Today a friend on mine recommended the book *Alice I Have Been* to me, which imagines the life of Alice Liddell — the real child *Alice in Wonderland* was inspired by *—* into her adulthood. If you’re one of the many people who are familiar with the lore behind *Wonderland* you know that there has always been speculation as to whether Lewis Carroll was a creepy predator who had an inappropriate relationship with Alice and other kids. Apparently *Alice I Have Been* takes the route of assuming the rumors are true and pathologizes Alice based on that.
It reminded me of another book called *The Queen of Tuesday,* which is about Lucille Ball having a torrid, sexual affair with the author’s grandfather. The author says the book was inspired by a story his grandfather used to tell about meeting Lucille, which may or may not have been complete BS. A lot of the reviews also say that the author’s portrayals of Lucille and Desi Arnaz were horrible.
I’ve always been turned off by these kinds of books because I feel like they cross an ethical line. I see it as the author taking a real person and turning them into their dolls to play with. It makes me wonder how the surviving family members feel about this sort of thing, and just thinking of myself, I know I’d hate it if someone took so much artistic liberty when writing about me.
I know that there are always going to be details that are probably fictional when people write books and movies about real people — like conversations aren’t going to be word-for-word what was said in real life — but I don’t mind it if the writers are trying their best to stick to the reality we know.
I especially think the Alice book is weird, because we don’t actually know if she was sexually abused as a child, yet the trauma of a victim is being projected onto her. And despite all the speculation, it’s never been proven that Lewis Carroll was a pedophile, so there’s the possibility that you’re putting one of the most heinous acts on someone who may not have committed them.
I feel like these authors should just create fictional characters instead of hijacking real people’s identities for wild stories. What do you guys think? Is everything fair game?
by we_teach_life_sir
2 Comments
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Isn’t this the premise of every Doctor Who – and time traveling general – story that isn’t set in the future? Like Bill And Ted.