Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/Alice in wonder land 105th anniversary

POSTED JULY 28 2015

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• 100 years after its release, watch the first Alice in Wonderland film for free
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• 150 years ago, we first read about Alice, a rabbit hole, and a fantasy world filled with peculiar creatures; the first film based on Lewis Carroll's most famous work was released 150 years ago.

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Alice in Wonderland (1915) by American Film Manufacturing Company. Movie by W.W. Young, public domain.

It has been 150 years since Alice's Adventures in Wonderland first reached the minds of millions of readers around the world, starting a global fascination with an adventurous little girl in a strange land. The novel was first written in 1865 by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The classic tale tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar anthropomorphic creatures. 50 years Later, the first film of Alice in Wonderland was released in 1915.

From its introduction in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the metaphor "down the rabbit hole" references an entry into the unknown, an analogous experience of many Wikipedia readers. The structure and design of Wikipedia embodies the joy of falling down the (knowledge) rabbit hole, hopping from one Wikipedia article to the next, discovering previously unknown subjects.

The full silent film exists in the public domain and is available to watch for free on Wikimedia Commons. Enjoy!

Illustration of Alice and the playing cards. Illustration by Obakeneko, public domain

The below text is adapted from Wikipedia, written by various contributors, freely licensed under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License and the GDFL. Authorship information can be found in each article's "history" tab.

Andrew Sherman, Digital Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation

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