Bethlem Asylum, also known as Bethlem Royal Hospital,[1] is a Victorian England location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It first appears in the first episode.
Bethlem Asylum is inspired by the real life Bethlem Royal Hospital in London.
History
Trivia
On-Screen Notes
- Roman numerals are written at the front entrance of the asylum: "MDCCCLXVII"[2] which means 1867. ("Down the Rabbit Hole," "Who's Alice")
- The surgical instruments used in the "procedure" Dr. Lydgate prepares to perform on Alice includes a drill, a circular bone saw and a scalpel,[3] suggesting that the "procedure" is a removal of parts of the cerebral cortex. This form of psychosurgery was first performed by the Swizz physician Gottlieb Burckhardt in the 1880s, and was the first time that evidence that surgical manipulation of the brain could calm patients, emerged.[4] Alice's homeworld is a version of the late 1800s. ("Down the Rabbit Hole")
- In the decades following Burkhardt's work, there were few attempts at surgical disruption of the human brain, until a more infamous form of psychosurgery emerged in the form of lobotomy.[4] However, unlike Burkhardt's procedure, and Lydgate's procedure on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, it involved an icepick-like instrument and a hammer, with the icepick being hammered through the eye socket and into the brain.[5] Modern lobotomy was first performed on a human being in 1946, although alternate versions of procedure, involving different instruments and methods, were performed as early as 1935.[4]
- According to the painter, Bethlem Asylum is located "just past Westminster Bridge". ("Who's Alice")
Production Notes
- The establishing shot of Bethlem Asylum[2] is stock footage from "Down the Rabbit Hole", but with different clouds and a different color hue.[6]}}
Props Notes
- The agreement that Alice signs reads:[7] ("Down the Rabbit Hole")
- St GEORGE'S
- FIELDS
- SOUTHWARK LONDON
- PRIMUM NON
- NOCERE
I hereby consent to the special procedure outlined to me by
Dr. Arthur Lydgate. Under the Lunacy Act and County
Asylums Act of 1845, I understand that Dr. Arthur Lydgate has the
authority to detain me until such a time that I exhibit recuperative
progress as to be indicative of a cessation of the symptoms of mania,
lunacy, idiocy and other unsoundness of mind or moral turpitude.
Dr. Arthur Lydgate will submit an assessment to the
Commission and the Home Secretary's Office. It is under their
ultimate authority that I will determine my eventual release. The
Lunacy Commission will restrict my access to the courts of law, so that
I may not challenge the legality of my sequestration or care.
By signing below, I hereby indicate that I understand the
legal stipulations outlined in the above.
- Signed [Alice's signature]
- Witness
Dr. Arthur Lydgate, M.D. - Signed day of the month
- The Land Without Magic version of the Bethlem Royal Hospital was also located at St George's Fields (indeed a former area in Southwark, London), in the 19th century.
- Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that, ironically, means "first, do no harm". It is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all healthcare students are taught in school and is a fundamental principle throughout the world.
- The Lunacy Act 1845 and the 1845 County Asylums Act formed the mental health law in the real version of England and Wales from 1845 to 1890.
- Witness
- A handwritten piece of paper on Dr. Lydgate's desk[8] is adapted from excerpts from the first chapter of "The psychology of dementia praecox" by Carl Jung.[9] The handwritten notes are illegible on-screen and some of it is obscured, but the document can be read in concept art[10] and a prop photo[11] (note that in order to make layout of the text fit into the table, the entire transcript has been shrunken down):
Yet psycho-analysis uncovers the motives, and |
Attending Physician: Dr. Arthur Lydgate, M.D. Patient's Name: Alice |
we then begin to understand why the patients reacted in such a manner. In dementia prascox we are at present unable to penetrate deep enough so that the relations remain unknown, and we therefore assume an "ataxia" between noo- and thymo-psyche. Thanks to analysis we know that in hysteria there is no "ataxia," but only an oversensitiveness, which, as soon as we know the pathogenic ideational complex, becomes clear and intelligible. |
It is important to understand why the patients reacted in such a matter. In dementia praox [sic] we are at present unable to penetrate deep enough so that relations remain unknown, and we therefore assume an "ataxia" between noo- and thymo-psyche. Thanks to my research, we know that in hysteria there is no "ataxia" to speak of, but only an over-sensiting [sic] – which as soon as we know the pathogenic ideati [sic] it becomes clear and easy to perceive. One should |
Knowing how the incongruity is brought about in hysteria, is it still necessary that we should accept a totally new mechanism in dementia praecox? In general we know by far too little about the psychology of the normal and hysteric 59 to dare to accept in such an untransparent disease as dementia prsecox, a totally new mechanism unknown to all psychology. | |
One should | |
be economical with new principles of interpretation. It is for this reason that I repudiate the clear and ingenious hypothesis of Stransky. |
