Adventure And Fantasy In The Hobbit By Tolkien And Alice In Wonderland By Burton
J.R.R Tolkien film ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ released 21 September 1937 and Tim Burton ‘Alice in Wonderland’ emancipated 4 March 2010. The Hobbit is a novel about the adventures of a hobbit as he commenced on an unexpected adventure. Alice in Wonderland is a story about a little girl and her adventures in a dream place called wonderland this has been a children’s story for over one hundred years. Though viewed by many as a simple children’s tale, some have not realised that it is set into a little more depth.
Alice in Wonderland starts off by being called down into the adventure of by slaying the monster, the Jabberwocky, then going on by defeating the evil queen of Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts and freeing all of Wonderland from them all. She did not mean to fall down the rabbit hole, it was an accidental call. The actual call was the white rabbit running through the garden talking. Alice is more a polite and eager character which is excited to help save the town and Bilbo is more of an honest and brace character to get the job done. The Hobbit, The Unexpected Journey starts off by Bilbo Baggins seeing the wizard, Gandalf. Bilbo gets called to an adventure and Bilbo declines the offer. He refused to go because he believed that it would be really dangerous leaving and it would be an unwise task. Some of Campbell’s tenets for a hero are that he must be called to a quest, he will face trials and tribulations, face temptation, complete a task, and eventually return home. Bilbo must also fit an archetype and its quest, fear, dragon, task and virtue. Bilbo realises that there is not between the division, there is only good or bad people. Bilbo sacrifices his own treasure to get the Arkenstone to win the challenge.
‘The Unexpected Journey’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ have so many similarities. The people in Wonderland accept Alice as a hero because she killed the Jabberwocky and put the Red Queen out of power. In the Unexpected Journey Bilbo’s courage that he is able to conquer the greatest fear of all the unknown. Bilbo’s willingness to continue given the choice between certain catastrophe and ending his journey and turning around is what separates Bilbo Baggins from the common man and is what defines him as a true hero. Both of the main characters which are ‘Bilbo’ and ‘Alice’ are portrayed as inquisitive, shrewdness, honest, unfailing, polite, trustworthy and innocent qualities which distinguish them in key ways from other characters they encounter on their journeys. Both Bilbo and Alice do most of there journeys the same way but they each have a different and unexpected twist of each of their journeys. They are both being based on children’s films but once they get older you can see what and why Bilbo and Alice have to go do them challenging provocations. They are both similar in ways but they both have different comparisons about each and they both start off pretty similar. At the start of each movie, they each get called to an adventure and then they both decline the offer, but later on, realising that they could help save their town. They both are flipping sides on whether to go and sacrifice their lives or to just stay at home. For example, when Alice and Bilbo get uncomfortable they want to go back to their warm little house.
Tim Burton and J.R.R Tolkien show confidence in both of their main characters facing difficult challenges throughout their journey. Burton and Tolkien give each of the main characters a mentor to help them through their course. The thing that stands out in both movies is that they both are very self-assured. Once they both get into their journeys they realise its to help save their towns/villages. Juxtaposition and Analogy are being placed throughout the film with them being the main characters that they meet in their environment and journeys. They both are showing heroism when they have to come face to face with the evil ones and getting an item or object to collect on their journey. Burton and Tolkien have made the characters to keep moving forward until they have reached the end of their journey, Bilbo and Alice are both committed to get this journey done and they both become conservative heroes. Showing heroism is being brought out throughout the films of each movie ‘The Unexpected Journey’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when they both battle various challenges and being astute. Tim Burton and J.R.R Tolkien have constructed their films into not only being a teen film/book but a children’s literature. Both of the narrators is omniscient, they seem to know what and when everything is going to happen. They both use their knowledge of the future of the story to give hints on what can become better next time but can still be understanding.
Tim Burton and J.R.R Tolkien bring out more confidence in their characters giving them enough courage to go and help with the challenges to help their town. They show their characters worst and best traits, throughout the film which makes the viewers have more of an opportunity to get know the character more in a short time.
