#oancitizen

This video - regarding the idea of The Lion King being similar to Hamlet - made me consider a similar comparison I made about two decades ago.

You see, remember the old Disney cartoon Brandy and Mr. Whiskers?

I at one time thought it rather similar to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland; a blonde girl meets a white rabbit and then falls into an unfamiliar world where she meets a striped animal who helps her, a furry creature who tells stories that go nowhere, twins that do battle, a grumy bug and a murderous monarch.

Given contemplation, that comparison holds little water. For example, Brandy "actually" is in the Amazon, and it's not a "curious dream" she awakes from to tell her sister. Mr. Whiskers may be a white rabbit who led Brandy into an adventure, but his disgusting childish personality is the complete opposite of Carroll's White Rabbit, who was uppity and pretentious (warning for fatphobia and body shaming):

The whole point of Wonderland is that most of its residents are older than Alice and reflecting how confusing adults seem to children. The friends Brandy makes seem around her age, and they share many of the same interests. While Alice constantly questions who she is throughout her adventure, Brandy frequently confidently states she is "Brandy Harrington of the Florida Harringtons" (though, to be fair, there is an episode where she has an existential crisis due to finding out she's an adopted mixed breed).

According to this, Brandy wasn't even blonde originally, Whiskers wasn't white, and they were shipwrecked as opposed to falling from the sky.

Like Lion King might be more similar to Henry IV, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers may also be more comparable to Lewis Carroll's other work, Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, as those books feature a duo made up of a proper yet somewhat snarky young girl and her naive, immature little brother. There are even anthropomorphic dogs (though neither of the title characters are), cruel dictators and a contrast between the worlds of nature and high society, as Sylvie and Bruno's fairy tales are contrasted with the narrator's friend wooing a Lady Muriel.

There's even plenty of non-Carroll children's books Brandy and Mr. Whiskers is similar to. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Brandy falls from the sky into an unfamiliar world, tries to get home with the help of a "brainless" friend and runs afoul of a villain and their primate henchmen. Like Mr. Toad, Brandy is a spoiled rich animal who learns humility from other animals and adventures in a setting she's not used to.

The official pitch bible, however, notes the show's inspirations, none of them Lewis Carroll.

Think of it as “Milo and Otis” on cough medicine. Or the “Incredible Twisted Journey”. Or “Gilligan’s Island” meets “Indiana Jones”.

Sorry to remind of recent events, but Gaspar is compared not to The Queen of Hearts but Donald Trump with a better hairdo.

Though that doesn't mean Carroll couldn't have provided a bit of subconscious inspiration. The Alice books have been noted to be the most quoted work of literature after the Bible and Shakespeare, and you can tell by how many times "down the rabbit hole" has been used in various contexts.

Many people complain when kids' movies make contemporary references that will date the movie, but Alice in Wonderland has several parodies of poems that were most well-known in the time they were published. The Mad Hatter is thought to be a caricature of Theophilus Carter and Benjamin Disraeli, a forebear to Animaniacs' and Tiny Toons' celebrity caricatures. Through the Looking Glass proves making subtle dark jokes in a children's story is hardly new:

Alice felt even more indignant at this suggestion. “I mean,” she said, “that one can’t help growing older.”

“One can’t, perhaps,” said Humpty Dumpty, “but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven.”

You could say Carroll is to children's literature what Shakespeare is to more mature literature, but work for adults could be seen as taking influence from Carroll as well. The recent Ludwig series is about mirror images and adventures mirroring games, similar to Through the Looking Glass. Alice in Wonderland presents a distorted version of Victorian England with talking animals in clothes, Bojack Horseman presents a distorted version of modern day Hollywood (or Hollywoo) with talking animals in clothes.

Even Sylvie and Bruno Concluded offers this joke, which may remind modern readers of Blackadder's "lovely little sausage" and Spongebob's "ugly barnacle":

“And I’ll tell oo a story,” said Bruno, beginning in a great hurry for fear of Sylvie getting the start of him: “once there were a Mouse—a little tiny Mouse—such a tiny little Mouse! Oo never saw such a tiny Mouse——”

“Did nothing ever happen to it, Bruno?” I asked. “Haven’t you anything more to tell us, besides its being so tiny?”

“Nothing never happened to it,” Bruno solemnly replied.

“Why did nothing never happen to it?” said Sylvie, who was sitting, with her head on Bruno’s shoulder, patiently waiting for a chance of beginning her story.

“It were too tiny,” Bruno explained.

“That’s no reason!” I said. “However tiny it was, things might happen to it.”

Bruno looked pityingly at me, as if he thought me very stupid. “It were too tiny,” he repeated. “If anything happened to it, it would die—it were so very tiny!”

Many say The Wizard of Oz was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and recalling Joel Coen's suggestion that "every movie ever made is an attempt to remake The Wizard of Oz", Carroll's influence over media, directly or otherwise, may be larger than some would think.

Also since I just spoke at length about Disney, don't forget to get your click in:

@actuallykylekallgren‘s points for your consideration, dear @bloodyaltar @goethes @helshades (in case my rec got through that time... if not, you’ll still gain the knowledge that you introduced me to my ever-reigning favourite Internet Man Talks Into Camera About Film person).