‘Tis the Voice of a Lobster

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here.
~Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I recently watched Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (on bootleg, as one does in China) and while I wasn’t exactly dissatisfied, I did feel a mounting sense of disappointment that peaked at the end when *spoiler* Alice starts up the Opium War.

Alice on the way to introduce English trade to China.

Tim Burton complained in an interview that he was forced to give the movie more plot because Lewis Carroll’s books were comprised of a ‘random disorganized series of events.’ I’m sorry, but condemning ‘Alices Adventures in Wonderland’ for being disorganized is a bit like criticizing the Mad Hatter for being mad—his madness is what makes him wonderful.

I want this tattoo

As a kid, I didn’t like Alice in Wonderland. It baffled me, possibly for the same reason it befuddled Tim Burton. Then, last year at a used bookstore in Munich, I found a battered copy of Lewis’ Alice books and, desperate to read something not written in German, bought it for 5 Euros. I read it on the train back to Leipzig and loved it. I’m sure that part of the reason I liked it so much was simply that it was in English; then again, I also think that I’m one of those people who has gotten more whimsical and ridiculous as I’ve grown older. My imagination is pretty constantly scuttling amok. When I’m not actively daydreaming, I’m creating philanthropic wizardry organizations complete with photoshopped advertisements and carefully composed introductions. Of which I’m sure the Hatter would approve, as it is pretty much the epitome of madness.