Alice in Wonderland is not about Drugs (But it is trippy as hell) 

I challenge you to watch this on lsd and you will 100% understand that the book itself is not about drugs but the 1950's movie is HUGELY influenced by the largest moving drug at the time aside from Marijuana.. you will COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND that an acid trip using the philosophy of the movies as a direction of focus you will learn a lot about yourself and the real world. example. once the clock is broken she is done focusing on what no longer seems important. such as time and the sense of self.

THANK you. People bring up Mario Wonder's Wonderland vibes as evidence that the game is intentionally referencing substance abuse rather than appreciating the art. And I still learned a lot from this, too! That's so cool, and also makes sense since Mario is a middle-aged man that many adults enjoy the game of despite the fact that his cartoonish design largely appeals to children as well!!

Anything that is strange or misshapen must be drugs, cause creators cannot just be creative or imaginative 🙄

Really great video! I always kind of got disillusioned by so many people taking this film and making it super dark. To me it always was a silly and colorful movie. I'm glad to know that is not the case. I will say that I'm ok with people putting their own twist or remix content as long as it doesn't claim such a take as the only valid interpretation. Is there a list of topics you choose from and later develop or do you think of an idea and follow it through? It'd be cool to see what future topics you would make videos about!

In addition to being a novelist, Dodgson was also a mathematician and logician, and I had heard from a Math/Programming lecturer that not only is it strange, but it's intentionally formally illogical.

The original books and stories weren't about drugs, but the Disney movie subtly references weed, edibles, mushrooms and cocaine.

This was such a good video. It always made me kind of mad when people said that Alice was really about drugs, because it's such a simplistic view of these fantastic stories. Like, they don't even try to look below the surface and just go: 'Oh, it has some weird imagery, it MUST be about drugs!' I also really liked the point about Bronies and I completely agree with you. But, do you think they get more criticism because they're trying to take this show away from its intended audience, or because they're grown men watching and enjoying a show for girls? I get the feeling they often like to see themselves as pariahs, being hated for enjoying a Thing, so do you think most of them are even aware of the argument you're presenting?

Thank you so many people say this I've always felt off about the drug thing!!

I've heard that the sections of Alice growing and shrinking is a metaphor for puberty, which is certainly one of the anxieties of children at the age; the whole growing up, adulthood thing. It's interesting

