Before NaNo, I re-read Alice in Wonderland as a refresher on the actual story - not the movie - before I started working on Deaf Tales: Signed Stories. I wanted to include this familiar story in, changing the story to where Alice was deaf and Wonderland is also deafland – all characters are deaf. I’ll post it – or at least an excerpt – and you can see my take on Alice in Wonderland.
Books to Movies
Just yesterday, my husband and I were talking about Alice and decided to watch the Disney animated film. He realized the reason why he didn’t particularly like the movie, and I agreed (mostly). I prefer the book, but I often prefer the book to any movie adaptations.
But while he didn’t enjoy the movie, it made me think, imagining what I would find if I went down the rabbit hole. Would I discover a new world? Or I meet a new species of animals? Could the animals talk, like they did in Lewis Carroll’s version? Or, if in my version, would it be a world in which my character would always be accepted because they would be the “normal” – everyone would be like them? Wouldn’t that be the dream…. to have a place where you’d always be accepted because everyone was like you? But then, if everyone was like you, you would have to be accepted. Why? Because if they didn’t accept you, then how could they accept themselves?
Accepting Differences
And this is where my brain goes. It wouldn’t help to have a place where everyone was exactly the same, because then how would you learn to accept your differences? You can only accept who you truly are through how you face adversity. So while my Alice enjoys the wonder of Deafland, she learns that it’s only after she accepts herself and truly communicates her needs to those around you, that she can truly be happy.
And remember, your reality can be different from others. There is no use in going back to yesterday, for you are not the same.
Keep writing – and celebrating – you!
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