Coraline is a stop motion animation film based off the book of the same title by Neil Gaiman. It was produced by the studio Laika House in 2009 and directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. The story follows a young girl, Coraline Jones, who has just moved to a new town with her parents. In the beginning of the story, Coraline is completely frustrated being in this new place, with only her overworked parents and some odd neighbors to talk to. Little does she know is that someone is watching her and she quickly discovers in the bricked up small door in their living room leads to the mysterious fourth section of musty old victorian house she lives in. She discovers her “other parents” who give her everything she could possibly want. While in the beginning it seems like a wonderful place to be, Coraline soon learns that her life is in danger and that she must save herself, the souls of the lost children the other mother has eaten and even her actual parents.
While watching the film, there seems to be a different set of laws of physics for both the real world and “the other world”. The actual world physics seem fairly similar to what our reality would be like. It gives the audience a feeling of familiarity, even though they have never been to this exact place. There are some cases where this is not true, for example some of the paths of action some characters move, but for the most part, the real world is pretty accurate. As for the “other world”, the physics are in many ways completely different, forcing the audience to feel a sort of strangeness, while watching Coraline explore. This gives the film contrast among the worlds that Coraline is in, showing that this “other world” is not really reality. It also shows how much she stands out compared to the rest of the characters there.
While watching the film, there seems to be a different set of laws of physics for both the real world and “the other world”. The actual world physics seem fairly similar to what our reality would be like. It gives the audience a feeling of familiarity, even though they have never been to this exact place. There are some cases where this is not true, for example some of the paths of action some characters move, but for the most part, the real world is pretty accurate. As for the “other world”, the physics are in many ways completely different, forcing the audience to feel a sort of strangeness, while watching Coraline explore. This gives the film contrast among the worlds that Coraline is in, showing that this “other world” is not really reality. It also shows how much she stands out compared to the rest of the characters there.
In the other world "the other mother", as she goes by, has created three wonders for Coraline. They are the garden outside the house, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's home, which is located in the basement of the house, and Mr. Bobinsky’s home, which is where the attic of the house would be. The first couple of things I discovered while watching each wonder be revealed to Coraline was how slow the speed was in certain parts and how force was occasionally reduced. A reason for this could be for visual appeal and to emphasize on the mood of the current scene and other things are also only left with the explanation that “magic” did it. There are also times when gravity is also defied.
When Coraline visits the other world a second time, the other mother tells her to go out to the garden where her other father has a surprise for her. Now the garden at Coraline's real home appears to be a miserable place compared to the garden in the other world. The other garden is colorful and welcoming. The first thing that appeared off in this wonder were the hummingbirds who are the some of the first creatures to welcome Coraline. Their wings move so slowly to what the expected rate of a hummingbird’s would be, the only thing that really let’s you know that they are hummingbirds is due to their shape. The reason for this may have been due to the fact that this is a stop motion film and to be able to get a quick blurry action with a physical puppet is probably pretty difficult. However, because they are not flittering around quickly as actual hummingbirds do, this gives them a bit of a friendlier feeling; as if they were to fly any faster, they might hurt her. Another thing that I found interesting as well is how as Coraline walks through the garden is how the flowers react. As she passes by, they all bloom and open up for her with no form of force needed. The only explanation for this to happen it is caused by magic. Everything in this world has been created and is controlled by The Other Mother. Not one part of this world actually exists, it is just more or less a painting created specifically for Coraline to persuade her that she should stay there. Because of this reason, anything can happen, so long as the other mother wants it.
When Coraline goes to visit the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's home, she finds that their original home is no more and that it entirely consists of a giant theatre. The elderly woman perform a huge musical number in honor of Coraline, including a trapeze act. Within this extravagant performance, there are several times where the speed and acceleration at which the two are moving, particularly on the trapeze, seems to be a little slow, when they are swinging by themselves. Halfway through this act Miss Forcible throws herself from her swing and Miss Spink latches onto her and the two thus swing from the same trapeze. Towards the end of their performance as well, Coraline is then grabbed by Miss Forcible and joins in the acrobatics. While there is a lot of edits during this scene, the change in the period this human pendulum is created does not seem to to take longer but instead stays the same rate of speed as when the women were swinging by themselves.
