alice” is actually pretty fascinating on its own, leaving the movie alone: this, alongside “Peter Pan,” was one of the first movies Walt wanted to make, and was actually considered for his first feature film, and then his second, way back in the 1930s. Ultimately, Walt went with “Snow White” for his first film, but he never gave up on “Alice.” It’s pretty clear that Walt loved the story, because even before the Disney film ever got put into development, he’d used Wonderland as the basis for several of his earlier works. There were the famous “Alice Comedies” he produced during the silent era, which were not so much directly based on the books so much as just inspired by them, but are still worth noting. Later there was one of the best Mickey Mouse cartoons ever made, in most people’s minds, “Thru the Mirror,” where Mickey goes through the Looking-Glass, dances with the Queen of Hearts, duels the King, and has to deal with a multitude of animated objects. Initial treatments of the “Alice” story were much darker and more surreal than the final product; most notable was a treatment of the film by artist David Hall, which has sort of become legendary amongst Carrollians and fans of Disney trivia and lost media alike. However, it wasn’t until artist Mary Blair came onto the project – and after World War II drew to a close – that Disney finally felt confident in making the movie. Interestingly, when the film finally came out in 1951, it was something of a disappointment: critical reactions were lukewarm, at best, and it underperformed at the box office. However, over the years – with subsequent re-releases and exposure through various forms of merchandising and rides at the parks – the film gained a bigger and grander following. Nowadays, “Alice” isn’t exactly considered a great Disney classic, but it’s definitely not considered a failure.

In fact, in some ways, one could argue it’s one of the single most influential Disney movies of all time. It was certainly influential on later renditions of the story: coming from somebody whose obsession with the Carroll classics is well known, I can say with certain fact that the Disney film is actually far more responsible for the public perception and love of Alice today than perhaps ANY other version of the stories, including the books. (The only other possible contender is the video game “American McGee’s Alice” and its sequel, “Alice: Madness Returns.” Incidentally, RIP “Alice: Asylum.” May flights of EA idiots sing thee to thy rest.) A lot of things in this film that weren’t in the books now seem to just be accepted as common knowledge: for example, the Cheshire Cat in the books was an ordinary orange or gray tabby cat. The popular purple-and-pink design you’ll find riffed on in some fashion throughout so many interpretations was ENTIRELY the invention of Disney; it never existed before them, to my knowledge. Similarly, characters and story elements that are in the books but WEREN’T in the Disney film tend to be forgotten, even if they’ve been used and reused in tons and tons of other adaptations: there are plenty of versions of the Duchess and the Gryphon out there, but since neither of them are in the 1951 movie (nor the 2010 feature made by Tim Burton, for that matter), most people forget they even exist.

Even beyond other versions of Alice, however, the film has had a huge impact on pop culture, and even Disney itself, than most other films in the canon. Heck, at Disneyland, right now, there are no less than four rides that all reference “Alice in Wonderland.” Four! And that’s not even counting any other shows or attractions, or even any of the other rides at other parks. Nor is it counting video games, nor the numerous other Alice reimaginings that have come out and in some way been influenced by the 1951 picture JUST from Disney’s vaults alone, nor the ABUNDANCE of merchandise – both official and fanmade – based on this one movie. It isn’t a film that has the depth of plot, character, and thematics as something like “Beauty and the Beast” or “The Lion King,” nor is it as historically important as movies like “Snow White,” but I think “Alice” makes up for it by just being fun. It’s a fun, weird, psychedelic ride through the wilds of the imagination, and really, that’s always been what “Alice” SHOULD be, at the end of the day. Really, given my love of the story, in general, the REAL question should be not why “Alice in Wonderland” ranks so highly for me…but why isn’t it even higher? All I can say is, perhaps the films that do rank above it will offer some explanation… The Top 5 are upon us! The countdown continues tomorrow with my 5th Favorite Disney Movie! HINT: It’s the Only Modern Movie on The Countdown.

#disney #disney 100 #disney 100 special #list #countdown #top 15 disney animated movies #fifteen days of disney magic #number 6 #alice in wonderland #disney alice in wonderland #alice in wonderland 1951

9 notes · View notes