Assignment 1: Framing and Metaphors

Book: Return to Wonderland

The frame used in this comic is a modification of the Wonderland myth originally created by Lewis Carrol. The difference between the frame of the original myth and the frame of the comic is that the environment is extended into the 'real world,' it takes place in modern times, and it is intended to be a horror/fantasy rather than just fantasy. Since the frame is present in the wonderland environment as well as the real world, the roles and metaphors are seen in both settings. The roles in this frame are generally equivalent to the characters in the original work, so some of these roles include Alice, the white rabbit, the mad hatter, the cheshire cat, the red queen, and the carpenter among others.

Since this adaptation of Carrol's myth is a horror, many of the roles are twisted to match the frame. For example, in the original myth, the cheshire cat is a slightly overweight housecat who provides helpful and intentionally cryptic hints, and is usually portrayed as a trickster. In Return to Wonderland, however, the cheshire cat is a huge tiger, who still speaks cryptically, but instead of offering advice, it kills things. It still retains the feature of not really taking sides and speaking cryptically, but instead of being a trickster, it's simply hungry. Another role that was modified from the original is the role of Alice. In the original, since many of the characters were not explicitly malicious, Alice was never really threatened and as a result had an inquisitive nature. In Return to Wonderland, the character in the role of Alice is named "Calie," (which is an anagram of Alice), and because she is in a hostile environment, she has a tougher disposition in addition to being inquisitive. For example, in one scene with the mad hatter, Calie is drugged and the hatter is trying to rape her. Calie takes immediate action and grabs the closest hard object to bash the hatter with, but instead of running away, she decided to teach the hatter a lesson and proceeds to severly maim him for his actions. This kind of scene would obviously never played out in the original framing of the myth because of the lack of the horror element.

Many of the metaphors in Return to Wonderland involve dreams. In the first issue, Calie mentions a feeling of living in a dream, unable to wake up; in the second issue, she makes a similar reference upon entering wonderland. Other quotes from the second issue include "Maybe we're all just characters in somone else's dream," and "Maybe I'm dreaming you." These are all metaphors likening dreams with our perceptions of reality. Other metaphors liken different activities to games. Sometimes phrases like "Get your head into the game," and "let's play," are used when no game is involved and the speaker is actually referring to the events at hand, and given the horror frame, usually refer to something life threatening and macabre. In the fantasy framing of the original work, similar metaphors were used, but had a slightly different tone because many of the events that were being referred to were silly or nonsensical. With the change of the myth's frame from fantasy to horror, even with keeping the roles and metaphors the same, it creates a setting that allows for completely different events, interaction, and overall tone.