Dear Insane Children,
I don’t know if you know this (I think many of you do) but the Alice series is extremely cathartic for me. Because, as a child, I was abused in many ways – psychological, physical, and sexual. And by a wide variety of people – family members, caretakers, and strangers.
(trigger warning – sexual abuse stuff)
Last night, I had a nightmare about one instance. And I woke up this morning feeling angry, sad, and generally upset.
I thought back to a few years ago, this particular abuser resurfaced when a family member visited Shanghai. Over lunch, and quite casually, she asked, “So, did John (alias) get to you too?” John was her step-brother. He’d abused me on multiple occasions as a child but I never said a word about it to anyone. To hear her ask this question… my blood ran cold.
He’d abused her. He’d abused me. And he’d abused many other children… She thought I knew I wasn’t alone. I did not. It didn’t make me feel better knowing there had been many others. In this, I’d have preferred to remain alone.
But she let me know that he’d finally (at age 50) gone to prison forever. Convicted of a rape-murder apparently. Many years too late… but justice at last.
So when I sat down to review recent images from the Alice: Asylum pre-production team, I had a dark laugh at the latest from Adam (main image above – awesome work, Adam!).
For those who’ve read the Narrative Outline, you’ll recognize this as the End Scene.
For those who haven’t… well, spoilers!
Simply put… The ending of Asylum has Alice turn into a child predator hunter… using her Wonderland powers in the real world and tentacle mind raping them to death. The “Little Black Book” she takes from Radcliffe serves as a map, guiding Alice on her missions of vengeance. And when she finds her prey… woo, boy. Watch out!
Seeing stuff like this… makes me happy. At least as happy as you can feel about this sort of thing. And I hope that others out there who share in this sort of terrible history can also find some solace in witnessing vengeance served to those who most deserve it.
Omri did a fine rendition of the End Game dress.
From Shanghai with Vengeance,
-American