page_title: Cheshire Cat
section_title: Adaptations
hierarchical_section_title: Cheshire Cat / Adaptations
caption_attribution_description: English: A stuffed toy Cheshire cat in the permanent collection of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
context_page_description: The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. While now most often used in Alice-related contexts, the association of a "Cheshire cat" with grinning predates the 1865 book. It has transcended the context of literature and become enmeshed in popular culture, appearing in various forms of media, from political cartoons to television, as well as in cross-disciplinary studies, from business to science. One distinguishing feature of the Alice-style Cheshire Cat involves a periodic gradual disappearance of its body, leaving only one last visible trace - its iconic grin.
context_section_description: The Cheshire Cat character has been re-depicted by other creators and used as the inspiration for new characters, primarily in screen media (film, television, video games) and print media (literature, comics, art). Other non-media contexts that embrace the Cheshire Cat include music, business, and science.
  Prior to 1951 when Walt Disney released an animated adaptation of the story (see below), there were few post-Alice allusions to the character. Martin Gardner, author of The Annotated Alice, wondered if T. S. Eliot had the Cheshire Cat in mind when writing Morning at the Window, but notes no other significant allusions in the pre-war period.
  Images of and references to the Cheshire Cat cropped up with increasing frequency in the 1960s and 1970s, along with more frequent references to Carroll's works in general. (See generally the lyrics to White Rabbit by the rock group Jefferson Airplane). The Cheshire Cat appeared on LSD blotters, as well as in song lyrics and popular fiction.
  In Disney's 1951 animated film, Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat is depicted as an intelligent and mischievous character that sometimes helps Alice and sometimes gets her into trouble. He frequently sings the first verse of the Jabberwocky poem. The animated character was voiced by Sterling Holloway (Alice in Wonderland) and Jim Cummings (2004–present).
  In the 1985 television adaptation of Carroll's books, the Cheshire Cat is voiced by Telly Savalas. He sings a morose song called "There's No Way Home", which simply drives Alice to try and find a way home even more.
  In the 1999 television adaptation of Carroll's books, the Cheshire Cat is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg. She acts as an ally and friend to Alice.
  The Cheshire Cat appears in Walt Disney's 2010 Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton. British actor Stephen Fry voices the character. In the movie, Cheshire (as he is often called; or sometimes "Chess") binds the wound Alice suffered earlier by the Bandersnatch and guides her to Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter and Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare. He is blamed by the Hatter for desertion when the White Queen is deposed by the Red; but later impersonates the Hatter when the latter is sentenced to decapitation. Throughout his appearances, "Chess" is able to make himself intangible or weightless, as well as invisible (and thus to survive decapitation), and is usually depicted in mid-air, at shoulder-height to human-sized characters. In the video game adaptation of the movie, Chess is a playable character who can not only turn himself invisible, but other objects around him as well.
  In 25 October 2019, it was reported that an undetermined Cheshire Cat project is being developed by Disney for its streaming service, Disney+.
caption: A Cheshire cat stuffed toy from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
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