I’ll taddle on myself here: I took 2g’s of shrooms and two hits of acid and my air condition was out in the middle of July in Texas a couple of years ago. But I saw a hallucinogenic correlation to almost every plot point of the 1950’s movie adaptation. I’ll illustrate my point by list: >The beginning is peaceful and idealistic, nature family, life (not representative to life itself but an optimistic view of one). This represents optimism the consumer of the drug has about the potential cathartic experience. Like life it is rosey in its interpretation. >The white rabbit is late, he has a lab coat and he is literally going down a hole deep in the dark earth. This is a representation of how the consumer of the drug will want to get on with the trip, is anxious to react to it. So the process begins, you react and second guess if you are feeling “good” and that seed of doubt begins to grow, however fleeting the thought it should be; this idea of being “okay” is an ever present one. But you are falling down the rabbit hole nonetheless. You are starting to hallucinate both internal and the external is becoming irregular as well. >The locked room is the place where Alice decides what remedies she needs to help her continue on her journey with a sense of optimism (like both fitting and getting through a door). This is where the tripper decides what other chemicals or nutrients might help both help them feel at ease and satiated. Maybe its a prepared ice and fruit smoothy or maybe they are face with only being able to seek comfort in something like saltines and water. Some people smoke a cigarette, some people smoke a blunt. Some people drink the vile that make you big, others its the one that makes you small. All the while the knob (your anxiety about tripping) tells you “no, no, no, your doing doing that all wrong!” >SIDE NOTE:The Walrus. He is the capitalist class that commodifies the oysters of the planet rendering collapse and the assistant of the walrus is cut out. He is the working class, he is us. The Caterpillar is a fourth wall punch in the nuts if you are on hallucinogens. The utterance of the phrase “Who are you?” Over and over again. It is a test by fire in way, if you have an existential crisis right there then it can make the trip much harder then if you can maintain mindfulness for the duration of the trip. >The rabbits house. Alice gets big. Burn the house down. The tripper will follow “logically” that they are supposed to suppress the tripped: You get a BIG idea to suppress it. In response your sub-conscience does a couple barrel roles because its a drug and you can’t stop it from changing the experience of that drug. So like the good talking head that you are your gonna be burning down the house of reasonable deductive thinking. Even on a base level of tripping, you will have trouble making basic decisions. But if you are tripping out you are not gonna enjoy any silence. Yuh Dodo. (Sorry) >The Flowers ide of March. Et tu Petunias? The mind will betray you as much as the flowers of Wonderland. The flowers think they are good at first but don’t see her as one of them (valid, beautiful) but a weed. “Am I right out doing this? There are people who have tripped and seem to be having a good time almost every time, why not me?” “No, you are in the right state of mind man” said the spectre of that cliquish flower ring leader. This is reference to the point at which a person who has struggled or has trouble fully adjusting to the trip even if they find it to be an enjoyable time. Things become black and white as normal cognition in the ramping up of the trip is not possible. You can only think in terms of rejection or inclusion. “Am I the sort of person who could do this as often as I please or is this something I can’t handle without a sitter at most”. >The return of the caterpillar. A self medication that is rendered in the form of a potion that will make her return to some form normalcy; being a regular height. The tripper is about approach the peak of the trip, things are situated and needs are satiated for the most part. >THE CAT: A literal representation of a mysterious authorial voice coming to fuck with you while you trip. It almost acts like a breaking of the forth wall where the numerous questions that Alice ask the cat what he means, what this journey(trip) means, all mocked and jowled. Another random trail by fire. You see a confusing circumstance and you might get through but too much confusion can through your cognition to a head spin while while you trip. >When Alice comes across the The Mad Hatter and The Hare. Things seem very odd, they speak of unbirthday’s they make no sense and they are utterly anxious figures about the jam, the unbirthday, the twinkle of a star. Least all that rabbit letting you know tame is being wasted. This is point at which a person who is going pretty far towards the peak and is arguably as overwhelming as the come down and the serotonin depletion comes with it. You trip hard visually and now you are having trouble focusing on the present moment and accepting it, your mind might race or the visuals might be incoherent as well as the auditory. Only vague tones and might get through if you are worried about your pets doing things, if you need to use the bathroom and its a number 2. Or you have that gnawing feeling about work, college, or general relationships involved, you start to drift in and out about abstract fragmentations of thought. The jam, the time, the tea and the anxiety any person could have. You have to either accept things as they are or you don’t. Its a test by fire if you do alright. >The clock breaks, the hatter goes mad, you get lost. What was the point of doing this? Is this that fun? Am I doing it wrong? These are all normal questions to ask when tripling but the fact that she is sobbing shows you can be completely upset by the trip but its a mixed image because she does eventually leave the forest. Some have panic attacks and others just finally go take that shit and get it over with no matter how weird it is. But it all gets better. The peak is very much here. >THE QUEEN. She is the heart, your heart, its fleeting, like your emotions on a trip. The emotionally disordered manner of the queen and the kangaroo court is a direct representation of the of the internal illogical debate you have with yourself about “how things are” what are the vibes. On the one hand its enjoyable, entertaining, funny. But then on the other hand your trip is a anxiety ridden and confusing. Like this trial in the movie. Things are repetitive like the internal thought process of a tripper. You get it. >The Chase: Your comedown is shit. Its a chase to regain all the responsibilities you couldn’t handle while tripping kinda still a little in the begging so things aren’t trippy but more uncanny. You return to the optimism seen at the beginning that you wither try to trip again or that you won’t touch it again.

I liked your brief dissection of adult fandom appropriating children's entertainment for themselves. Do you plan to delve further into the topic (you kinda covered broadly most of it here tbh, just wondering if you had any more thoughts on it)?

Thank you for putting together your thoughts on these books and movies so well! Alice In Wonderland is one of my favorite fictional stories of all time and it has always made me angry that others think it is about drugs when it is about all of the things you mentioned. If it was about drugs there is no way Walt Disney would have made a movie about it to sell to children in the 1950s. There is no way that book could have been popular with Victorian children. Think about how strict those time periods were, any normal family would not have allowed that kind of literature near there home or anywhere near their kids. Same with the movies in the 1950s.

I agree with your conclusion ! Alice on Wonderland has become such a myth it's referenced everywhere but it's important to remind us of the original meaning of the book.

I loved Alice in her books and always though was a fun way to see the crazy things that kids imagine. So I agree on that not being a drug tale, but just one of imagination. With or without meaning . Through The Looking Glass, is my favorite book. I think the best, adaptation?, Sequels?, is the American McGee Alice (and Alice Madness Returns). It takes the same Alice and turns her world upside down. In a different, yet same universe of a broken Alice. The games have weird characters that did exist, and new ideas. They speak in the same riddles, ones that aren't understood through the first playthrough but make a little more sense after .

