It's like Tuesdays with Morrie without all the wisdom
So Disappointed.
I hesitate to blog this because I love Neil Gaiman ever so much and, since he loves me too, I don’t want to hurt his feelings. But HOW COULD HE LET HENRY SELICK DO THAT TO CORALINE? I’m vague about the details because I don’t want to be too spoilery, but if you know nothing about Coraline, there may be spoilers ahead.
I don’t need movies that are based on books to be exactly the same as the books, but when we all fall in love with a little girl protagonist who really and truly saves the day in the book all by herself, well, we want her to really and truly save the day and not be saved by a character who wasn’t in the book at all and was hardly in the movie enough to warrant his role in the very end of the movie. The ending of the book was clever with the picnic and the well, and it showed how bright and heroic Coraline was. It was important to me that the ending of the movie show her in the same light. It did not. Yes, Coraline is heroic and spunky and tough in the other 1 hour and 39 minutes of the 1 hour and 40 minute movie, but that ending? It hurt me. It hurt my girls and it hurt all girls. (I would like to point out here that my instinct is to apologize for my feelings because, well, I don’t want to seem oversensitive, but I will resist the urge to apologize because I feel well and truly wronged on behalf of my gender and my instinct to apologize for that feeling is only proof of why we need more movies where the girl saves the day. The whole day, not just most of the day or some of the day, but the whole effing day. Ok?)It would have been better if Wybie had helped her with the things she had to do leading up to the big and final thing that had to be done, but the fact that he swooped in and actually did the big and final thing, well, that’s just not right. Some will point out that the character of Mr. Bobinsky says something like, “Coraline, the mice tell me that you’re our savior!” which is nice, but that does not make it ok. In the book, that line fit well, but in the movie you think, Um, actually, didn’t Wybie save the day? In light of Wybie’s role in ridding the world of the thing, Mr. Bobinsky’s comment sounds a little bit hollow.
Coraline’s ingenuity at the end of the book took my breath away. It was a great idea, carried out by her and her alone and all of us girls in this house were delighted to have found a character like her. The ending of the movie left us with mixed feelings. It was a truly beautiful and amazing movie, technically speaking, and we’re glad Coraline was heroic, but it really seemed unnecessary to end it that way. Lena and Liberty do not feel as strongly about this as I do, of course, and I really hesitated about even saying anything about it in front of them. I knew they enjoyed the movie, and I didn’t want to ruin that for them, but I just couldn’t resist asking them what they thought of the ending. I pointed out the sexism, and I’m not sorry. Why should they be inundated with the idea that a boy will save the day without being taught to question that idea? I’m off to read the book again so the true Coraline can live on in my head.
As a side note, Lena, Liberty, and Maya were excited to hear the movie Coraline say she was from Pontiac, Michigan. That was fun and they all gasped and turned to whisper, “Did you hear that?” Funny.
Abby: so, I have never read the book of which you are speaking. I will take your word that, in the book, Coraline saves the day on her own. And that in the movie a relatively minor (or rarely seen) character ‘swoops in’ and does the saving. Those ideas accepted, I agree it is BS for that to happen. I am not agreeing based on sexism or any idea that it is a boy who needs to save the day. I just think that such a major plot/story change is BS. I would wonder why it happened? Or, why you think it happened? Was there an explicit, overt plan to diminish the girl’s role and expand a boy’s? Was it some other ingrained evilness in all of us men that we have to have that role? For no other reason that lack of faithfulness to the story, that kinda shit angers me. If there were some other social or manipulative reason, it is even more angering.
But, how about from the other side?? Think.. Lord of the Rings. I don’t know if you know the films or the books, but one of the heroes is Aragorn. He is the King to be restored to the throne (a major subplot of the book). Anyway, his betrothed is a Half-Elf Princess. She angers her Half-Elven father by choosing to forsake her immortality and stay with Aragorn. In the novels, she is mentioned only a couple of times. Aragorn’s travel companions see them together in the distance once; she creates a standard (banner) for him to carry (yeah, sewing for the women…but the standard is actually very needed for Aragorn to fulfill some prophecy..) ANYWAY, she is important but not very prominent and takes no direct action…
Now, the movie.. Liv Tyler is Arwen (the half-elf princess) and she is quite active… she is the one who commands the river to save Aragorn’s party from destruction (in the book, it is a protection spell her father has used that accomplishes this)…She is also more directly involved later as well.
My understanding is that, since no female characters are prominent in the book (published in the 50s from stories thought up from the late 30s onward), that her role needed expansion. What do you think?
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