Adaptation: American McGee's Alice (2000) VS. Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951)

American McGee’s Alice (2000) VS. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951)

American McGee’s Alice

Genre: Action-adventure game, Puzzle, Third-person shooter, psychological horror.  

Action-adventure, Third-person shooter, and puzzle

-        This article explains how American McGee’s Alice is a third person action game which contains enemies, bosses and puzzle solving. In the game players can communicate with non-player characters. Alice in the game can perform basic actions such as walking, jogging, swimming, and gliding. Players can also choose a certain difficulty when starting the game, they may choose between “Easy”, “Medium”, “Hard”, and “Nightmare”. You are also able to collect various weapons throughout the game which are called “toys”.

Wikipedia contributors. (2023). American McGee’s Alice. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_McGee%27s_Alice (Retrieved Sep. 30 2022)

Psychological horror

-        This article explains how American McGee’s Alice may have influenced other horror games like “Resident Evil: Outbreak -File #2” and “The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering IsIes”. It also shows how “American McGee’s Alice” could have been influenced by other games released at the time such as “Silent Hill” (1999). The article also explains how American McGee’s Alice is a psychological horror game due to the entire game “taking place inside of Alice’s troubled mind” (Pekoeblaze, 2020).

Pekoeblaze. (2020, November 28). Re-Play Review: “American McGee’s Alice” (Retro Computer Game). Pekoeblaze - the Official Blog. https://pekoeblaze.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/re-play-review-american-mcgees-alice-retro-computer-game/#:~:text=Like%20with%20many%20modern%20horror,place%20inside%20Alice's%20troubled%20mind.

 

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Genre: Musical, Adventure, Animation, Fantasy, and Children’s Film.

-        This article says how Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” is an American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions based on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and Through the Looking-Glass” by Lewis Carroll. It was Disney’s 13^th animated feature film, it was to be released in the 1930s but was scrapped due to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The film was originally intended to be live action along with animation but it was decided to be a full length animated film. (Wikipedia contributors, 2023b)

Wikipedia contributors. (2023b). Alice in Wonderland (1951 film). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(1951_film)#:~:text=Then%2C%20in%201974%2C%20Disney%20gave,Rabbit%22%20performed%20by%20Jefferson%20Airplane.

 

  

Social History: American McGee’s Alice and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland

American McGee’s Alice (2000)

-        This article explains how American McGee’s Alice was released during a time where “edgy gothic elements were a lot more popular in mainstream US culture” (Pekoeblaze, 2022). It was during the early 2000’s and late 2000’s that horror rpg games were becoming popular along with other popular media at the time like metal and punk music. “The game was released during a brief time when the mainstream PC games industry in US was a lot more heavily focused on games as a serious high-brow artform than it is these days” (Pekoeblaze, 2022). This is probably why American McGee’s Alice was so successful at the time it was released.

Pekoeblaze. (2022, June 6). How “American McGee’s Alice” (2000) Influenced – And Didn’t Influence – Other Horror Games. PekoeBlaze - the Official Blog. https://pekoeblaze.wordpress.com/2022/07/01/how-american-mcgees-alice-2000-influenced-and-didnt-influence-other-horror-games/

 

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951)

-        This article explains how the movie was born and the process in how Disney began its journey in making the film. During the 1930s everyone was wanting to make an adaption of Lewis Corroll’s “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”. Before Disney had the idea of making a live action and animation film on “Alice in Wonderland” but the project was postponed due to “Paramount’s 1933 live-action adaptation” (Alice, 2021). It was later in 1938 that Walt Hired storyboard artists “Al Perkins and art director David S. Hall to develop the story and concept art for an all-animated film” (Alice, 2021). They had to scratch this due to WWII and because Perkin’s ideas were too grotesque and dark. After the film was made and released audiences were disappointed and felt that the movie did not capture the intellect humor of Lewis Corroll’s story. Walt was also disappointed in the film and blamed the fact that the movie failed due to “lack of heart”.

Alice. (2021, September 21). Disney’s 1951 “Alice in Wonderland” cartoon movie - Alice-in-Wonderland.net. Alice-in-Wonderland.net. https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/background/disneys-cartoon-movie/

-        This article explains how the movie was released in theaters only to be released again in 1974. It was more popular when released in the 1970s due to the “Drug” culture fandom at the time. It was also released again in 1981 only to become one of the biggest cult classics in animation medium. It became one of the most popular Disney films of all time. (Wiki, n.d.).

Wiki, C. T. D. (n.d.). Alice in Wonderland (1951 film). Disney Wiki. https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(1951_film)