History Main / DownTheRabbitHole

* There are heavy allusions to this in the ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode entitled "Down The Rabbit Hole," which involves going into the world of ''VideoGame/SecondLife''. There's even a white rabbit showing up as a guide when Mac enters the game to search for the killer/avatar-stealer. The rabbit actually does go down a hole, too.

[[Literature/TheSevenBasicPlots Christopher Booker]] categorizes this plot structure under ''Voyage and Return'', which he identifies as being most suited to children's stories (not that it can't be used for adult ones as well). The hero (usually) won't bring anything back from the world of journey other than [[CharacterDevelopment personal growth]]. Another distinction is that the world doesn't conform [[RealLife Real World]] logic. In fact, because the hero can't trust logic as a guide, she has to use intuition, a good heart, and an ability to acquire allies (though she may be unsure who to trust).

* ''Film/TheMatrix'', Creator/KeanuReeves starring as our darling Alice. White bunnies mentioned.
* ''Film/MirrorMask'': WordOfGod is that the Henson company asked Creator/NeilGaiman for a movie that was "whatever genre ''Labyrinth'' is".
** The same applies with Helena as with Anna in ''Film/{{Paperhouse}}''. Helena is in essence, the creator of her world. Compare with Jareth's god-like qualities in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''. Also note that both Helena and Jareth juggle, thus inverting the power dynamic. Helena is also a classic CircusBrat, which makes this a brilliant mix of tropes, especially when compared with the already established CircusOfFear trope, which brings the wonderland to ''you''.

* "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane has ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' inspired lyrics.
* [[Music/NoDoubt Gwen Stefani's]] song and music video of "What You Waiting For?" uses this trope.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E156TheBewitchinPool The Bewitchin' Pool]]," Sport and Jeb Sharewood are able to enter Aunt T's realm [[PortalPool through a portal in their swimming pool]] which can't be seen by their parents Gil and Gloria. In the past, other children have been able to travel there through chimneys or by going through doors.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The World Next Door," Barney Schlessinger finds a doorway to an AlternateUniverse [[RetroUniverse with an early 20th Century level of technology]]. In this universe, he is an extremely wealthy and world famous inventor whose creations can be found in every home. The alternate Barney uses the same doorway to travel to our universe, which he likes because of the peace and quiet that it affords him. The two Barneys [[EquivalentExchange switch places]] as each is envious of the other's life.

** The SpinOffspring sequel, ''Flatterland: Like Flatland Only More So'', by Ian Stewart, is even closer to the trope, since its protagonist is A. Square's independently-minded granddaughter, [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground Victoria Line]]. (A. Square himself, of course, is given the first name of [[Series/EastEnders Albert]]).

So you've got yourself a little story about a more than ordinary [[KidHero young girl]] (though male examples do exist) who's [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor not fully satisfied]] with the [[RealLife status quo]]. Perhaps she yearns for a place where the GrassIsGreener, her parents dote on her every whim, or [[ChangelingFantasy she's a princess]]. She either visits or [[TrappedInAnotherWorld finds herself trapped]] in some sort of AlternateUniverse (potentially a DarkWorld) where [[{{Muppet}} bizarre]] [[PeopleInRubberSuits creatures]] and TheFairFolk are common inhabitants. The heroine will often encounter [[AndYouWereThere various parallels]] between this strange place and her former reality. She may face any number of ThresholdGuardians and undergo trials through which she [[AnAesop learns a lesson]] about [[ComingOfAgeStory herself or her place in the world]]. There will be enough strange goings on to make you wonder if [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs the creators were on something]], so expect NightmareFuel from even the more lighthearted variants. By the time she makes it home, many viewers will [[SchrodingersButterfly wonder]] if it was AllJustADream.

* ''Film/{{Alice|1988}}'' by Creator/JanSvankmajer is a most [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs deranged and incomprehensible]] adaptation with its stop-motion animation and mostly silent script.

Also a specific variant of TheHerosJourney. Contrast UpTheRealRabbitHole. Compare with TrappedInAnotherWorld and RescuedFromTheUnderworld.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms'': ''[[ComicBook/FigmentDisneyKingdoms Figment]]''has the young Dreamfinder and Figment falling into the imaginary realm through an unstable dimensional portal created by his Mesmonic Convertor device.

* ''[[ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms Figment]]'' has the young Dreamfinder and Figment falling into the imaginary realm through an unstable dimensional portal created by his Mesmonic Convertor device.

* ''Film/PansLabyrinth'': Ofelia experiences this phenomenon the most; she meets the Faun at the bottom of a pit at the end of (another) labyrinth, crawls through the mud under a tree, and encounters the Pale Man beneath a bedroom floor.
** Notable for inverting the origin of the heroine and where she's trying to return to.
** Also notable for not making "RealLife" so mundane. The main character's troubles don't just start as soon as she makes a [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor naive mistake]]. Ordinary humans are not so innocent, and [[NegativeUtopia real life]] is often [[RealityIsUnrealistic more evil]] than fantasy. A successful mix of genres, if you will. Or a subversion of a [[VirginSacrifice trope]].

* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' is about two brothers (and their pet frog) stuck in a FantasyAmericana setting called the Unknown, inhabited by {{Talking Animal}}s, witches and [[BigBad a demon]] who wants to [[BalefulPolymorph turn them into trees]] and [[YourSoulIsMine burn them in his lantern]]. Along the way, the older brother, teenage Wirt, gains the self-confidence to take responsibility for both his younger brother and his own life. Unlike many examples, this one starts InMediasRes, and we only belatedly discover ''how'' the pair got into the Unknown: [[spoiler:they're having a NearDeathExperience while drowning, with {{Fanon}} painting the Unknown as some sort of Purgatory]].

* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Theatre/{{Quidam}}'' has adolescent heroine Zoe, her parents, and two bizarre companions transported to a sometimes-melancholy MagicalLand via a NiceHat dropped off for her by the mysterious, literally faceless (it has no head) title character, where she learns that the loneliness and alienation she feels in the real world is in fact something everyone feels at one time or another. Characters pop up from trap doors in the stage from time to time; Zoe herself does so as the closing scene begins.

* Music/FionaApple's song "[[http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/2065/ Sleep to Dream]]" subverts this trope.

* In ''Webcomic/HolidayWars'', the lead character Tegan Cassidy gets sucked into a world where the Holidays are personified as characters and are at war with each other. She first learns out about this other world in [[http://www.th3rdworld.com/web-comic/Holiday-Wars/episode/Holiday-Wars-Episode-34 this strip]].

* In ''[[http://www.wormworldsaga.com/index.php The Wormworld Saga]]'', the portal to another world is not so much a tunnel as a picture frame. Jonas still crawls through it though. Also, when he first finds the portal it's covered with a blanket which forms folds that Jonas has to spread open when he peeks through it.

* The RockOpera ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' by {{Music/Genesis}} begins with the protagonist, Rael, being chased by a [[AdvancingWallOfDoom "wall of death"]] that drops into Times Square. As the wall passes over him, he blacks out, and later re-awakens in a surreal world {{beneath|TheEarth}} New York City.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': Link goes looking for his FairyCompanion, who left at the end of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime the previous game]], so he goes searching in the LostWoods. His horse gets stolen, he gets turned into a plant, and then he gets stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop while he tries to stop the moon from falling.

* The RockOpera ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' by {{Music/Genesis}} begins with the protagonist, Rael, being chased by a [[AdvancingWallOfDoom "wall of death"]] that drops into Times Square. As the wall passes over him, he blacks out, and later re-awakens in a surreal world {{beneath|TheEarth}} New York City.
* "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane has ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' inspired lyrics.
* "White Rabbit" (not a cover of the above Jefferson Airplane song) by Egypt Central also starts off with references to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', including "falling down the hole". In this case, it's a subversion, as it's revealed partway through the song to be a metaphor for being manipulated into obedience by the [[ManipulativeBastard "white rabbit"]].
* The Music/{{Bastille}} song "Doom Days" features the line "We're gonna rabbit hole down". This is a metaphor for the partying lifestyle the singer falls into to distract him from the problems in the world.

Also a specific variant of TheHerosJourney. Contrast UpTheRealRabbitHole. Compare with TrappedInAnotherWorld and OrpheanRescue.

* [[{{FrancoBelgianComics}} Franco-Belgian Comic]] {{ComicBook/Philemon}} does this frequently since [[spoiler:each entrance to Le Monde des Lettres can only be used once]].

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' has ''five'' children (three male, two female), most of whom with their parents in tow, undertaking a journey into TheWonderland that is the Wonka Factory, which is mostly an ElaborateUndergroundBase with many twisting corridors, and at least one long, dark, intimidating tunnel that they travel through by boat. Four of the children are pampered brats who just want more than they already have, and prove themselves unfit to progress further when they disobey their guide, give into their selfish vices, and are subjected to a variety of absurd disasters -- notably, Augustus Gloop is sucked into a pipe and briefly stuck in it, and Veruca Salt and her parents are tossed down a garbage chute by nut-sorting squirrels. They are returned to the real world sadder, wiser, and (in Violet's case) NotQuiteBackToNormal. Charlie Bucket, on the other hand, is a good, poverty-stricken child who ''needs'' a change of life -- and is rewarded for his virtue by becoming the heir to the place. In [[Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator the sequel]], he and Mr. Wonka effect an OrpheanRescue by travelling far beneath the Earth. Also, in [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory the 2013 stage musical adaptation]], Mike Teavee's mother Doris -- a StepfordSmiler {{Housewife}} who has affected her mannerisms in a desperate attempt to cope with her EnfantTerrible son -- is, for much of the tour, a frightened [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Person]] who just wants to come out of this place in one piece, but eventually finds herself affected by the InfectiousEnthusiasm of Willy Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas and [[spoiler: leaves the factory a '''much''' happier person than she was when she went in, thanks in part to her son getting...''reduced'' to a manageable state]].

** Be warned that within lie [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking singularities, sacrificial swings, and cardboard boxes]].

* The RockOpera ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' by {{Music/Genesis}} begins with the protagonist, Rael, being chased by a [[AdvancingWallOfDoom "wall of death"]] that drops into Times Square. As the wall passes over him, he blacks out, and later re-awakens in a surreal world [[BeneathTheEarth beneath]] New York City.

* An [[InvertedTrope inverted]] example in ''Webcomic/HeroOhHero'': [[spoiler:Tobi]] enters a mysterious temple while chasing [[spoiler:the artifact thief]], which transports her ''into'' the real world as a [[RefugeeFromTVLand Refugee From]] RPGMechanicsVerse.

* A male version in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', whose protagonist John Crichton is an astronaut from contemporary Earth whose ship falls through a wormhole into a distant part of the universe where he ends up on a ship ("a living ship!") full of strange alien lifeforms--as is pointed out in every TitleSequence. We also have the occasion AliceAllusion just to drive the trope home.

** Clara's journey isn't scary once the Mouse King is dispatched; none of the places she goes are confined or underground and she has no tasks to complete.

* TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing is the true TropeMaker, predating Alice by 50 years. This involves Marie helping the Nutcracker to stop the Mouse King and goes to the Land of Dolls. While Marie does return home at the end of the book, it's stated that she will eventually return to be the Nutcracker's queen.