I realized this week that it has been a month since I’ve blogged. I’ve let the daily intricacies of our life take priority. Since school started, we have had soccer practices and games, Cub Scout meetings, and college visits. It’s taken awhile, but we are slowly falling into a routine. As such, we haven’t really had time to watch a lot of children’s movies. Oh sure, there has been some movie watching, but nothing worth blogging about. In fact, it is by accident that I even have a movie to blog about this week. Since I haven’t really been paying that much attention to our Netflix move queue, I was actually surprised we had something really interesting to watch.
When Coraline arrived in the mail, I had never actually heard of it. My husband remarked that it was produced by Henry Selick and Tim Burton, who produced James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I wasn’t particularly impressed. When our oldest son was about 5 or 6, my mother gave him a copy of the movie James and the Giant Peach for a gift. I thought it was dark, somber, and without merit. That is probably why I never was eager to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas when it came out. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting much from Coraline. In fact, if I had known about its origins, I probably wouldn’t have gotten it at all. But there it was and the children were whining. What else could I do?
Now usually when I pop in a movie for the little ones, I go about my business. I’ve seen Sleeping Beauty, The Incredibles, and Spider Man at least 40 or 50 times. Watching them at this point would only provide me with really crazy trivia, like the colors of all the Seven Dwarfs’ hats. But Coraline entranced me from the beginning and I just had to watch it. Once I got into it, I’m glad I watched with the children. It was delightfully creepy. It reminded me why I love fairy tales. And it was way better than Barbie Mariposa.
Coraline (PG) is an animated film, based on a novella by the same name. Dakota Fanning is the voice behind Coraline, the only, lonely child of Mel and Charlie Jones. As the story begins, the family moves into a huge, rural Victorian style home that has been converted into several apartments. They share the house with some very interesting characters—two retired actresses and a Russian ex-acrobat. The family’s landlord, Mrs. Lovat, has a talkative grandson named Wyborne, who attempts to befriend Coraline when she moves in. Coraline finds her parents boring and pre-occupied with their work as writers. Since they have little time for her, Coraline spends her days playing in the gardens, making friends with the neighbors, and exploring the house. In an effort to get close to Coraline, Wybie gives her a hand-made doll with button eyes that bears a striking resemblance to Coraline. About that same time, Coraline discovers a small doorway hidden in the house. At night, she is able to travel through the doorway to the Other World. In this parallel universe, Coraline’s Other Parents are warm and attentive and her neighbors are young and exciting. Soon Coraline discovers that her Other World is not what it seems. When her Other Mother reveals her true nature, Coraline is faced with the possibility that her normal life and parents may be lost to her forever.
I don’t know what the writer’s intended, but Coraline is a bit like an old fashioned fairy tale. I say “old fashioned” because fairy tales have changed a lot over time. I was first introduced to these old tales when I was in High School. I was lucky enough to have an English teacher who let us watch movies in class. There was a catch, though. We had to write about them afterwards. One of the first movies we watched was The Company of Wolves, a gothic thriller that resembles the children’s story of Little Red Riding Hood. That movie led me to the fascinating world of fairy tales, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. Originally, their stories weren’t necessarily for children. They were sometimes grisly or graphic and always accompanied by a moral. Coraline is exactly that—so be warned.
As I mentioned before, I wasn’t sure about the content of Coraline. We watched the movie with our 8 year-old and 3 year-old sons and our 5 year old daughter. For awhile, everyone was pretty happy. Then it started. The movie got really creepy when Coraline traveled, Alice-in-Wonderland style, through the doorway. It became, quite frankly, really scary. Honestly, it took me by surprise as well. The movie got particularly scary as Other Mother’s true character was revealed to Coraline. In spite of the rats and bats, I don’t think those scenes are necessarily distressing to older children. What bothered me more was the portrayal of the actresses in the Other World. In my opinion, it was animated burlesque, right down to the tassels. Even the fate of poor Wybie bothered me less than those dancing old ladies. In spite of that, though, it’s worth watching. The writers might not know it, but, in the fashion of Grimm and Perrault, there is a big, fat, juicy moral for Christians.
Most people who watch will probably agree that there is a moral to this story. I suspect, though, they’ll be thinking morals a la Disney. They’ll probably say something like, “Be careful what you wish for.” Or “Goth girls have brains, too.” They may be right. But as a Christian, I think there is something much more interesting to discuss. The Devil is the Father of Lies and he will do anything to convince Christians to reject Our Lord.
In the movie, Coraline is clearly unhappy that her parents are unable to devote all their attention to her. She perceives their lack of attention as lack of love. In this state of mind, Coraline is vulnerable to the Other Mother’s schemes. The Other Mother draws Coraline into her world by fulfilling all of Coraline’s wishes and desires. Coraline becomes so mesmerized by this world that she returns several times. Coraline finally begins to realize the danger of Other Mother only when she insists that Coraline trade her eyes for buttons to live with her. In a similar way, the Devil attempts to draw Christians away from God. Because of mankind’s fallen nature, human beings have sinful desires and inclinations. Satan is clever. He convinces us that following our passions will make us happier, stronger, smarter, and better. For a time, this may be true. Just as Coraline was drawn to her Other World, we turn to our sinful behavior looking for happiness. That happiness is short lived, however, when we realize that we must repent or remain separated from God.
Satan, sin, and vice are not very popular subjects these days. In fact, vices are often considered virtues by modern society. At the very least, they are labeled as diseases or conditions. Under these circumstances, it can be difficult for Christians to separate Satan’s lies from God’s Truth. It can certainly be difficult for Christian parents to help their children sort out the messages they get from the media and society. It might be difficult but certainly not impossible with the graces of God. Dante’s Inferno might help, but I forgot—that’s just a video game. I’m thinking I’ll just stick to the fairy tales.
(Photo Credit: Donna Garde, Texas Parks & Wildlife)
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