Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The paper concentrates on the commercial uses of images related to Alice in Wonderland. The author presents how Alice-originated imagery is incorporated in the signifying systems of different branches of commerce. While the food serving industry reaches for Alice-related imagery most often, the distribution of characters makes a clear pattern. Alice herself lends her image most often to venues catering mainly to children. This can be illustrated by such venues as Alice Tea Cup Chapter 1 and Alice Tea Cup Chapter 2, which are casual cafes located respectively in the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan. On the other hand, a venue named after the Mad Hatter usually implies that the place offers experience directed at more mature clientele and serves alcohol. Nevertheless, Alice-inspired proprietors of bars most often choose the name and image of the White Rabbit (White Rabbit bars exist in London and in Brooklyn, The Legendary White Rabbit is a landmark in Gdansk). The White Rabbit has also become the namesake of choice for tattoo parlors (White Rabbit in New York). The author analyzes how the particular uses of Alice-related motifs contribute to the construction of semiotic codes of different places and to what degree these codes are deciphered by their clients. During her visits to the discussed places, the author gathered photographic documentation of the extensive presence of Lewis Carroll’s stories and characters in the public sphere of modern big cities. The photographs are an indispensable part of the paper.