I like this interpretation, it feels like the truest idea of Alice.

I'm working on a fractured fairytale novel based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so I thought I would pop in and see what I could learn from this video. Your recommendation of The Annotated Alice is very helpful! Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for this video! Sadly, I have never been able to enjoy anything to do with Alice's adventures in Wonderland because the Disney movie made me feel really, really anxious and seriously scared as a kid and I don't seem to have the determination to read the books now :( However, I'm so happy to learn about it and have someone saying it's not about drugs. Partly, because I never thought it felt like a story about drugs, rather one about confusion and feeling isolated as a kid. I guess that's how I felt as a little girl while watching it. I also really love that you "took back" the story to the children. It's really upsetting to see every story aimed to them or treating innocence themes being ripped off. Have a nice day!

The writer always has something in his mind while writing a book while i do know that "no explanation" or meaninglessness is underrated but lewis association with Alice plus in the second book telling us to look for the answers while going for the opposite for whatever being said speaks volumes

This was really interesting to watch and well-made! I'm so glad I discovered your channel!

thank you, everyone seems to forget that it was written from a child's perspective, for children. which is not to say there's not a whole rabbit hole of depth beneath it :3

Excellent video and thank you for making it. I agree with you. I also think Lewis Carrol also felt very much like Alice at the time he wrote the books; confused and upset with a mad world of supposedly right thinking adults. He was a Math Professor at a time when new maths were emerging and talking about things like imaginary numbers. He HATED these new concepts and thought they were foolish and an infuriating waste of time. Some think he metaphorically displays some of these new math concepts in the things the terrible things happening to Alice.

I feel like older people liking 'younger' media is fine!! just.. don't try and make it 'for you'. it's still for the kids

Just the explanation I was looking for! Loved it :)

I just recently found this channel and omg I love it 😄

Holy shit, listening to Alice in wonderland through the looking glass now makes so much sense because I’ve been trying to find this obscure 80’s cartoon movie that follows that exact plot...

The fact he just made up a story for his children and didnt take it seriously is an incredible thing

Finally! Ive been trying to back this story up and how its NOT about drugs to my friends for years!!! Urgh, theyre idiots who never read the book..

The in wonderland musical adult film is the most terrifying of all adaptations and made

I really like all your videos by the way, you're the best. Anyways, I agree with everything you said in this video, and this thing that people appropriate children media or gives a edgy dark theory about these things and themes really bugs me too. And yes, I think the Carrol relatioship with the Liddell children quite unsettling too.

I'm clapping real hard I really enjoyed that

Smallest of critiques(? Small note?), one of the depictions of Alice in Wonderland that you showed up there (1985 - The one with a lot of old-time actors like Sammy Davis Jr and Ringo Starr) actually did two separate parts and did them both a separate books. I thought it was neat.

Definitely loved this analysis! Spot on about adults coopting kids stuff. Like at this point people do it just to be cool and edgy, but its really not, it just ruins it, and helps no one. Excellent video!

The Seven Sisters of Sleep by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, which includes information on the psychotropic effects of "magic mushrooms" and other narcotics was published in 1860. It was considered rather scandalous and was widely read at the time.

Thank you... thank you so so so so so so so so so so so so very much I needed this very much I need someone to set this record straight

I could not possibly disagree more. Last night I watched it while on a significant amount of shrooms and it is almost a hand holding journey through a psychedelic trip. She even has a bad trip at one point. I would say it was one of the best psychedelic stories I’ve ever seen.

I really like you videos. Well done!

Noce video and congratulations on your ability to explain things. P.S.: the original one might not be about drugs but surely the Disney one had that subplot (Disney in all its films has put and continues to put subplots that can only be understood by adults in such a way that they go to see the movie too and also in such a way that when parents bring their children to see the rilm is not boring for them so as to be sure that the families are more inclined to go to see their films, it's simple marketing and unlike how many people believe there is nothing deplorable or obscure about it)

loved this video!

Your videos are very interesting, i would love to hear your view and analyzation of 2 of my favoret games : American Mcgee Alice... and also of Alice Madness Returns, would love to know what you think about them... =)

The mythic folklore around use of psychedelic plant medicine was quite well known to the 19th century intelligentsia. Whether many of them experienced these substances 1st hand is debatable. Either way Alice in Wonderland is certainly one of the best fictional accounts of a certain type of altered consciousness.... *was it just a dream* ?

