It’s
been 150 years since the world was introduced to the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat
and a curious young girl who fell through a mysterious hole while chasing a
white rabbit.
To
mark the anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic book, “Alice in Wonderland,” the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will offer screenings of three early film
adaptations of the book on Friday, Dec. 4, from 6-8 p.m. in the Noel Fine Arts
Center Room 221.
The
screenings will include a 52-minute silent version produced in 1915 by W.W.
Young, which will feature piano accompaniment by UW-Stevens Point alumnus
Robert Doerr. A rare, 14-minute 1910 version done by the Edison Company and a
12-minute live action and animated hybrid created by Walt Disney in 1923 will
also be shown. Refreshments, including tea, will be served.
Cary
Elza, an assistant professor of communication at UW-Stevens Point who organized
the screenings, will introduce and contextualize each film and display several
rare copies of “Alice in Wonderland” books. She wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on
cinematic adaptations of literary stories that capture imaginary worlds through
the eyes of children.
“’Alice
in Wonderland’ was Lewis Carroll’s attempt to capture the dreams of childhood,”
she said. “The story helped define the image of childhood imagination as
through a little girl’s view - Carroll's use of the figure of Alice made his
vision of Wonderland seem authentic."
So
authentic, in fact, that since its publication, audiences have found the
narrative both compelling and strangely familiar. The story has provided a
common language for describing dreams, a child's point of view and imagined
spaces. Today, films like Disney's 2015 "Inside Out" owe a debt to
Alice's boundary-crossing adventures, said Elza.
The
screened films were also important to the early history of cinema, she said.
The first movie theaters had unsavory reputations, she added, so filmmakers
were attempting to draw more families through films of respected children’s
stories.
Elza
earned degrees at Smith College, Emory University and Northwestern University.
She has taught introduction to film, film history, screenwriting and several
special topic film courses at UW-Stevens Point since 2014.