Caroline M. first made the reference to the similarities in Alice in wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.
I found that to be really interesting! So I thought I would expand on that idea and point out similarities between them.
First of all, both Alice and Dorothy are young girls who are trapped in a different world. Both searching for an adventure they cannot control. They are such strange worlds. Alice’s Wonderland has talking rabbits, playing cards, turtles, a Queen 0f Hearts, and many more. Oz has munchkins, flying monkeys, witches, a Tinman and more.
Both follow a similar storyline. Dorothy is unsure of which way to go on the yellow brick road, just as Alice is puzzled by the path she should take through the woods. Both Alice and Dorothy are looking for something, but don’t know how to reach it.
The Queen in Alice in Wonderland is similar to the Wicked Witch of the West. Both stories also seem to have strong drug references. In Alice in Wonderland we see the smoking caterpillar, eating cake that makes her change size. Pretty similar to The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy falls asleep in a field of poppies and is woken up by falling snow.
In Alice In Wonderland the flowers can talk, the woods are eerie and seem to be alive . In The Wizard of Oz the flowers pop up and end up as the munchkins, the tress are alive and can throw things.
It is amazing to me how much they have in common!
It is like Mr Long told us, movies follow a certain formula. I thought it was interesting. What do you think?
Darcy S.
Connor S.
Devon H.
Morgan P.
Scott Mitchell
Alice's Pack of Cards 
I love the discussion here! How do you all feel about the notion of a female character on a quest, a journey of self-discovery, an odyssey of sorts–one usually reserved for a brave and strong male character? Have you read much about the heroic quest? Does Alice fit Joseph Campbell’s description of the hero quest? Do either characters have victories? Bestow boons? Grow in their powers?
*A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious venture with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.* Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
To carry your comparison a little farther, remember that Dorothy’s way to get home is to tap her feet and repeat “There’s no place like home.”
does Alice seem to want to escape Wonderland? It doesn’t seem she is as desperate to get home as Dorothy is. Why does alice accept her journeys more readily I wonder?
Interesting post!
Interesting comparison, Morgan and Caroline. In some ways, Alice had a bit more of a choice in her adventure than Dorothy, who was literally swept away. Both are lost girls in strange worlds with different rules and both use their wits as they leave their dream worlds. But how about Wendy, who escapes her own adult world with Peter? Would you include her in your group?
I am so glad that someone finaly talked about the wizard of oz. If you look closely then you will see that these to stories are almost exactly the same, coencadence I think not. I do think though that eventhough these stories are very similar, they have different meanings and were written for different generations and with differeent intenchions. Both stories end suddenly and leave the main character trying despratly to prove that what they saw was real.
It is very interesting how both story plots are very similar. Both Dorothy and Alice go through there own little wonderland. It is also ironic how it all ends of being a dream for both of them.
This is a very well written post Morgan. I can see the comparison a little more clear, than when I was pondering about it. Your comparison reminds me of the Hero’s Journey, that we’ve discussed. Although, both are slightly different from each other, however both contain common elements that make the two stories very similar to each other. Alice and Dorothy go through an-almost-identical process of the Hero’s Journey. In order to see the differences, we would have to break up each of their adventures into sequences and place them in correctly. But essentially, they are both the same story. It’s actually really cool to see two different stories that are nearly the same, if you think about.
This is a great post Morgan. I love the comparison of the two stories because they really are very similar. I also don’t think you can be anymore correct on the drug reference, but are they trying to keep kids away from drugs or not? They use all these forms of “symbolism” to relate to drugs but you can never really tell whether or not they are trying to prevent children from using them? I have wondered about this mainly in Alice’s Adventures into Wonderland but now that you have compared two stories and they both show signs of drug use, it really stands out even more to me. Maybe I can compare on other stories, but ill have to do some research on it!
I never thought about it before. You have done a fine job of comparison here and I find it very interesting now that someone laid it out for me.