I don't think it's wrong to associate it with drugs anyone who's done acid can relate it makes you feel like a child again and the world seems new and huge and scary sometimes it's a feeling I haven't got since I was a child. It's a lot like dreaming but lasts so long kind of like dreams but almost like you're in control or at least steering. And more so people I relate acid to Alice I never thought a kids story was about drugs but you have to admit it does kind of appeal to that kind of audience. I think Jefferson airplane did it best relating acid to Alice in wonderland not the other wait around

Just like Watership Down, really.

Watch it on psychadelics and The true story of Alice in Wonderland. This book has two complete different stories, one is a Child story the other one of deep philosophical meaning. Very beautifull, emotional special story.... Lewis wrote Alice on shrooms, i know so becuse its so obvoius when you experience Alice on shrooms.. Becuse suddenly Alice in Wonderland becomes very logical, a red thread through out the whole movie, very well thought and elegant... It littarily a complete different story. Its impossible for this to happened by accident. There is just no way... Everyone Who watch Alice on psychadelics agrees on this. If you try you will agree with me to. .. Two stories in on. Om very serious.. The one hiding is a special experience as well. Truly amazing

This was a very interesting video, and I haven't thought of Alice in Wonderland like that before. I greatly enjoyed this. If you haven't read it, you might be interested in reading "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll' by Jenny Woolf. It's an examination of Lewis Carroll himself and the author goes into sources other books haven't looked into (like his bank accounts and such) and explores a lot of questions we have about the guy like his relationship with the 'real' Alice and such. www.amazon.com/Mystery-Lewis-Carroll-Discovering-Thoughtful/dp/031267371X I just thought you may find it interesting as well.

So I know this is somewhat old but I have a complicated relationship to any version of Alice in wonderland that I'm gonna kind of word vomit (pardon the expression) into your comments. I have always been terrified of nearly every aspect of Disney's Alice in Wonderland and a great deal of both of the books. I distinctly remember as a younger child (I'm a fairly young teen now so I'm sure as I get older my opinions will change) finding the topsy turvy nature of wonderland to be nightmarish and horrifying rather than delightfully confusing. And yet any form of *dark* Alice reimagining has always left me maybe slightly disturbed but also entertained and enriched. I find the only thing I truly love from any version of Alice in Wonderland is the poem Jabberwocky which is one of the only things that in my head follows a 'sensible' narrative which makes me wonder if maybe my horror is that I am incredibly focused on stories and how I have to make sense of everything and I simply can't with Alice or maybe I'm completely wrong and it was just the imagery.

Vikings eat or drink mushrooms before raids

I told someone one time that I felt the book was precisely about what you say here, a metaphore about the confusion of children when faced with the confusing adult world, and they told me that is was really about mathematics. Looking in the internet it seems many people support that idea. Also there is a theory going around that Lewis had Alice syndrome in his childhood and that is why there are so many parts on the story where Alice becomes bigger or smaller of what she is. What do you think about these ideas?

07:44 No exposure to psychedlics?!? Vikings knew how to use psychedelics( 800 - 1100 AD )

I love your voice! Also, great video essays!

THANNK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO LOVEEEEE IT. so glad you made this and i totes appreciate your whole breaking down the fale adult theories of childhood stories thing, cause i so agree. Have you read 'Heartless' by Marissa Meyer, i think you'd really like it. Also I am a queer millenial feminst with a BA in english, so yep:) also loved your shakespeare video, can't wait to see what else you make.

I don't think it's ever "been about drugs" but more so something to watch while you're on drugs. At least that's always been my own personal interpretation anytime anyone ever referenced anything relating the two. I guess just because of the ideas and messages contained within, you're able to interpret things in a whole different light than you otherwise may have had you not been on drugs (and more specifically LSD or mushrooms). While I understand what you mean when you speak of we (humans) always need things to make sense, I don't feel that was ever my contemplation at any point in time be it pre or post drugs. Pre drugs, it was just a fun story. I suppose it never didn't make sense for me to have ever thought to myself, "wtf was all that nonsense?" The way I always viewed the absurdity within the storyline was because Alice quite literally said something along the lines of: if she had her own world, nothing would make sense... So what followed right after her making that statement was all the non-sense that she spoke of. Alongside the nonsense though, there were definitely life lessons that one could interpret in so many numerous ways. It you've ever explored psychedelics to any extent, you understand the whole new "world" (more like everything in all of existence +) that opens up to you as a result. And maybe it IS just that people recommend watching it while doing drugs for "it" to make sense, but I think it's rather to make sense out of "life", not the story. In my own personal life experience I've actually found that it's the non-drug users that refer (ha reefer) to it as "being about drugs" vs the drug users who refer to it as something to check out while trippin' (hence the whole "it's trippy" commentary). Perhaps your video wasn't aimed at drug users though come to think about it. I suppose I just took it as an unjust scolding presuming it was for reasons mentioned above. And really, isn't everything a trip when you're tripping anyway? Ha Oh, but I was going to mention how certain things and ideas pair rather nicely with regards to drugs and the movie; so much so that it's kinda... trippy* ha *not really, totally makes sense

