Marion Lichty: reading # 3

Malice in Wonderland  is about this girl Alice, who has run away from her wealth father.  He sends his goons after her, and she runs into this homeless woman, who asks for change.  Alice takes the time to give her some cash; the woman says “you’ll get it back,” referring to the time.  Next, Alice gets hit by a cab and loses her memory.  The cab driver Whitey gives her some “medication” for her head.  That’s when she starts hallucinating about her past.  Later, she and Whitey grab a bit to eat but she pukes cause of the food.  Throughout the film, Whitey is trying to impress the mob boss and get the reward for Alice’s return and Alice is trying to remember who she is.  She does get her time back, which ended up saving her life.

The article, Tainos, written by Ivonne Figueroa and FNAR 380, Caribbean Art, discuss the Taino culture and rituals.  The Tainos had spiritual leader called Cacique.  The Cacique would purge himself by starvation, or using a vomiting stick to empty his stomach.  This was in preparation for the cohoba ceremonies.  The Cacique would then smoke cohoba, a plant, to receive visions.

Alice from Malice in Wonderland can be compared to the spiritual leader, the Cacique.  During the movie she takes a drug in order to have visions of her life.   She also purges by trying to eat this dish and puking it up.  After that she does take more “medication” or drugs and continues to hallucinate about her life and when she was a kid or why was she running or who she is.  If you compare the Cacique to Alice, you can see some of the similarity between the two.  Mostly Alice is like the Cacique in the ritual practice of purging, taking a drug (whether inhaling or ingesting), and finally having visions.