Animal Rights in Wonderland

In every version of Alice in Wonderland, animals play an important role from the moment Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole. But in Tim Burton's latest version, the treatment of animals takes center stage.

Like Disney's earlier cartoon version, Burton's interpretation is a blend of Lewis Carroll's two Alice books: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass ... along with a heavy dose of his own imagination. In the original book, the White Queen and the Red Queen are distinguished by their personalities: The White Queen is good and gentle, the Red Queen is harsh and vindictive. Tim Burton chose to show that contrast through their attitudes toward other living things.

In the new movie, the White Queen says several times that she's taken a vow not to harm another living creature, unlike her sister, the Red Queen, who has chosen dominion. The battle for Wonderland is the battle of respect for all species versus exploitation. Sounds like a familiar debate, doesn't it?

Like the Red Queen's bulbous head in the movie, her use of animals is a caricature of reality. When she sits on her throne, she shouts "I need a pig!" and one comes running and slides on its back in front of her to be used as a footstool. Taken directly from the book is the croquet game, where she uses live flamingos as the mallets and hedgehogs as the balls.

Burton takes the animal rights message of the croquet scene even further. In the book and the earlier Disney movie, the hedgehogs play a role in the madness of the game by hopping up and running away from the swinging flamingos. In Burton's version, the hedgehog's feet are bound, so he is helpless during the abuse. In another twist on the original, Alice doesn't participate in the game, but instead frees the hedgehog from his bindings. Her compassion secures her place as the heroine of the story.

Tim Burton has taken on animal issues before, in his remake of Planet of the Apes, which raises questions of slavery and equality. While the story is an allegory for human rights, the implications of how we treat animals, especially primates in captivity, can't be missed.

However, Burton is not known as an animal advocate. He confesses that the Cheshire Cat taps into his hatred of cats. "I have this thing with cats," he says. "And with Cheshire Cat it's a love-hate relationship. You can, uh, hear it in my voice can't you?"

Maybe. But what's even louder is the movie's message that all animals deserve respect and a life free of suffering.

Photo credit: Debs