Alice: Feminist Champion?

I swear, I will give this a critical analysis in a few days when I’m done fangirling, but I just got back from seeing the new Alice in Wonderland…and I truly believe that I have seen my first feminist fairytale come true.

For the past few hours, I have been overcome with unadulterated joy. I love this movie. Not just for the awesome female protagonists, not just because it totally passes the Bechdel Test , and not just because its not about Alice getting a man. Tim Burton’s take on Alice features a grown woman having an adventure of her own, kicking ass, and discovering new strengths in herself.

You see, for a very long time, I’ve been very dissatisfied with mainstream movies. Its not that movies with male protagonists are bad, its just that the case of strong female characters having adventures that a) are not pre-pubescent or b) ultimately in it to get a husband/partner/boyrfriend, the absence is striking.

It really seems like you can’t be a grown woman and have desires and interests that don’t revolve around men in movies. And that’s why this is so refreshing. As the Mad Hatter tells Alice, "you’ve lost some of your muchness", it feels that women in films are constantly deprived of their potential by societies restraints.

I love this film, and I will see it again and again in this incarnation. Let’s have an Alice revolution and regain our muchness.

xox

Bex