Awww cmon it's all in fun! Lighten up Babe! Lol I understand it's not about drugs, now i have to tell my friend that it isn't cause i told her it was even put my spin on it. Thank you for this video.

It’s not all about drugs it’s about lots of things , but he definitely referenced drugs in the books

since I learned it was written by a pedophile who seemed to have a relationship with a very young female (age of concept was lower back then, no idea does that make any difference.) I have since tried to look into it with the eye of, does this thing mean something, is this symbolic of something. are magical food and drink symbolic of something, most definitely.

What is the show shown at 9:00? Even if it's not an accurate adaptation the art looks really interesting.

OK but alice madness returns is still awesome

I cried...

Awesome video!!!!

7:25 *definitely*

Seeing it in this light makes me even more displeased with Tim Burton's Hollywood take on it.

I appreciate your delve in adults appropriating fandom. I'm an adult, and I enjoy cartoons. But some people just make it so creepy! And now that I am a parent there are some issues. Kiddo isn't old enough to get internet exposure without guidance, but at some point she's going to google image search *something* and it's going to scar.

While I don't disagree with you about the tendency of the modern internet for adult (mostly men) to appropriate children's (mostly women's) media, I can't say I agree that Alice's Adventures In Wonderland being a part of that trend, at least to when most seem to attribute it to starting - As in, I distinctly remember this sort of discussion prior for Alice in Wonderland to the modern internet - late 90s, early 00s; when I was in secondary but yet out of sixth form and in college. Do you think this is because, as a trend, the appropriation of children's media as really being for adults is older than what some assume it to be, or are the older 'It's really about drugs' examples something else going on? (The Magic Roundabout being another example of a piece of children's media claimed to 'really be about drugs' when it absolutely isn't prior to the modern internet - by the mid 90s at the latest)?

I've literally seen the original cartoon Alice dancing on my walls on acid, in the same trip I became the mad hatter at that tea party and met with the white rabbit. Call it what you want but I know what I saw and I know that this movie was inspired completely from lsd..

u make some p good points ^.^ although personally i don't really think that people claiming that aiwl is about drugs are as toxic as bronies but there are definitely similar patterns :)

Everyone has their own opinions. In my opinion it is kinda about drugs. It has so many drug refrences. Especially with Absolem.

Yea the alleged drugs reference could be coincidence just made up magic item thats edible like magic potions sont refer to drugs same way magic muchroom doesnt refer to drugs.

I thought it was about maths

Nice music

Depends which version....

Everyone saying it’s not about drugs doesn’t get it all. You never tried mushrooms 🍄 I see. It’s wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t meant to be there. So It is about sacred plant medicine and how everything is you. You are connected to source and this world is magical. Open up your eyes to see

I honestly thought at first that Wonderland and Looking Glass were child fever dreams, and it seems I wasn't entirely far off! I would like to know more about how you feel a portion of the brony fandom coops the show to the point of excluding children. I can imagine how there would be an issue of conventions were Adults Only, but thankfully all that I know keep the cons kid friendly for all ages to enjoy. Not saying you are wrong, I just want to know what examples you see that leads you to this conclusion :).

Is an unbirthday a death day?

alice in wonderland is about people taking lsd on a piece of a candy and then they start flipping queens and monarchy doubt me?. tell me why she is called the red queen then. and there are tons of drug abuse references and resistance movement references.

I became the facken Mad hatter snd was laughing with the jesters and clowns at a mad tea party explain that

coooooooooool vid :D

Also one more thing people have been doing magic mushrooms and other trippy drugs since before history was recorded so I don't think it's fair to assume the author had never done em and there's no way it inspired his stories, same goes for the movie Walt Disney definitely was making some drug references I mean she eats mushrooms and shit

But let the brainwashed comments continue...

Do dmt then tell me it’s not about drugs lol