American McGee's Alice: Wonderland and Londerland Explained

gamerant.com:

American McGee's Alice, and its sequel, Alice: Madness Returns are reimaginings of Lewis Carroll's classic novel, Alice in Wonderland. Carroll's story originally became public domain in England in 1907, and since Carroll died in 1898, the book is also now public domain worldwide. As such, there have been many reimaginings of Alice in Wonderland with various interpretations of Carroll's nonsensical tale. Central to these retellings are different understandings and portrayals of Wonderland; American McGee's games are no different, and like other Alice in Wonderland interpretations, Wonderland comes to represent an imaginary inner world, representing the character's mental state. Since American McGee's Alice is getting a TV adaptation, it's worth exploring these games particular take on Wonderland.

American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns are set in the 1800s and feature a version of Alice Liddell with severe PTSD who has been in a catatonic state for 10 years following the death of her family in a house fire. Once she emerges from this catatonic state, Alice's journey leads her to find the truth about her parent's death. For this version of Alice, Wonderland serves as a place to retreat from reality in her mind. Originally imagined when she was a child, Alice's Wonderland becomes distorted and dangerous after her catatonic state. More broadly, the games of this series, and the follow-up short films, explore the idea of representing the inner mind through Lewis Carroll's nonsensical land; in the games, Alice's grip on the real world vs Wonderland loosens as her mental state worsens, but it is left ambiguous whether Alice may have abilities related to her visits to Wonderland.

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