Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland: Becoming Who You Are

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

This post may reveal key parts to the plot of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, if you have not yet seen this movie I suggest you do so before reading this post (and don't be cheap, see it in 3D, you won't regret the extra two bucks).

Cheshire Cat: What do you call yourself?

Alice Kingsley: Alice

Cheshire Cat: THE Alice?

Alice Kingsley: There's been some debate about that

Cheshire Cat: I never get involved in politics

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland had a very interesting idea to it. It's almost ten years after her adventure in Wonderland (which you later find out is actually called "Underland," not so hot on that part, but it can't be perfect right?) and she has forgotten all about it, dismissed it as a dream. Through a series of events she finds herself back in Underland, led there once again by the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit takes her to an opium-smoking caterpillar named Absolem who will tell them whether or not she is the "right Alice." When they get there, the White Rabbit also tells her that her return was prophesied and she must slay the Jabberwocky (a monster from an Old English poem Alice tries to read in the book Through the Looking Glass). Alice refuses to believe this so they consult Absolem who grimly states that this Alice was "not hardly" the right Alice.

The White Rabbit and his group of talking plants/animals immediately leave in disappointment. Alice couldn't care less. This was the weirdest dream she's ever had! Talking animals, prophesies of her slaying some sort of mythical dragon, and all sorts of utter impossibilities, she was going to wake up soon and that's all that mattered.

Of course, she doesn't wake up soon, she meets the Mad Hatter, the Red and White Queens, and all sorts of other characters as she goes through all sorts of shenanigans. Eventually, she starts realizing that she's stuck here, things have become less impossible to her, and when the White Queen asks her if he will slay the Jabberwocky she....runs. She ran to a porch where she sees Absolem wrapping himself into a cocoon. She tells him of her predicament, everyone wants so much from her and she's not even the "right Alice."

But then Absolem tells her something. He tells her that what he said was that at that moment she "[wasn't] hardly Alice," but now she's "almost Alice." He then goes on to tell her how he thought she'd take things in Underland better since she had been there before. This totally trips Alice out and she goes into a flashback and realizes that she's not dreaming. Underland is a very real place with very real people who expect HER, not some other Alice, to bring an end to a terror that's haunted them for a very long time. She goes to the White Queen and tells her that she will slay the Jabberwocky.

So I'm not completely sure if I described the events perfectly, but here's what I'm trying to say: Alice came to a place she didn't understand and through a series of events became who she was meant to be. I've always believed that who we are comes from a series of events that have shaped our lives, and that's exactly what this movies is saying. Alice was in surroundings that seemed completely impossible, her best friend was a Mad Hatter, and she was given a responsibility that she could never do. With this outlook she really wasn't hardly Alice.

Evaporating cats, flowers that talk, and creepy hatters with too much make up, impossible right? It has to be a dream, no way this could be real. Have you ever been in circumstances that you just can't understand? I know I have. When everything comes at you at once and you don't understand what's happening, it's terrifying! These sort of times can really shape who you are though. You're actions during these times, who you look to for help, and how you get out of them are all things that can shape you for the rest of your life, but the first thing that you have to do is realize the reality of what you're going through. One good quote from the movie was "sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast," and sometimes that's what you have to do.

Friends are possibly the most important things in developing who you are. The Hatter instantly knew Alice was THE Alice. He was willing to do anything to protect her and guide her to her purpose including lose his head, which he stated had already happened. The Hatter believed in her when no one else would, and when Alice had doubts about slaying the Jabberwocky he even tried to step in for her. It's friends like these that are so important in times when everything seems impossible. I've been so blessed in my life to have some amazing friends to get me through my tough times. In the trailer for the movie, the Hatter stated that "there is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: you must be as mad as a hatter. Which luckily, I am." There's no better helper than a friend who's been where you are.

Finally, there are those times when you're given too big of a responsibility. Mother Teresa once said "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." Alice had to first steal a special sword from an insane large-headed monarch and then save a land full of talking plants and animals from some sort of crazy dragon thing, not your average chore. Everyone has had these times, when there's no way we can do this, it's too big, too tough, too scary. But then you learn that you'll never know what's possible unless you do that which is impossible. Alice cut that Jabberwocky's head off and freed Underland from the Tyrannical rule of the Red Queen. She was a hero! which just goes to show, when you think you can't do it, try anyways, then you'll realize there's more to you than you thought. When Alice said that it was impossible to kill the Jabberwocky, the Mad Hatter gently said "only if you believe it is."

And that's it I suppose. Alice finally became "The Alice" she was supposed to be. She went through impossibly strange conditions, made some impossibly awesome friends, and lived up to an impossibly big responsibility and became the person she was supposed to be. So I guess what I'm saying is do the impossible and find out who you're supposed to be.

To "Gumby"...

