The Weird And Wonderful History Of American McGees Alice

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When you think of a “darker” Alice in Wonderland, the 2010 Tim Burton adaptation might be the first thing that comes to mind. But for folks who had a PC in the 2000s, modern cosplayers, Twitch streamers, or even YouTubers that specialize in gameplay content, there’s only one “dark” Alice that matters: American McGee’s Alice. Since its publication in 1865, some have theorized that Lewis Carroll’s infamous children’s book isn’t a book for children at all and have created their own adaptations in response: In 1967, rockers Jefferson Airplane released their hit “White Rabbit,” which (rather explicitly) implies that Alice’s visit to Wonderland is the result of a psychedelic drug trip. The 1985 British drama Dreamland centers on a fictionalized version of Alice Liddell (the then-little girl that is said to have inspired Carroll to create the character) who revisits a grotesque version of Wonderland associated with her own childhood trauma. The 2015 musical Wonder.land presents a modern version of Wonderland, where the magical world is accessed via sinister online game and is played by Alice in order to cope with her loneliness and rejection from the (real) world around her. The book’s origin even comes with its own (widely debated) dark connotations: Lewis Carroll is said by some to have been romantically fascinated with young Alice Liddell, as the story he told her on a boating trip one day became the basis for the first Alice book. That being said, it wasn’t entirely out of left field for a then-28-year-old video game designer to place a suicidal and traumatized Alice in an asylum, give her a sword, and have her fight her way through a version of Wonderland that has only become more ghoulish and macabre in the time she has spent away from it. The result? An EA cult classic with a fanbase so dedicated that a sequel was released in 2011, 11 years after the first game’s 2000 release, with a third in the works.