2 academics and the mad hatter

What do you get if two academics watch a film together? 96 minutes of analysis. There was Alice looking like the Joan of Arc and the number of eyes that were lost and in some cases replaced. But of greatest fascination was the Mad Hatter (and yes it did help it was Johnny Depp). Why did he slip in to this Scottish accent? Why the kilt? Johnny Depp's explanation was that he wanted to show a darker side to the Mad Hatter. Was it purely coincidence that the Hatter's jacket at the beginning of the final battle has hints of the blue that is used in Braveheart?

We, also, both noticed how he appeared to be the 'other' to Hamish's 'norm'. Hamish is the character who proposes to Alice at the beginning who happens to have red hair and to be as boring as possible. It is when she hesitates over his proposal that she runs off, falls down the rabbit hole and meet the Mad Hatter. There is a definite attraction, which could be seen as sexual, between Alice and him that is opposite to the coldness and contempt that is obvious between Alice and Hamish.

My daughter informed us both how sad she thought we were as we had both returned home and independently googled the Mad Hatter to see what was said about is Scottishness. Methinks there could be a paper in this.

These are my first thoughts on this that I needed to write down. I will be coming back to it. Did all this analysis detract from the film? Absolutely not, it was a glorious film and one we both intend to see again. But the best thing we came away with was a new phrase....all the best people are bonkers. I concur.