All right, this is going to be an interesting one. In a response about my post on writing, a good friend of mine who goes by "Gumby" asked me about my thought on Norman Osborn's rise to power. Hold onto your hats, this is gonna get crazy.

Let me paint you a picture: Captain America's dead. Super heroes have spent a great deal of time fighting each other about whether or not super heroes should tell the government their secret identities. The "Super Hero Registration Act" was passed, forcing any heroes who refuse to give up their identities to be criminals, with Tony Stark, a.k.a. "Iron Man," heading up the mission to stop any underground heroes and bring them to justice. Heroes fighting heroes? How can things get worse?

This is where it gets worse. While the heroes were busy attacking each other, and the nation's hero was killed while he was trying to make things right. A shape shifting alien force intent on taking over the earth, the Skrulls, have found a way to completely infiltrate the ranks of super heroes. Once the heroes find out, trust is broken, heroes are fighting heroes even harder now. When the climax hits, and the Skrull king is exposed, one man takes the shot. That man, Norman Osborn, becomes a national hero, given control of S.H.I.E.L.D., the organization that polices super heroes, and his first act is to exert his power to his full extent.

Here we go: Norman Osborn, a.k.a. "The Green Goblin": murderer, psychopath, schizophrenic, took control of a group called The Thunderbolts, an organization made to reform super villains. In reality, Osborn used this power to advance his own corrupt agenda under the guise as a legitimate reformer of super villains. Once he takes that shot and kills the Skrull king, Osborn essentially rules the world. Osborn makes his own version of The Avengers, using super villains with similar powers as the original Avengers, and he modifies and dons confiscated Iron Man armor under the name of "The Iron Patriot." Their role was to make sure that the super heroes of the world don't do anything and that the super villains of the world are free to reign.

So there are multiple things that kill me about this. First off: Captain America's role should not be taken over by a murderer! It's not right! It's just not right! Come on!

Sorry, that got out of hand, I'll try to compose myself, I apologize. Any ways, second off: I understand that Osborn did save the world, but that one act should not put him in a position where he is in control of any one, and I think this will be the focal point of this post.

A few times in my life, I've seen people who have done some pretty bad things, not nearly Norman Osborn things, but bad still. These people have done something that's good, either renounced there bad deeds, asked for forgiveness, or something of this sort. Many times, these people are forgiven, which is great, as a Christian I'm all about forgiveness, but when these people are given some sort of reward for asking for forgiveness, that's when I have a problem. Now, this could be jealousy, because I hear more of people being rewarded for asking forgiveness than people being rewarded for never being good. And maybe this is very wrong of me to say, but I feel like if someone hurts you, you should forgive them, but based on the amount of hurt, you should watch them before giving any sort of reward. I do believe in forgiveness, but I don't think that one instance of good should make you forget a large amount of hurt. I guess what I'm saying is forgive, but wait before you forget, because if you immediately give some one a reward for asking to be forgiven, it's possible that they will misread this reward and misuse it.

Finally, please, if you think that this is extremely wrong, then let me know, I'll appreciate it.

In Response to Daniel's Question...

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge...

So in my last post, I asked for readers to ask me a question, give me something to write about. the first response was from one of my closest friends. To read his exact question go to my last post and read the comment from Dwhittingslow, but this is my response to that question.

About a year after I became a devoted Christian, I decided to work for a local organization called the Gathering Place over the summer. This organization is all about spreading God's word where I live, they have big gatherings called the Main Event where people from all over the community go to worship and here a speaker talk about Jesus Christ. My job was to do service projects in the community and help out at the Main Event. I also did daily devotionals with a small group where we grew closer to God as well as each other.

Two of the biggest things that I realized was that I did not have a daily discipline and that I really didn't know what the Bible said. I knew what I believed, I knew that Jesus had dies for our sins, and I knew the basic truths, but I really didn't know much else. That summer I read through the Gospels and most of the New Testament. I realized after that that I barely knew the Old Testament at all, so I made a plan: I was going to read one chapter of the Bible a night, starting at Genesis, until I had read through the entire Bible. As of today, after almost three years, I am at Zechariah 7, so as you can see, it's taking me a very long time.

So, why? Why wouldn't I just read multiple chapters a night? Set up a good plan and I could have read it in less than a year. So why do I only read one chapter a night? Great question! I have thought about this multiple times and this is what I've come up with:

Although my original goal was just to read through the entire Bible, I found another benefit: this is helping me build discipline. I actually have had a few nights when I have read multiple chapters, but every now and then that will lead me to think that I don't have to read the next night, which leads to a break in my discipline. So for right now, sticking with one chapter a night is great for my discipline.

