I saw Coraline this week and it was, in all honesty, one of the most creative and beautiful movies I have ever seen (watch the trailer below), a wonder of eye-popping claymation that is sure to become a classic, especially for those who enjoy their films with a side of mood-altering substances. I highly recommend it to everyone, except children. It is horrifying.
Even so, something about Coraline did not sit quite right, and when I saw a poster in the 68th street subway station (pictured at right), it finally hit me.
The plot centers around a young girl, Coraline, the unfortunate only child of two workaholics who make it painfully obvious that they have no time for her. Happily, Coraline discovers a door into an alternate world that is very much like her own, only better. In this world, the fantastic is commonplace and, more importantly, her parents love her.
Oh, and everyone has buttons for eyes.
As Coraline makes repeated visits to this parallel universe, she becomes increasingly tempted to stay, the only problem being that taking up permanent residence entails allowing her “other” mother to sew buttons on her eyes as well. Eventually it becomes clear that this mother is not, in fact, good, but actually some sort of demon who wishes to enslave Coraline’s soul.
The thing that bothers me about Coraline is its message that happiness is an impossible dream, and that those who seek or partake in it are necessarily living in denial (lost their eyes), that they can’t “see” the truth – the ultimate hoplessness and meaninglessness of life. As the poster says, “be careful what you wish for”, the idea being that if something seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
Contrast this with the Christian idea that there really is a heaven, a place where every tear will be wiped from our eyes and that beauty, far from being some sort of diversion from reality, is actually a foretaste of what is to come. Writing about our (and Coraline’s) need for something more, St. Paul says, “we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons (and daughters), the redemption of our body.” For Coraline, the groaning for something more goes forever unfulfilled, the need for love forever unmet. Not so in Christianity.
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7 responses to “Mockingbird at the Movies: Coraline”
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Thanks for the analysis, it is now on my watch list.
Quick plug…. 🙂
Neil Gaiman is the author of the book on which the movie is based; and it’s not the only good thing he’s written. NG’s novel NEVERWHERE is one of the best fantasies written in the last 30 years. It’s also got two of the funniest, darkest, and most original villains in any novel period.
I’m pretty sure Mockingbird types would love NEVERWHERE.
Woo-hoo. Great piece, R-J.
The only thing I might disagree with you about is your advice that no children should see it. I’m more inclined to the view of the NYT reviewer who wrote of CORALINE:
“There are many scenes and images in “Coraline” that are likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing. As long as it doesn’t go too far toward violence or mortal dread, a film that elicits a tingle of unease or a tremor of spookiness can be a tonic to sensibilities dulled by wholesome, anodyne, school-approved entertainments.”
Most of the books I loved as a child were really frightening: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Alice In Wonderland, etc. Novels like Charlotte’s Web are about either you or your best friend being murdered by kind nice people. And of course we haven’t yet begun to talk about fairy tales: which deal with deep archteypal terrors of abandonment, murder, and so on.
Way back in the day I used to teach kindergarten and my experience is that a lot of kids really like scary stories. As Bruno Bettelheim argued (in “The Uses of Enchantment”) it’s part of how they deal with the realities of childhood and growing up, which are indeed frightening.
Just my two cents… J.
Stamper –
I hear what you’re saying about scary movies and kids.
That being said, having two little tikes of my own, I must say that there is a big difference between a scary book and a scary movie. We love Roald Dahl, but when I think about making a BFG movie, with giants eating children by the boat-load, it’s terrifying.
Plus, one of my six-year-old’s friends saw Coraline and said it scared him to death, not in a good way.
Sigh…and mine play Dungeons and Dragons much to the school’s chagrin…at least here in Dallas.
Where would we be with Tolkien’s “eucatastrophe?”
Wow. Now I am torn between wanting to go see it and being kind of intimidated/afraid of it. hahaha It looks FREAK-KAY. Just sayin’ (the trailer, anyway)… Perhaps I follow a bit more in my mother’s footsteps, who avoids anything she sees as negative or scary – to a fault! It’s terribly frustrating. This is a part of our world: sin and brokenness, imperfections, fear, agony, etc. Facing it helps us to be more aware of ourselves, our nature, and sheer miraculousness of God’s love.
Therefore, I think I have to just have to suck it up and buckle up. It seems rather enchanting and like an interesting concept, well-produced. Plus, I can watch it with my husband and feel a bit safer 😉
I’m also going to put “neverwhere” on my goodreads to-read list! Thanks, JS, RJ, and everyone.
~ HMS