Character Sketch #4 - LizRECords's "The Madd Manwithhatter"

Released over 2 years ago

	CHARACTER SKETCH #4 - for LizRECords's "The Madd Manwithhatter." (Excellent!) In my Wonderland: Queen Jenyffer [1] has sentenced and executed the Dormouse [2] for a crime "he was never going to commit." Between that and a falling out with The White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter has but one friend left--the March Hare, who is in the middle of an identity crisis. This leads the Hatter to believe he needs "therapy." CHARACTER NAME: ManWithHatter -- but he's just "ManHatta" to Alice. [3] CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: (In the visual, cathartic and motivational senses). ManWithHatter has reached a milestone: He KNOWS he's mad. Having made that first, critical step--admission--he seeks therapy with his journal among the vacillating pickle blossoms, where he knows the difference between reason and madness and can convey meaningfulness and sentiment to people who are desperately anxious to make sense of him. This of course doesn't always work to his best advantage; in fact, it backfires on him when he takes his friend the March [HR username] Hare to visit with him in the pickle blossoms' meadow, only to find it makes his friend even worse. Yikes! Yet he doesn't want to leave. Here, he can express his true feelings--his grief at the loss of the Dormouse, his happiness that he has at least one place in Wonderland in which he can feel free to be himself, his growing urge to discover the source of his madness--and feel normal. (And maybe meet the Mad Hatress of his dreams, who shares his taste in socks and who waits for him, drinking tea.) [4] Anywhere else, he acts out and gets treated like a child for it. He yearns to be a respected member of Wonderland. He's so full of ideas. And he's not afraid to act on them! Out of that desperation to live up to an ideal he quite possibly can't--being fully rational all the time, no matter where he is or what he's doing--he understandably wavers when faced with the responsibility of helping Alice out of the pickle blossoms after she returns. The March [HR username] Hare certainly can't help her--he can't even see her--and now he's imagining people from Spain?! But man up, ManHatta must--even if it means losing his senses once more...and so, he helps them away from the pickle blossoms and succumbs to madness yet again, only to happen upon the White Rabbit, to whom he feels he owes a devout apology, at the very worst possible time. Naturally, the occasion calls for a limerick (that strictly speaking ceases to be a limerick after the fourth line, but who's counting?): "Mister White rabbit Made sullen through habit A timely defeatist And latelife atheist He plunders along With a stern expression Nihilistic, this bunny Finds nothing is funny And mostly, he mopes Although deep down, there’s hope! Tiny light through that tunnel The mouth of the funnel Holds speckles of promise The return of Alice And maybe a mate If she’d stand still and wait He could ask for a date Before it’s too late And this bunny belle settles On gifted rose petals From more likely charmers Not cursed by bad karma" [5] Then his journal starts talking back to him. [6] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [1] Her Bucketness's White and/or Red Queen and jenyffer.maria mash-up. Yay! [2] Personally, I think gweninterrupted would make a wonderful Dormouse mash-up. Because [gulp] the Dormouse gets "interrupted" ... [3] Depp's forthcoming incarnation appears to humanize the Mad Hatter by making of him Alice's best friend. I want to see if we could take this in a slightly different direction i.e., the Hatter being like an annoyingly pretentious acquaintance who finally "gets real" (and thus has great potential for surprising people when they least expect it). [4] Kellibean's confection, "The Mad Hatress." Ahem. Or mattress. She is his fantasy, after all. [5] Metaphorest, rhyming on a theme and bringing much joy. (Muchas gracias). [6] Check Results.