be economical with rules of interpretation. It is for this reason that I repudiate all the hypothesis [sic]. |
As a compensation for the above, we possess a very excellent experimental work by Stransky 60 which gives us the foundation for the understanding of an important symptom, namely, the speech disorders. | |
The speech disorder is the product of the main psychological disturbance. Stransky calls it "intrapsychic ataxia."1 Whenever there is a disturbance at the points of contact of the emotional life and ideation, as in dementia praecox, producing thereby in the normal thought the lack of orientation by a controlling idea (Liepmann), there must result a stream of thought resembling flight of ideas. |
The disturbance is the product of the main psychological disturbance. I call it intra-psychic ataxia. Whenever there is a disturbance at the points of contact of the emotional life and ideation – as in dementia praecox, producing thereby in the normal thought the lack of orientation by a single controlling idea. There must result a stream of thought resembling flight of ideas in general. |
As Pelletier has shown, the laws of association predominate against the influence of direction. If it is a question of a process of speech there must result an increase in the purely superficial elements of connection (motor speech association and sound reactions), as was shown in our associations |
As I believe I have shown, the laws of association predominate against the influence of direction. If it is a question of speech there must an increase in the purely superficial elements of connection (motor speech association and sound reactions), as was shown in our ongoing associations. |
experiments with distracted attention. | Arthur Lydgate |
- 1"Intrapsychic ataxia" is a term invented by Austrian psychiatrist Erwin Stransky (1877 – 1962) and refers to functional disharmony among various parts of the psyche.[12]
- When Dr. Lydgate is preparing for Alice's surgery, one of the things seen on the table is a big syringe.[13] When Jafar is drawing blood from Edwin in Wonderland, he uses the same syringe,[14] indicating that Jafar took it when he visited the asylum. ("Down the Rabbit Hole", "Who's Alice", "Bad Blood")
- The same prop is also used the syringe that Mr. Hyde uses to inject himself with separation serum in the Once Upon a Time episode "An Untold Story".[15]
- The label on Dr. Lydgate's bottle says (some of the text is obscured but can be seen on prop photos;[16] obscured text is set in fuchsia):
LAUDANUM
451/2 [sic] GRAINS OPIUM AND 65% ALCOHOL
POISON
DOSE.
3 months old 3 drops
One year old 4 drops
Four years old 5 drops
Ten years old 14 drops
Twenty years old 25 drops
Adults 30 drops
THE LABORATORY OF
Westlake & Son
CHEMISTS
Plymouth, England
("Who's Alice")
- Laudanum is a highly addictive solution of dissolved opium powder and alcohol. During the Victorian era, which Alice's world is based on, it was lauded as a cure-all remedy in Europe and North America and was readily available in stores and grocers, even pubs. It was used to soothe everything from headaches to depression.[17]
- Notice how Dr. Lydgate's medicine contains 65% alcohol; laudanum usually contains 25 percent alcohol on average, but some variants contain as much as 60–90 percent.[17]
- The label on the bottle is based on real antique laudanum bottles:[18] It is labeled "poison", has an illustration of a skull at the top, states the amount of opium grains and percentage of alcohol, states the number of drops recommended for the ages of 3 months, one, four, ten and twenty years old, and adults; and the name of the production company and where it was produced, is printed at the bottom.
- "Westlake and Son" is a reference to Neil Westlake, a prop designer on Once Upon a Time and its spin-off.
- Plymouth is a port city on the south coast of Devon, England.
Set Dressing
- The portrait hanging above the fireplace in an interview room[19] and in Dr. Lydgate's office is of Queen Victoria.[20] The portrait depicts Queen Victoria during her "mourning period" after the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861.[21] ("Down the Rabbit Hole," "Who's Alice")
- "Chambers - Design for Mr. Ward", an architectural illustration from 1794 by the 18th century engraver Pierre Fourdrinier, can be seen hanging on the wall behind Alice when she is being interviewed.[22] ("Down the Rabbit Hole")
- The same illustration appears in a corridor in the Storybrooke Town Hall when Emma and Henry leave the building in the Once Upon a Time episode "The Final Battle Part 2".[23]
Filming Locations
- The interview room at Bethlem Asylum,[24] and the fireplace in Dr. Lydgate's office,[25] are redressed sets that were originally part of the mayor's office[26] at the Storybrooke Town Hall on Once Upon a Time. ("Down the Rabbit Hole," "Who's Alice")
Appearances
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | ||||||||||
"Down the Rabbit Hole": | "Trust Me": | "Forget Me Not": | "The Serpent": | "Heart of Stone": | "Who's Alice": | "Bad Blood": | ||||
Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Mentioned | ||||
"Home": | "Nothing to Fear": | "Dirty Little Secrets": | "Heart of the Matter": | "To Catch a Thief": | "And They Lived...": | |||||
Absent | Absent | Mentioned | Mentioned | Absent | Absent |
References
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