So, I’ve examined four parodies of Alice. None of these examples were appropriate for children to read, nor even possible for a child to fully understand on a linguistic level even if topics such as murder, pornography, propaganda, and political atrocities were appropriate for children to read. Not only did they then play to an adult audience in subject matter, but also in linguistic terms too. This would seem to be one thing which they all had in common.

Each of them also made references to the original Alice; be it through title, subject matter, characters, or even plot. Despite this reference, each story made sure to invert the reader’s expectations in regards to the relative innocence of the story—often mocking their referent in the process, as can be seen in Adolf’s use of illustrative style, or in Blue Alice’s insertion (…no pun intended but you’re free to use your imagination) of sex scenes into the otherwise original plot line.

It is important to note also how they diverge from the original: most (with the exception of Blue Alice) are seeming to use the Alice characters as more of a mask of familiarity to the story—not actually sticking verbatim to the plot. This is most visible in Alice in Sponsor-land and Malice in Wonderland wherein there are few similarities to the original story other than the character names and a few tropes. This would obviously rely on the reader to have a greater knowledge of the original story in order to understand the references made.

By using Alice as a form of familiar storyline to then twist around, the authors are given greater flexibility in creating humorous scenes and other forms of satire. This would seem to explain then, why using a children’s story might be an easy form to co-opt for an adult parody. Because children’s stories are often so ubiquitous, and most people grow up being very familiar with the way the story goes, they are a perfect sort of conveyor belt for comedy. Using something familiar to everyone, especially something which was originally seen as innocent, means that less effort has to be spent on world-building, plot, or making sure that all the subtleties between characters are understood, because the reader already knows all of this information. This allows the author to spend more time on the comedic inversion of the story. We can then understand the use of a children’s story such as Alice: Through the Looking Glass for an adult parody as a sort of narrative short-cut which also happens to lend an added layer of humour by the bastardization of something which would have been expected to be innocent.