A Spin on Things

I'm about to go off the deep end.

What if a maniacal family-values Anscombe society interest group actually controlled Henry Selick's hands behind-the-scenes of Coraline? I don't think I have ever seen a movie so overtly blame self-involved, hip graphic designer-set liberal parents for ruining their childrens' lives quite this passionately. Coraline's writer mom ignores the poor child - the conservatives make sure that the mother doesn't even make Coraline lunch, or go school supply shopping with her! Through no fault of her own, Coraline becomes a quite mean - and valueless - person. She incessently pokes fun of a nice boy, Wylie, and easily succumbs to the grease-laden, delicious meals of the Other Mother. I see an indictment of writers, of any career where you stare at the computer all day long, of performers; that is, I see an out-of-touch (I say that, but really, the Mormon and deeply religious population of this country is enormous. numbers-wise, it's the rest of us who don't have a clue) nuclear-family, stay-at-home mother, anti-technology endorsing group seeping into Selick's thoughts.



I'm just playing around. I don't really think this is an early 2000s Republican propaganda film - but, I do think Coraline has a very strong message, and not the one to come from Neil Gaiman's novel. I haven't actually read it, but the internet tells me that it's a subtle, interesting story about learning to live with the family you have rather than a perceived ideal. I think Selick has brilliantly twisted this message to focus on the parents rather than the child - in fact, to focus on any adult. This film is for adults, not children. It's for those parents who take their child to see an edgy movie so that they can grow up into hip graphic designer/film producer/writers who will one day talk about how strongly they were influenced by their parent's great taste - for those parents who aren't listening to the particularities of their children and try to only mold, not follow inherent passions. It is time to live with the family you have.

On the first level, the film seems to be a warning to parents, and potential parents, to really think about having a child and how much time and energy it takes to raise it ("it"? I'm clearly not ready, but at least I realize this). I read a review somewhere that talked about how the film is clearly from Coraline's perspective, so the almost cruel treatment and utter negligence she receives from her real parents is skewed. This could easily be the case, but the film still stands as a warning to all of us to not be so self-absorbed. Coraline needs Wylie; we should all admit that we need our friends. Then, the film is positively inundated with body image references. Coraline's Other Mother is bulimic and the 2 batty ex-Coney Island stars are so obsessed with who has the largest breasts and was the most physically attractive that they don't even think through the fact that Coraline is parent-less for the second half of the movie.

Or, he could be saying none of this. The fact that Selick's subtle film - a children's film - inspired wildly divergent thought, and definitely not just about aesthetics, is a strong testament to his brilliance as a director. [LFR]