The Childhood Horror of CORALINE

Script Supervision by JESS CAMPBELL:

ABOUT THE SHOW:
Screen Smart is a show celebrating Ryan's love for film, games, art and entertainment through personal retrospective analysis that aims to explore what made them so good.

ABOUT RYAN:
Ryan Hollinger is a Ddesign & Animation graduate from Northern Ireland, working freelance in media production and broadcast.

SCRIPT EDITING by Jess Campbell:

MUSIC

Can't Sleep by Eveningland
St. Francis by Josh Lippi & The Overtimers
Man by Rondo Brothers
Lullaby by Yung Logos

[ostensiblyaverage]

I just realized she threw her in the mirror to give her time to reflect.

[notyet]

Did you know Coraline is the longest stop-motion movie to this date?

[lemonlad]

Coraline is the embodiment of the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back"

[ionshatter]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous this film is? This quality of claymation is astounding, and should be praised for the smoothness and the life it brings. Absolutely phenomenal.

[undeadladybug]

The book is even creepier than the film, considering the tunnel literally becomes a living being that tries to *eat* Coraline and the Other Mother's hands are flesh and blood, that she then cuts off herself in order to try and get the key back.

[heyimfroge]

My grandparents always told me that the sandman doesn’t bring your dreams, he makes sure you’re sleeping, and if you aren’t, he steals your eyes and feeds them to his children on the moon. Which I’m 90% sure is what happened in that short film.

[kyliemangili]

dear lord that sandman animation is terrifying...

[Hakajin]

If Coraline is about growing up, then what is meant by "growing up" is learning to negotiate identity. Coraline feels like no one cares about what she wants, or even who she is (thus the emphasis on adults besides her parents calling her "Caroline). I think it's also significant she has a disagreement with her mother about which clothes to buy, as clothes are a form of self-expression. On the other hand, Coraline wishes her parents and neighbors were different. And in the other world, they are -- her parents are completely focused on giving her everything she wants, and her neighbors are magical and entertaining.

But then! The true horror of making other people into exactly what you want them to be is revealed through the Other Mother. She controls everyone in the other world, which is expressed particularly strong through Wybie, how she takes away his voice. She wants to change Coraline, too, make her like herself and own her, basically. The cat says that she wants something to love, or maybe just something to eat, and... It's both. Her love is a devouring love kills that which she loves by taking away their sense of self (or soul). That's why she's so insistent that the children she takes never leave her. However, she can't take Coraline's eyes without Coraline's permission. That's why she creates an enticing trap, to get Coraline to make the exchange. I think it's also noteworthy that the Other Mother hates cats, since cats are notorious for their independence and unwillingness to obey orders.

The other mother is strongly symbolic of the Narcissistic parent. That kind of parent pampers the child, but tells them who they are and what they want. They try to impose their own identity on the child, which is called "enmeshment." The child often feels guilted into doing what the parent wants, or at least like they owe the parent for all the attention.

Anyway! The point is, Coraline's journey is about learning a balance between asserting her own identity, and allowing other people their own.

[stuflames]

Coraline is a straight horror movie. Nudity, displacement, crisis, loss, suspense, unknown, anticipation of loss/high stakes, body horror.

It's a horror movie that includes all of the above traditional horror elements on a kid's budget (emotional budget, not financial budget obviously).

It's amazing. It's genius.

[headphonesguy]

Coraline: I'm creepy
Sandman: *Hold these eyes*

[MrClickity]

It's funny that some people worry that a film like Coraline is too scary for kids. There's this idea that kids can't handle a little horror but it's a relatively recent idea. Look at all the classic children's stories; most of them have some pretty messed up subject matter. Hansel and Gretel starts with 2 kids abandoned in the woods by their starving parents and ends with an old cannibal getting roasted alive in her own oven.

[lexyshannon]

Coraline has such a beautiful, fascinating atmoshpere

[kurean]

Holy shit this movie was my childhood. I watched it so long ago that I thought the movie wasn’t real and that it was just a dream until I watched this video.

[cawareyoudoin]

The book's themes and meaning are actually pretty different- Coraline's parents dissapear right after her first visit, something about the other world seems off immediately, there is no Wybie, there are no dolls, the other children don't lack eyes, are just husks, what's left... The other father is much more terrifying at the end, but much more pityful, Coraline is less snarky, quieter and more in her head, etc. While the final message- to find beauty in the normal world, and appreciate what you have, stays the same, the movie other world is more about temptation, while the book one is like a trap that Coraline needs to get out of.


I actually really miss the scene with the children's souls, in the book it's not "angels with wings come and thank her", but actual four children, having the last fun day, before three of them move on. I remember reading and re-reading this scene over and over again in my childhood, it just had this... Feeling to it.

[rb]

First watched Coraline when I was 16. I knew from the look of it it was supposed to be scary, but it was meant as a kid's film so I wasn't worried. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night. Absolutely terrifying.

[callumsparrow]

Coraline and Monster House were the films that first both introduced me and perked my interest not just with Horror Films, but also with the Horror Genre entirely, and it truly does make my day when obscure stuff I grew up with are finally being given the recognition they deserve.

[gailcbull]

I think the controlling and manipulative tricks of the other mother can be read as a depiction of psychological abuse.

[childeater]

The kid in sandman is scarier then the monster

[ккє-оц]

Coraline gives me such a strong sense of Nostalgia. I watched it when I was a kid and I was more fascinated then scared by it. I can still watch this movie with the same enjoyment and never get bored ♡

[angeloffish]

I like your point about how Coraline looks more colourful in the real world, like she brings life to it and it made me notice something.
The real world is greyish in colour and her clothes are bright, and the other world is bright and colourful, looking similar to the real world.
I noticed that over time with their visits to the other world, her clothes start to darken.
When she takes the eyes in the other world, a part goes grey, similar to the colour of the real world but looking more dead and devoid of life. She is wearing bright colours again. And in the end, the real world is now more colourful.