Through the Wardrobe, Looking Glass, In The East

As part two of my exploration into the world of the supernatural comes in alternate worlds. To be specific, I'm not talking about alternate universes here. That's Sci-Fi, and they need their own series of in depth posts. Hell, just the ones in the DC comics universe alone would need like three! These are mystical worlds that work and operate next to or instead of ours. Usually there's magic involved.

Narnia: The Chronicles of Narnia

The granddaddy of all of magical worlds is C.S. Lewis's world through the wardrobe. Narnia is a place where animals talk and children rule (literally, the greatest rulers of the realm are the Pevensie kids, Peter, the oldest is twelve.) Take with it a healthy dose of Biblical allegory, and you've got a recipe for the kind of place that every kid wants to be and that's good for them. It's like apple juice. Little kids love the stuff, and it gives them nutrients. Plus in Narnia, Jesus is a lion and Moses is a horse! Which is so much cooler than a carpenter and a dude with a beard. And the seven deadly sins are represented by seven islands. (Dawn Treader is my favorite book in the series.) I can't write fully on most of the theology, since when I read the books I went to a public school where Jesus was a four letter word, not because you're taking the Lord's name in vain but because you might offend one of the four non Christian students in your class, and we didn't go into those elements of them, but Jen, I'm counting on you here to fill in the blanks!

Middle Earth: The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings

Meant more to be a stand in as a magical version of our Middle Ages, making it more of an alternate world than a magical realm, it nonetheless makes the list. JRR Tolkien's world is rich with history and it's own cultures. Magic here is a lot like Narnian magic, it's not a thing possessed by some, it's a force of it's own, that certain people (elves, wizards, to a degree dwarves) can harness. Plus dragons. There are dragons, or one dragon.

The Wizarding World: Harry Potter

What's interesting about JK Rowling's alternate world is that unlike others it exists in the same space as ours and we just can't see it, or as characters often say, "Muggles don't look properly." It's a brilliant way to ground Harry Potter in reality. And luckily for us, Universal Studios is providing us the chance to go to these places. No really. See?

Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll's creation of Wonderland wins for trippiest alternate world. Although the original book wasn't the result of an acid trip, although I think there was Opium involved, most of the subsequent adaptations were made with hallucinogens. Wonderland, like Narnia is meant to teach lessons, mostly about being yourself, but not disobeying authority, except when the authority is stupid. Or something. You know what? Just look at the pretty flowers.

Avalon: Every adaptation of Camelot ever, except Jerry Bruckheimer's King Arthur, which sucks really badly anyway, so who cares?

Avalon, like The Wizarding World, is unique in that it exists physically in our world, and it's shrouded in mystery. In some versions, Avalon is merely an island, in others it is a place beyond our world where The Once and Future King, Arthur, goes to wait until it is time for him to return. (Confused? Yeah, there are academics who dedicate their whole careers to trying to figure out this mess.) It's certainly the residence of The Lady of The Lake. Who's magic. We think. Unless you follow Meg Cabot's interpretation. Then she's a teenage track star who likes to hang out in her pool and has a thing for quarter backs.

So there you have it. I realized after I wrote the entry that all of my examples are literary, but I think it's because these places are easier to create in books than on film. Even the film adaptations of these books have trouble translating them. Metaphor doesn't always work visually.