Alice in Wonderland

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Fandom
Name: Alice in Wonderland
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Lewis Carroll
Date(s): 1865, 1871, plus various adaptations over the years.
Medium: Novels, plus adaptations in various media over the years.
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
External Links:
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Alice in Wonderland is a fandom that was originally based on two books written by Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, that were published in 1865 and 1871. The books were extremely popular and have been adapted for film, television, and theatrical productions many times.[1] The well-known Disney animated film was released in 1951 and combined plot elements from both of the "Alice" books. A new live-action film directed by Tim Burton, intended for a more adult audience, was released in 2010.

Fanfiction about Alice has been around ever since the first book was published; however, the Tim Burton film caused a surge in fanfiction productivity.

Alice in Wonderland Book Fandom

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Analysis of the books have arisen, especially attempts to explain the nonsensical world of Wonderland through the lens of metaphors and allegory. Comparisons to being on drugs, having a mental illness, or reflecting how a child sees the adult world are some of the suggestions that have been made, some more seriously than others.

Alice in Wonderland (2010) Film Fandom

The most common pairing is Tarrant Hightopp/Alice Kingsleigh, although other pairings do exist such as Tarrant/Knave, Tarrant/White Queen, Alice/Knave, Alice/White Queen, and White Queen/Time.

The fandom had a resurgence in 2016 with the sequel film made by Tim Burton. It became noted that this film included Alan Rickman's last lines as an actor. The sequel was not without controversy as fans of Amber Heard called for a boycott as it stars Johnny Depp as a result of the domestic violence and abuse allegations made against Depp by her. [2]

Common Tropes in fanworks

  • Alice returning to Underland
  • Hatter journeying up to Above to bring Alice back
  • Time travel
  • Victorian England and constraints it brings for Alice
  • Mallymkun pining for Hatter

Fanworks

  • Waiting for His Alice by Lunarsilverwolfstar
  • Down the rabbit hole we go by siren_of_the_ocean - “They thought my name was Alice at first” (2021) most Kodos on AO3
  • Obliquity by ArabellaFaith - (Tarrant Hightopp/Alice Kingsleigh) When Alice returns to Underland, she finds that Tarrant has been broken into two personalities. The Hatter wants only innocent friendship with her, but Dark Tarrant wants much, much more. How far is Alice willing to go to put him back together again? (2018)

Fanart

Alice in Wonderland (1951 Animated Film)

  • When Curiosity Met Insanity, or WCMI, is a popular ongoing webcomic, begun in 2006 by co-creators Rain and Brianna Garcia (or "Bri-chan"). It details the courtship of an adult Alice by the Mad Hatter (who goes by the name "Reginald" in this universe) in a version of Wonderland that's populated by characters from every animated Disney movie to date. The personalities of Alice and Reginald were both partially inspired by observed interactions between the costumed characters at Disneyland (where Rain and Brianna both work). The main story features segments of writing (Rain's) interspersed among the artwork (Brianna's). WCMI has amassed a dedicated fanbase over the years, and has inspired quite a bit of fanart and fic. It's currently located on Tumblr, and has communities on both Livejournal and Facebook. As of 2025, the comic's official Facebook group is closed to new members due to the comic being "discontinued".
  • Sunny Disposish, by Valadilenne, is a Hatter/Alice fic inspired by the WCMI webcomic. It too has attracted a small but dedicated group of fans, many of whom have produced fanart for the fic. As of this writing (July 2025), it's still a WIP, currently up to thirty chapters (not including a handful of side stories). The fic has been inactive since 2013.

Other Alice in Wonderland Adaptions

1903 Film

Silentera page on the film. According to BFI, the original film ran about 12 minutes; this restoration runs 9 minutes and 35 seconds and is the first adaptation of Alice in Wonderland into movie form.

Fushigi no Kuni no Arisu (1983-1984)

Fushigi no Kuni no Arisu is a Japanese-German anime adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. The series consists of 52 episodes, however, only 26 made it to the US.

The fandom behind this anime adaptation is fairly small in comparison of the other versions of Alice in Wonderland but it has garnered some fandom activity including its very own Yahoo! Group.

Alice

See Alice (2009) for more fandom information.

Alice is a 2009 miniseries reimagining of the classic Alice stories taking place about 150 years later with a new Alice as the main character. It features many of the original characters from the books such as the Hatter, Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is an ABC TV series that features several characters based off the original books and often features the Wonderland universe. The Mad Hatter was a reoccurring character in Seasons 1 and 2. The Queen of Hearts is revealed to be Cora Mills, the Evil Queen's mother. A spin-off series, titled Once Upon a Time in Wonderland mainly focuses on Alice and also introduces the Knave of Hearts, White Rabbit, and Red Queen to the fandom. Various other Alice in Wonderland characters have appeared in both series: See Alice Jones (OUAT) for more about one of the versions of Alice to appear in the series.

Jan Svankmajer's Alice

Alice by Jan Svankmajer is a surrealist dark fantasy adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. This adaptation explores Alice in Wonderland's darker themes. It uses stop motion but no miniatures to retell the story. It's original Czech title is Něco z Alenky (Something from Alice)

American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice is a 2000 dark fantasy video game, published by EA Games. The primary creative force behind the game is developer American McGee, who chose to give the game a distinct gothic aesthetic and tone, with highly stylized character designs and dark, disorienting settings. The plot follows Alice as a young adult, five years after the deaths of her family in a house fire, who is being kept in an asylum in Victorian London. Wonderland is portrayed as being a hallucination or imagined reality, created by Alice to cope with her terrible circumstances. Throughout the game, Alice battles with characters from the book (save the Cheshire Cat, who is an ally), many of whom represent someone in the real world (for example, Tweedledee and Tweedledum are two orderlies in the asylum), or Alice's own inner demons. The game received positive reviews from critics and quickly amassed a fandom, with many being drawn in by the dark storyline and striking visual design.

A sequel, Alice: Madness Returns was released in 2011, following Alice struggling to maintain her sanity as she uncovers the truth of what happened to her family.

American McGee has expressed interest in making a third game, but as of 2025, this has not come to fruition. However, he has created music, plushies, accessories, and other art based on the story and characters.

Fanworks

As a public domain work, Alice in Wonderland has inspired both fanworks and pro works - there's no need to file the serial numbers off if there's no copyright concerns. It's also popular for crossover works.

Fanart

Vids

Sample Art: Based on Canon

  • Shadowstar (1990)
    Shadowstar (1990)
  • art by nonsensology (2019)
    art by nonsensology (2019)
  • art by nonsensology (2019)
    art by nonsensology (2019)

Sample Art: Fusions and Crossovers

Fannish Archives & Communities

Livejournal

General Alice in Wonderland communities:

Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland Sites:

Yahoo!Groups

General Alice in Wonderland groups:

Anime Alice groups

Disney's Alice in Wonderland groups:

Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland groups:

DeviantART

General Alice in Wonderland groups:

Disney's Alice in Wonderland groups:

Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland groups:

VampireFreaks Cults

Resources

References

  1. ^ Wikipedia's article on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
  2. ^ Daily Express article Talking about the boycott by Heard fans, (accessed 29 June 2026)
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