1951
The
Mad Hatter in Disney's 1951 film.
In
the 1951 Disney animated
feature Alice
in Wonderland,
the Hatter appears as a short, hyperactive man with gray hair, a
large nose and a comical voice. He was voiced by Ed
Wynn in
1951, and by Corey
Burton in
his later appearances (Bonkers, House
of Mouse).
Alice stumbles upon the Hatter and the March Hare having an
"un-birthday" party for themselves. She sits at the table
and they both run toward her, telling her "it's very very rude
to sit down without being invited", although they immediately
forgive her after she compliments their singing. Alice asks what an
"un-birthday" is and they explain that "there are 364
days of the year that aren't your
birthday; those are un-birthdays." They throw Alice a small
un-birthday party. They ask Alice where she came from but they never
give Alice a chance to answer. The Hatter and the Hare offer Alice
tea several times but each time she is unable to even take a sip
(they move to another seat at the table whenever the Hatter or the
Hare find a clean cup). The Hatter asks her the infamous riddle "Why
is a raven like a writing desk?" but when she tries to answer,
the Hatter denies asking her the riddle. The White Rabbit then bursts
in exclaiming that he is late. The Hatter and the Hare vandalize his
watch by putting numerous food items into it (claiming the watch is
two days slow). The Hatter and the March Hare then kick the rabbit
out and Alice follows him, as the Hatter and the Hare begin singing
the un-birthday song yet again. Later in the film, the Queen of
Hearts calls the March
Hare,
the Hatter, and the Dormouse to
Alice's trial. She asks them what they know of the disaster during
the croquet game. Instead of answering, they throw the Queen an
un-birthday party that cheers her up.
Throughout
the course of the film, the Hatter pulls numerous items out of his
hat, such as cake and smaller hats. He and the Hare also break the
laws of physics more than once; they pour tea cups and plates out of
tea kettles, and the Hatter is seen eating plates and other inedible
items at the tea party, also the March Hare asks the Hatter for half
a cup of tea, and the Hatter cuts his tea cup in half and pours him
the tea. His personality is that of a child: he is angry one second
but happy the next. He also takes an immediate liking to Alice after
she tells him she's a fan of his singing.
The
Hatter and March Hare make a cameo appearance in a painting in the
Tea Party Garden in the Kingdom
Hearts video
game, and the Hatter is also a greetable character at the Disneyland
Resort,Walt
Disney World Resort, Tokyo
Disney Resort, Disneyland
Paris Resort and Hong
Kong Disneyland.
This version of the character was also a semi-regular on the Disney
Afternoon series Bonkersand
one of the guests in House
of Mouse,
where he even made a cameo appearance in one of the featured cartoon
shorts.
2010
In Tim
Burton's 2010
version of Alice
in Wonderland,
the Hatter is portrayed by Johnny
Depp.
He is very brave and loyal to the White
Queen,
and becomes very emotionally attached to Alice and goes to great
lengths to protect her. In this version, his full name is Tarrant
Hightopp. Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding
to the character, something that you feel, as opposed to just being
mad. In a lot of versions it’s a very one-note kind of character
and you know his goal was to try and bring out a human side to the
strangeness of the character."[5] The
orange hair is an allusion to themercury
poisoning suffered
by many hatters who used mercury to cure pelts.
According to Depp: "I think he was poisoned, very, very
poisoned, and it was coming out through his hair, through his
fingernails and eyes."[6] In
an interview, Depp stated his experience was "A dream come true"
and that the Hatter is like "A mood ring, his emotions
are very close
to the surface".[7] This
version of the character also has mismatched
irises,
usually a sign of neurological injury or disorder.
Wonderland
Frank
Wildhorne composed the music to and co-wrote the music to Wonderland:
Alice's New Musical Adventure.
In this adaption the Hatter is portrayed as the villain of the story,
a mad woman who
longs to be Queen.
© Wikipedia