In the real world, Mr. Bobinsky is known to Coraline as the limber, extremely tall man who is training his mice for his circus and buys disgusting smelling cheeses to condition them. In the other world, the other Mr. Bobinsky already has his circus together and performs an elaborate performance for Coraline. While the first time visiting this wonder is quite fantastic, when Coraline goes back in search for the third eye belonging to the lost children, it becomes a disturbing experience. What is left of the other Mr. Bobinsky at this point is nothing but a bunch of rats, which were formerly the circus mice. While he is made up of rats however, what looks like his body, basically on his circus outfit at this point, slithers around the the floor around the pillars in the room, as if gravity has no effect on this creature, yet still falls and hobbles over at other times. He is also able to stand up in a somewhat upright position and move somewhat human-like even though what's left of him is again, only his rats. Another thing regarding force regarding this wonder has to do with the cotton candy cannons. When Coraline first came upon this place, things of cotton candy were shot out for her enjoyment. The force at which the candy was blown out during the first visit compared to the second visit is vastly different. In the first visit, the force at which the candy blows out is quite smooth and flowy and even floats above the head of the consumer waiting for it to be catched. In the second visit however, the force at which the candy blows out is fast and aimed towards Coraline to stop her from running out of the room.
With each eye of the lost children Coraline finds, the more the world begins to fall apart, literally. As she captures each one hidden in each of the three wonders the place goes completely grey and appears to turn almost into stone. Once she has collected all three eyes, the outside part of the world is basically shattered apart; as if the spell has been broken. There of course is no real world explanation that can explain this other than that. This happens again one more time during what is known as the web scene. At this point, Coraline has outsmarted the other mother, whose looks have now disintegrated, showing that she truly is not her mother, but an creepy spider-looking witch. When the witch becomes completely infuriated that she is on the losing side of this battle, with a stomp of her foot, the floorboards of the room spiral up revealing nothing but a web for Coraline to fall into.
When Coraline goes to visit the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's home, she finds that their original home is no more and that it entirely consists of a giant theatre. The elderly woman perform a huge musical number in honor of Coraline, including a trapeze act. Within this extravagant performance, there are several times where the speed and acceleration at which the two are moving, particularly on the trapeze, seems to be a little slow, when they are swinging by themselves. Halfway through this act Miss Forcible throws herself from her swing and Miss Spink latches onto her and the two thus swing from the same trapeze. Towards the end of their performance as well, Coraline is then grabbed by Miss Forcible and joins in the acrobatics. While there is a lot of edits during this scene, the change in the period this human pendulum is created does not seem to to take longer but instead stays the same rate of speed as when the women were swinging by themselves.
In the real world, Mr. Bobinsky is known to Coraline as the limber, extremely tall man who is training his mice for his circus and buys disgusting smelling cheeses to condition them. In the other world, the other Mr. Bobinsky already has his circus together and performs an elaborate performance for Coraline. While the first time visiting this wonder is quite fantastic, when Coraline goes back in search for the third eye belonging to the lost children, it becomes a disturbing experience. What is left of the other Mr. Bobinsky at this point is nothing but a bunch of rats, which were formerly the circus mice. While he is made up of rats however, what looks like his body, basically on his circus outfit at this point, slithers around the the floor around the pillars in the room, as if gravity has no effect on this creature, yet still falls and hobbles over at other times. He is also able to stand up in a somewhat upright position and move somewhat human-like even though what's left of him is again, only his rats. Another thing regarding force regarding this wonder has to do with the cotton candy cannons. When Coraline first came upon this place, things of cotton candy were shot out for her enjoyment. The force at which the candy was blown out during the first visit compared to the second visit is vastly different. In the first visit, the force at which the candy blows out is quite smooth and flowy and even floats above the head of the consumer waiting for it to be catched. In the second visit however, the force at which the candy blows out is fast and aimed towards Coraline to stop her from running out of the room.
With each eye of the lost children Coraline finds, the more the world begins to fall apart, literally. As she captures each one hidden in each of the three wonders the place goes completely grey and appears to turn almost into stone. Once she has collected all three eyes, the outside part of the world is basically shattered apart; as if the spell has been broken. There of course is no real world explanation that can explain this other than that. This happens again one more time during what is known as the web scene. At this point, Coraline has outsmarted the other mother, whose looks have now disintegrated, showing that she truly is not her mother, but an creepy spider-looking witch. When the witch becomes completely infuriated that she is on the losing side of this battle, with a stomp of her foot, the floorboards of the room spiral up revealing nothing but a web for Coraline to fall into.
Even with what I have listed in this paper, the list of things that are completely different about this magical world could probably go on for a long time, which concludes as to why this is probably one of my top favourite animated movies, if not my absolute favourite of all time. After discovering the distinct difference in how the physics of both worlds exist makes it even more interesting and in some ways disturbing, for the shear fact that from the beginning, the physics give a subtle red flag that there is something off with this new place. Whether or not the difference in the physics of both worlds is just me reading too much into the film or not, I love the contrast and having been able to pick at the film for what stuck out. I now view the film being a lot more disturbing than before, for a number of different reasons.
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