- [Michael] Hi, I'm Michael.
This is Lessons from the Screenplay.
When writer, director, Henry Selick
adapted Neil Gaiman's novel, "Coraline"
into an animated film,
he decided to forgo CGI in favor
of an older analog technology.
Stop-motion animation.
As Selick explains, "Corline may be a fairy tale,
"but it is set in our times, modern times.
"And stop-motion animation brings a charm, a warmth.
"The reasons I love stop motion today
"are not the things people want to hear
"when they are selling a film.
"They want what's new, what's cutting edge.
"New is always equated with better.
"But I always thought the story would be best served
"as a stop-motion animated film."
But Coraline does more than use retro technology
to tell its story.
Both the book and the film borrow elements from some of the
most ancient forms of storytelling itself.
So today I want to examine how Coraline uses an underlying
fairytale structure to shape the protagonists journey.
To dissect how the film also incorporates grotesque imagery
and classic ghost story elements.
And to ultimately discover how utilizing
all these ancient forms lends power
to the story by reinforcing one of its central themes.
Let's take a look at Coraline.
(relaxing music)
The novel Coraline opens with a quote
about fairytales by author G.K. Chesterton.
"Fairytales are more than true:
not because they tell us that dragons exist,
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
This quote frames the entire novel,
as it quickly becomes apparent
that Coraline borrows its structure
and many familiar elements from classic fairytales.
First, the plot of Coraline revolves around
a difficult mother-child relationship.
When the film opens, we learn that Coraline
has a strained relationship with her mom.
- Coraline, I don't have time for you right now.
- [Michael] Who spends most of her time working
while ignoring her daughter.
- I'm really, really busy.
- [Michael] But after Coraline discovers a secret passage
into a magical mirror world,
she meets her other mother,
a seemingly perfect double of her own mom.
Except this one is warm and loving,
showering Coraline with attention.
- We've been waiting for you, Coraline.
- [Michael] Coraline's troubled mother-daughter relationship
hearkens back to classic fairytales
like Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White.
In these stories, mothers and mother figures may seem kind,
but they're often secretly plotting against their children.
Likewise, in the film, Coraline at first believes
that the other mother is an ideal replacement for her own.
But she soon discovers that the other mother has been
concealing for true sinister intentions.
- You could stay here forever,
if you want to. - Really?
- There's one tiny little thing we need to do.
Black is traditional.
But if you'd prefer pink,
or vermilion
or chartreuse,
no, you might make me jealous.
- No way!
You're not sewing buttons in my eyes.
- [Michael] Which brings us to another classic
fairytale element,
Coraline must strike a deal with her enemy.
At the story's midpoint,
Coraline refuses to stay in the mirror world
with her other mother.
But when she returns to her normal life,
she discovers that the other mother has kidnapped
her real parents.
- Mom, dad?
- [Michael] So, encouraged by an animal ally,
another common element in fairytales-
- Challenge her then.
She may not play fair, but she won't refuse.
She's got a thing for games.
- [Michael] Coraline strikes a deal with the other mother
to win her parents back.
- Why don't we play a game?
I know you like them.
- Everybody likes games.
And if you somehow win this game-
- Then you let me go.
You let everyone go.
- [Michael] This steel echoes the bargains
often made by characters in fairytales.
As in Rumpelstiltskin,
when the protagonist promises to give up her firstborn child
in exchange for help spinning straw into gold.
Or in Hansel and Gretel
when Gretel seemingly agrees to help the witch
in order to buy time to plot her and her brothers escape.
And stories like these as in Corline,
bargains and deals provide the hero
with a clear task and dire stakes.
Forcing them to rely on their wits
in order to beat the enemy
in an all or nothing game.
- If I lose, I'll stay here with you forever
and let you (indistinct).
And I'll let you sew buttons into my eyes.
- [Michael] And for Coraline, winning her parents back
helps her realize what she's needed to learn all along.
- Mom, dad, I missed you so much.
- [Michael] Fairytales, which are often
the first stories we hear in childhood,
are designed to teach lessons or virtues.
By borrowing the fairytale structure
found in Hansel and Gretel and other classics,
Coraline takes its protagonist on a journey
from meeting a seemingly perfect other mother
to learning that this mother figure is actually evil.
To ultimately risking everything in order to win back
the real parents, teaching her the virtue
of gratitude for what she already has.
But as Selick notes,
Corline doesn't just borrow elements from fairytales.
In fact he calls the film and book
"a sort of combination of Alice in Wonderland
"and Hansel and Gretel."
And like Alice in Wonderland,
Coraline is filled with grotesques.
As a literary concept,
grotesques are all about the blurring of boundaries.
Many scholars consider Lewis Carroll's
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland",
and especially its sequel, "Through the Looking Glass"
to offer some of literature's most classic examples
of grotesque imagery.
Some traits of the grotesque include,
disharmony or paradox,
a combination of the comic and the terrifying,
an extravagance and exaggeration of reality,
and a sense of alienation where something once understood
and expected, becomes foreign and threatening.
