Early in Tim Burton's new film Alice in Wonderland, six-year-old Alice's father tells her in no uncertain terms: "You're mad, bonkers ... but I'll tell you a secret: All the best people are." The narrative then promptly fast-forwards thirteen years into Alice's life, at which point she's lithe, gorgeous, and revisiting the creepy world she first roamed as a child down the rabbit hole -- only now it's even creepier. Ingenue Alice confronts the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and other classic characters, asserting her self-possession again and again amidst their weirdness.
But that early line lingers. Its presence at the start of a trendy new film by a cult-favorite filmmaker could be the motto of a new mental-illness pride movement.
Burton's partner Helena Bonham-Carter, the talented actress who appears in Alice as she has in five of his previous films, invoked various mental-health issues in a sometimes startlingly lighthearted tone during a recent interview for the Guardian. Early in the interview, Bonham-Carter describes herself and Burton as "the bonkers couple," which I guess is a boast. Showing the Guardian reporter a cardboard replica of the Red Queen character she plays in the film, Bonham-Carter quips:
