500th Posting: Halloween, Death, Games And Dreams

To mark the 500th post of PowerOfBabel, I thought I'd return briefly to the original subject of the blog and update it with my latest acquisitions of action figures. It covers the last several months.

To begin with we have my latest purchases, some new Peanuts Halloween figures. I got Linus as The Monster, Sally as The Monster's Bride, and Snoopy as The Mummy with Woodstock as an archaeologist. Charlie Brown as The Vampire was included in the set, but I already have one like that from last year. I bought them at CVS Pharmacy, for $6.99 each. They come with cardboard backdrops of the pumpkin patch.

Next pictured are Kisuke Urahara and Toshiro Hitsugaya from the Bleach series. They were $17.99 each with shipping and handling from Entertainment Earth. Kisuke comes with hat, fan, and cane, Toshiro with sword.

Back when the Dragon Quest VIII action figures came out four or five years ago I was interested in them, but not so enthusiastic as to order them cold. Then we got the game for Christmas last year, and it just sucked me in. Now I had to have the action figures; the only place I could get them now was on eBay from sellers in China! Prices for each ranged from about $20 to $30, and then shipping, of course. They include: The Hero, with sword; Yangus, with axe; Jessica, with wand and whip; and Angelo, with rapier. The characters were designed by the same guy who does Dragon Ball Z.

Next is Zidane Tribal from the Final Fantasy games. He comes with two knives and a base. He cost $14.99 with shipping and handling.

Bringing up the rear are the Mad Hatter and Alice, under the aegis of Disney Alice In Wonderland Ultra Detail Figure, made by the Medicom Toy Corporation; the same fine folks, I believe, who brought us the best Planet of the Apes figures ever. I got these at Hastings for $19.99 each. These are very fine, detailed sculpts, with not a lot of action or any accessories (the teacup is forever attached to the Hatter's hand). The card states "Made With Care In Wonderland."

I also got some DC Universe characters for sale prices at Tuesday Morning: (Old) Bruce Wayne, (Tim McGraw) Batman, Warhawk, Lex Luthor, The Shade, and Cheetah. It was $14 for the six figures. I always liked the elderly Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond; he perfectly embodies the trope of the Old Badass.

Blankety Blank's Thisity That

I recently had occasion to watch Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. It was an interesting experience. Visually lush, technically proficient, and full of interesting performances, it annoyed the hell out of me by grossly embodying so many of my pet peeves. This essay may only be peripherally about the movie; it's mainly a jumping off spot for my rambling concerns.

First of all, I applaud Tim Burton for putting his name on the product, otherwise incautious people might mistake it for Lewis Carroll's actual tale. But even so the title is misleading. Besides mingling elements from both Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass (a habit just about every film adaptation of Alice indulges in), TBAIW is more in the nature of a sequel, with the grown-up Alice returning to her dream-world to work out her real-life problems. A more forthcoming title (Alice In Underland has been suggested) might have been better, but Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is a lot more honest than, say, Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was all kind of wrong.

That being said, why is Burton playing with this particular cast of characters, with these images? With their actions and personalities so severely different from the originals (think of the buzzwords for this type of "re-imagining": "darker", "more adult"), why must he use them rather than create his own characters to tell his story? As it is, Burton's tale seems to exist as something as a parasite on Carroll's original tale, sucking "name-brand" recognizability and even affection off of Alice. Somewhat more original re-workings are possible: Woody Allen's Alice leaps to mind, where the old story lies under Allen's movie like a skeleton, unseen but providing form and structure.

And to what end does Burton do this? To have a galumphing adventure tale with the moral (that would have been timely in the 1860's, when Alice was first published) that Girls Are People Too And Should Follow Their Dreams No Matter What Society Thinks. Burton's Alice triumphs by using the Vorpal Sword to cut off the Jabberwocky's head (they call it a Jabberwocky, not a Jabberwock, as it is in the book); Carroll's does it by being gentle, kind, and polite. These virtues are not so popular with modern audiences.

All of Western literature can be seen as a long, long conversation. Homer produces The Odyssey, and Virgil answers with The Aeneid, and Dante chimes in with The Divine Comedy. There are influences, and inspirations, and complete quarrels with various viewpoints. It has always been the authors' way to ring the changes on all the myths and motifs. But we have been plagued recently with a spate of work that verges on plagiarism, parody, and sometimes downright theft. All art, all really good art, challenges everyone. It challenges creative people to produce a creative answer to it. Some people merely draw moustaches on it. And Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland (while being generally enjoyable) comes dangerously close to a moustache.