And just like in these stories about Alice,
Corline's world is also filled with grotesques.
From the beginning of the story,
the supporting characters in Coraline,
her neighbors, all have exaggerated features.
And as Coraline passes into the mirror world,
she and the audience experience
a through-the-looking-glass feeling,
where the familiar and friendly gradually become
foreign and threatening.
She meets button-eyed versions of the same neighbors
whose features become increasingly unnerving and sinister
as the story goes on.
All of these supporting characters
provide strong visual examples of grotesques
because they evoke blended reactions
in both Coraline and the viewer.
We're not sure whether this has comedy or horror.
If we should be feeling empathy or disgust.
And the soul of the grotesque is especially evident
in the other mother, who eventually reveals herself
to be nothing short of a monster.
All of these grotesque images emphasize the story's theme.
Corline learns that the perfect world she thinks she wants
is actually rotten and terrifying underneath.
And it's here, as the story gets darker,
that we realize that Coraline
is also a full-on ghost story.
There are some classic ghost story elements
present in Coraline from the very beginning.
As the film opens, we see Coraline and her family
moving into a haunted house.
In classic ghost stories,
a setting with a disturbing or mysterious history
plays a crucial role in creating dread or suspense
around what will happen.
The same is true in Corline.
Once she learns that a child once vanished in the house
that she and her family have just moved into.
- They were kids, Grandma's sister disappeared.
She says she was stolen.
- [Michael] Much later after the other mother
reveals herself as the beldam, the monster she really is,
she imprisons Coraline.
- You may come out
when you've learned to be a loving daughter.
- [Michael] But Coraline meets the ghosts
of three children who have all been captured and killed
by the other mother over the years.
- [Ghost boy] She said that she loved us.
- [Ghost Girl] But she locked us here-
- [Ghosts] and ate up our lives.
- [Michael] As in many classic ghost stories,
these ghosts want something from Coraline.
- [Ghost Boy] Find our eyes mistress,
and our souls will be freed.
- [Michael] They ask her to find their eyes,
which were stolen by the other mother,
so that they can finally be free.
In a classic ghost story, as in Coraline,
storytellers tend to refrain
from fully explaining the mystery
because the emphasis is on what the protagonist learns.
The story doesn't concern itself
with how the afterlife works,
offering no explanation of the machinery
behind the eyes Coraline must find
or how they will set the ghosts free.
And ghost stories are often about obsession.
About the cost of getting what you want.
- [Ghost Girl] So she lured us away
with treasures and treats
and games to play-
- [Ghost Boy] Gave all that we asked,
- [Ghost Girl] Yet we still wanted more.
- [Michael] When Coraline encounters the ghost children,
she realizes that they, like her,
were tempted by the promise of a perfect family.
Yet it cost them everything.
And their final warnings to Coraline,
- [Ghost] Even if you win, she'll never let you go.
- [Michael] Help her to outwit the beldam
and escape with her parents.
- Please shut!
(screaming)
- [Michael] And put an end to the monster
once and for all.
(loud thud)
Just like the fairytale structure and grotesque imagery,
Coraline's ghost story elements, enhance the story's theme;
teaching Carline about the dangers of obsession
and the cost of getting the perfect family
that she thinks she wants.
Corline is an excellent example of a modern film
that leverages the power
of some of storytelling's oldest forms,
Fairytales, grotesques and ghost stories.
It uses the deep psychological effects
of these ancient tales
to reinforce a timeless theme.
That chasing something seemingly better,
newer or more exciting,
can prevent us from appreciating
what we already have.
Hey guys, Michael here.
No, in here.
(electric door swoosh)
In revisiting Coraline,
I was reminded that some of my earliest films
were stop-motion videos I made with Legos.
This also reminded me of how cool Legos are.
So I checked out a fun documentary on CuriosityStream
called "The Secret World of Legos".
It goes inside the world of Legos
to see why we're so obsessed with them.
And to unpack the philosophy of the company.
And it's just one of the thousands of educational
documentaries available on CuriosityStream.
And what's great, is that when you sign up
for CuriosityStream, you get Nebula for free.
Nebula is the streaming service built by creators
to be a place where we can house our content ad-free
and where we can experiment with original content.
You can watch Hbomberguy dissecting
the opening title sequence of True Detective.
Watch Tom Scott force some YouTubers to compete for $10,000.
Or watch me explain Moulin Rouge to Alex from technicality
who was born the year the movie came out.
I said, "Gitchie, Gitchie, ya-ya" to you.
Does that mean anything to you?
- Not at all, no.
Both CuriosityStream and Nebula
have a ton of great content.
And you can get them both for less than $15
by going to the link in the description.
Thanks to CuriosityStream for sponsoring this video.
Well said.
Thank you as always to the patrons on Patreon
for making this channel possible.
Thank you for watching,
and I'll see you next time.