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The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

Take a visit down the rabbit hole

In the Disney movie “Alice in Wonderland,” Alice falls down the rabbit hole and into a strange new world; not knowing her dreams would soon become a twisted reality.

Eastern’s film-goers can see the other side of this classic children’s tale. At 7 p.m. today in the Doudna Fine Arts Center’s Lecture Hall, students will get the chance to see the nightmarish side of “Alice in Wonderland” in Jan Svankmajer’s 1988 film “Alice.”

In spirit of the Halloween season, English professor Robin Murray will host the screening of “Alice” to coincide with the “Almost Alice” exhibit in the Tarble Arts Center.

“The movie does follow the actual story of Alice, but it takes a nightmarish version of the favorite characters,” Murray said.

Characters of Svankmajer’s film are a little less Disney-like than the characters of the original “Alice in Wonderland.”

“For example, the White Rabbit constantly loses his stuffing, only to pull his watch out of his stomach,” Murray said.

“Alice” also puts an artistic spin on the old classic by using stop-action animation along with life-action animation and two-fold narration.

“It’s an adaptation worth watching; a new twist on a classic,” Murray said.

Exhibit

Besides the screening of “Alice”, the Tarble Arts Center now is displaying the “Almost Alice” collection by Maggie Taylor.

Taylor’s works of art are most recognizable from the opening of the CBS series “Ghost Whisperer.”

The exhibit contains 45 images that tell the tale of Alice’s journey through Wonderland.

Taylor created this collection based on “Alice in Wonderland.”

“For a few years, I had done images with rabbits,” Taylor said. “I eventually reread the story and thought it would be an interesting project.”

Each of Taylor’s pieces took her from a week to months to create, using mostly Adobe Photoshop.

Taylor creates these pieces with influences by several different sources such as television, books and her husband, who is a photographer.

“I get influenced by a lot of different things, not necessarily art,” Taylor said.

Michael Watts, the director of the Tarble Arts Center, said Eastern’s “Alice in Wonderland” themed events are purely a coincidence and have nothing to do with the growing popularity of the new Tim Burton film “Alice in Wonderland.”

The “Almost Alice” exhibit at the Tarble Arts Center was organized by the curator of Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida.

“It actually is through a traveling exhibition service,” Watts said.

Taylor’s “Almost Alice” exhibit can be seen at Tarble until Dec. 20. The exhibits’ hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, from10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Another Alice in Wonderland-themed event will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Atrium where Murray will present the 1951 Disney classic “Alice in Wonderland” to contrast the previous film screening.

All of these Alice related events are free.

Sam Bohne can be reached at 581-7942 or DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.

Take a visit down the rabbit hole

Take a visit down the rabbit hole

A scene from Maggie Taylor’s “It’s always tea-time” is on display in the Tarble Arts Center as part of Taylor’s exhibit “Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland” running through Dec. 20.(Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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