HOW AN ANTHROPOLOGIST PLAYS A VIDEO GAME I: American Mcgee's Alice

Unlike the other entries I have posted here in Minerva's, this is more of a laid-back, commentary type. These were my thoughts upon having played the game.

DOWN THE RABBIT'S HOLE, GAZING INTO A BROKEN MIRROR

It has been many years since she had last fallen down some not-so-random rabbit hole, sought advice from a caterpillar, and taken tea as the fresh company of the Hatter, hare, and dormouse. Long ago was there a defense council comprising of more than 52 --- playing cards armed with weapons in relation to their suit: hearts, spades, clubs, or diamonds --- with loyalty to the Queen of Hearts,  the woman who is known for her passion for decapitation.

These were only very few anthropomorphic entities named in the introduction of this entry --- It is not of my attempt to recite them all, but the intention to deconstruct what had been formulated by the so-called Lewis Caroll. A deconstruction, twisted, the literal 'bringing into life', a translation from text to virtual representation, 135 years later --- American Mcgee's Alice.

A meticulous macabre craft designed to take players on the wildest adventure in computer gaming, EA Games and Rogue Entertainment team with American James [the wicked disney] Mcgee in bringing the adored Alice to the computer screen. Alice is thirty-seven levels of three-dimensional madness, puzzles, and dexterity-testing controls running under a philosophical plotline. Audiences find Alice at the peak of approaching ladyhood. This aspect however, does not interfere with her frequent interaction with those of Wonderland. While in the dreamstate, in the middle of taking tea with her friends, she recieves warning of a current danger in the 'real world'. She is told that the room smells of smoke, implicating a raging fire. She awakes to find the words of caution of her friends as accurate, and rushes upstairs to her parents' bedroom with intentions of assisting them. To her mortification, she finds that the door would not budge. The fire rages, and Alice had no other choice but to leap from the corridor window under the instructions of her father who shouted from the other side of the door. Alice lands on a bed of snow, losing consciousness.

The death of her parents and the inability to rescue them had left Alice in a state of guilt, the reason behind her attempt at suicide --- evident through the slashes on the character's wrist and blood stains found on her apron, consistent with the self-inflicted wounds. This attempt was enough to place her in the custody of Rutlege Asylum. She remained there seated on the floor of her empty room, her rocking back and forth only to be interrupted by the appearance of the White Rabbit with disdain, plea of help from Alice to return to Wonderland.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL MAKEUP OF ALICE

Beginning with Alice back in the days of the series’ infancy purely under Lewis Carroll (where American Mcgee’s postmodernized visual interpretation of Alice along with the twisted plotline has not yet been perceived), Alice begins as a portrayal of young girls in Victorian England. This premise is partially founded on visual clues concerning the manner that Alice is dressed. The cut of the ensemble is the puff‐sleeved, peticoated dress. Blue is a particular color of preference during that period, a medium to dark shade of blue is preferred over the light tone. The white apron is to keep the blue clean.

Society had placed these children under amounts of social pressure so as to make the transition into adulthood in the soonest time possible. This is the explanation behind the proliferation of varied Finishing Schools whose objectives were to accept girls who would ‘graduate’ later as ladies. Inclusive of lessons taught by this socializing institution vary from ethics, table manners, intellectual activities ‐‐‐ in essence anything which may assist in the development of a lady’s culture. It is this expectation which had caused great acute mental and emotional stress upon many children of this age.

Returning to the character of Alice, it may be entertained that this is one of the reasons behind Alice’s mental creation of Wonderland, so as to provide a temporary escape from the psychological demands of society. Ladies like Alice
experience a great sense of hopelessness and identity issues. Although it may be said that a little imagination may refresh a tired spirit, Alice seems to be more participative in her crafted world than in the real‐world setting. She has preferred to be withdrawn, thus discouraging her from interaction with other people within her age range ‐‐‐ something of course which is tremendously unhealthy. In the game, Alice is confronted with the situation where she is somehow compelled to ‘grow up faster’ due to the untimely death of her parents.

MARXIST PHILOSOPHICAL OVERTONES PRESENT IN THE GAME

The game’s visual and traditional literary plotline touches varied philosophical themes, but for the sake of brevity and coherence, this commentary will focus on Marxism.

Two provinces exemplify the central premise of Marxism: Looking Glass Land and Behind the Looking Glass.

Marxism is a catch‐all referring to treatises written by communist proponent Karl Marx, on his perspectives of the relationship and interactions between the working class (proletariat) and the capitalists (bourgeoisie).

It is easily deduced that it is the Mad Hatter who is the portrayal of the capitalist identity. His main limbs are connected to his body through gears, suggestive that the Hatter is not man, but machine. Complementing this feature is his mechanized head filled with gadgetry. The Hatter is the adult authority and personality, wherein being an adult also includes the necessity to be at work or find some useful employment. The Marxist conception of work is equated with toil, a negative connotation of labor wherein the worker is not seen as human, but seen as a machine, operating on a three‐step cycle of sleep‐eat‐work and bound to repeat the cycle on the next day. This is what scholars such as Manuel Dy like to refer to as the ‘corporate slave world’. Hatter’s obsession with time is a similar feature with capitalists wherein that old adage falls in ‐‐‐ ‘time is gold (money)’. It must be clarified that the situation that the Dorm Mouse and the Hare were in, contrary to most LPs or guides done and written, does not insist torture, but mere experimentation. If it was indeed for the purpose of torture, the Hatter would not have the courtesy to use an anesthetic. Players are reminded of the line spoken by the Dorm Mouse, who commented ‘his medicine makes me tired’. 

The Hatter was attempting to develop the first and the ideal man‐machine ‐‐‐ a machine capable of working non‐stop since body parts which easily tire from labor are replaced with metal/mechanical parts. This is also seen in the machine located behind the plate glass where children are taken, smelted with large fragments of bronze or copper, and come from the machine as Robot foes.

The part where the camera pans to view the robot foe-creating machine is an innovative critique which illustrates the transition from innocent child to a grown up conformist who has lost all sense of individuality. Its form insists that it would work for the system, the reinforcement of a cog-like mentality.

I'VE FINISHED MY CUP OF TEA..

Those who have some mastery of the original Alice in Wonderland series are sure to appreciate the postmodernization American Mcgee's Alice had to offer. From its renditions of the characters, morphing of scenes, intellect and will. All of Wonderland is dependent on the player to bring the story to see HAPPILY EVER AFTER.