O.K., so what about after you finish the entire Bible? Well, good question! After I'm done with my chapter-a-night plan, I intend to really dive into the Word. As I've been reading, I've also gone through different books to help me go into it a little more, and once I finish my reading, I plan to go through, with the superficial knowledge I have gained now, I intend to study the Word on my own. This will have been made easier because of the reading I've been doing over the pat few years.

So something that you can take from my experience is if you're a Christian you need to invest time in the Word, build up some daily discipline and really learn what God wants to say to you.

Writing: A Pleasant Outlet for the Mind

"The role of the writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say."-Anaïs Nin

So here's something about me: I like to think more into things then many people would. I take things that I see or do and I like to analyze them, much like you would analyze the symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye in high school. So with all these thoughts and analyses (is that the plural for analysis? Someone please let me know!) bouncing around my head, things got pretty crowded, which is why I started writing this blog.

Let me tell you, this was a great idea! I don't even know if anyone is really interested in what I'm saying, but it's just helpful for me to get all my thoughts out. It's very much like when you have tons of stuff in your trash can on your computer and it takes a year for things to download, but then you empty the trashcan and your computer runs super fast. I know a few others who have blogs and they all seem to have the same experience.

I think that a huge reason that writing a blog or any other published work is so beneficial is that you are able to say things to other people that you normally wouldn't bring up in conversation. I wouldn't normally go out and try to rationalize an 18 year old college student reading comics to someone who doesn't think that it's proper behavior, but here, I can and if someone is uninterested in the topic then they can simply exit the post without hurting my feelings. It's a very nice feeling, being able to say whatever I want without worrying about what someone will think about it.

Now, I love writing, and I'm truly hooked on the whole blog thing (which by the way, I found that blog is short for weblog, clever huh?), but I've been having trouble thinking of things to write about. So, if you would like to help me through this writer's block and want me to write about some topic or just have a question you think I could answer, then please post a comment with what you want me to write and I'll do my best to address it. Thanks for reading!

500 Days of Summer: The Necessity of Hardships

SPOILER ALERT!

The following post reveals parts of the plot, including the end of the movie 500 Days of Summer. If you have any interest in seeing this movie, I suggest you do so before reading this post.

"This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story." -Narrator, 500 Days of Summer

The movie 500 Days of Summer starts just like any other romantic comedy. The main character, Tom, is an architect major working for a greeting card company where Summer gets a job. A series of events brings them together and at one point they make out in the copy room, Tom falls in love, and Summer does not. Although Summer tells Tom that she does not believe in love and is really just looking for something fun and not any big commitment, Tom never seems to believe it. As the story goes, it skips around between two main parts of Tom's life: when Tom and Summer are together, and after Summer breaks off the romantic part of their relationship. The latter parts consist mainly of Tom crying, drinking, being a jerk to everyone he sees, and engaging in other depressing behaviors. One of the worst parts is that just as he's starting to feel better, he finds out that Summer is engaged.

In the end, Tom ruins his job, depresses his friends, and loses one of the things that he has believed in his whole life: his vision of love and fate. Finally, Tom decides to make use of his education in architecture and goes for a job, where he meets another girl interviewing for the same job. He learns that this girl often frequents one of his favorite spots and has noticed him even though he's never seen her. As he's called into the interview, he asks her name, she replies that her name is Autumn. I wish I could find the actual quote that the narrator says but it's something like this: Tom had learned that there is no such thing as fate, no such things as signs, that everything is just a coincidence. He had learned all these things...almost. Tom ends up asking Autumn on a date, and she accepts, and that's the end of the movie.

This movie has a profound message. It has such ups and downs that the viewer is emotionally exhausted. But when you start to think about it, the pains that Tom went through was vastly important, not just for Tom, but also for Summer. Summer had always believed that love was fake, that it was just made up and that there is not a connecting emotion that strong. And she probably would've continued to think that if she hadn't met Tom and had him teach her about what it was to truly care about someone. After Tom finds out that Summer is married Tom tells her that he was wrong about love, that he understood why she never believed in love in the first place. She laughs and replies "You weren't wrong, Tom. You were just wrong about me." If it hadn't been for knowing Tom and seeing someone truly care for someone else, she would not have ever thought about falling in love, and she probably would not have been truly happy.

But it also helped Tom. During a meeting at the greeting card company Tom worked at, Tom exploded, telling everyone in the meeting that what they did was terrible, that they didn't let people express their own feelings. He then quits his job. Later, he finally decides to make use of his architectural education and interviews for well-paying jobs that make use of his skills. Also, he ends up meeting another girl who may end up being the girl Tom always wanted. If it hadn't been for Summer breaking things of with him, he would still work at the greeting card company and squander his skills.

This is a great movie, and if you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it. The lesson it teaches is very true. No matter what hardships you're experiencing, learn from it. Push through. Meet new people. And NEVER stop believing in love.