YA fiction and Coraline
Jun. 29th, 2009 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaebility"When you're a teenager it's true: Life is hard. You're beginning to see how profoundly you can be disappointed or disappoint others yourself; you can be taken aback by cruelty, both that of others and, shockingly, that of yourself; you feel the pressure of the future as you're pressed about colleges, about majors, about extracurriculars; you begin to keep secrets about your thoughts, about what you do; and sex! my god, sex is so confusing." Shining Light on the Demons of Adolescence by jdeguzman
Thought a lot about Coraline this weekend, as per usual. In the book and movie, she's twelve, maybe eleven - But not a teenager, and certainly not 16 or 17, when concerns about college and sex grow prominent.
I like thinking and writing about Coraline as a kid or as an early teenager, but shit gets real when she's a bit older.
Ok, tangent: I was talking to The Boy the other day about how I don't like the "oops I fell onto you" trope that pops up in (or "oops I fell into" hur hur hur) fiction. Crappy romance novels love this: the heroine accidentally trips and lands on the hero, tee hee hee, and they realize how physically attractive the other is. I don't like how it strips the characters of choice. Characters, especially adult characters, shouldn't have interaction forced upon them because they're too immature to initiate something themselves.
I think Coraline has a clear image of what she wants. She thinks she's independent because she's often alone - her parents are too busy to attend to her. It's only at the end that she realizes how she can be truly independent. Coraline's an instigator, too.
Tangent again: In my mind, Wybie's mother was a single parent. I like the idea that Wybie's always been around independent women, that all his role models are strong and female. He's more than content to follow Coraline - He learns to trust her (even though she's batshit insane as far as he's concerned) and willingly puts himself in danger because he so strongly believes in her (and his Other version even SPOILER! diesfor her).
What I like about her (and Yuffie, too, actually; in my mind they share a lot of characteristics) is that Coraline is bold and confident in her actions and decisions. There's a scene in the movie where she runs up a flight of stairs with (Other) Wybie behind her. He holds onto the railings; she doesn't. Coraline's movements are certain, unlike Wybie's, which needs support. (Coraline could totally be a meme like Chuck Norris. Coraline doesn't run up stairs, stairs run from her! ...Let's pretend that made sense.) That's a very telling scene.
Where was I going with this...
The quote is taken from a post about YA literature and teenagers' experiences in general. And hell yeah do I agree. Those years were hard and confusing and painful - I still am baffled by a lot of what happened, by a lot of what I did. I read YA novels as a kid and teenage, though I don't think I actively searched for them or even realized that I was reading in the YA genre. When I got older and started to differentiate between YA and adult novels, I moved away from the former. But now I think I'm becoming enamored with them.
Thought a lot about Coraline this weekend, as per usual. In the book and movie, she's twelve, maybe eleven - But not a teenager, and certainly not 16 or 17, when concerns about college and sex grow prominent.
I like thinking and writing about Coraline as a kid or as an early teenager, but shit gets real when she's a bit older.
Ok, tangent: I was talking to The Boy the other day about how I don't like the "oops I fell onto you" trope that pops up in (or "oops I fell into" hur hur hur) fiction. Crappy romance novels love this: the heroine accidentally trips and lands on the hero, tee hee hee, and they realize how physically attractive the other is. I don't like how it strips the characters of choice. Characters, especially adult characters, shouldn't have interaction forced upon them because they're too immature to initiate something themselves.
I think Coraline has a clear image of what she wants. She thinks she's independent because she's often alone - her parents are too busy to attend to her. It's only at the end that she realizes how she can be truly independent. Coraline's an instigator, too.
Tangent again: In my mind, Wybie's mother was a single parent. I like the idea that Wybie's always been around independent women, that all his role models are strong and female. He's more than content to follow Coraline - He learns to trust her (even though she's batshit insane as far as he's concerned) and willingly puts himself in danger because he so strongly believes in her (and his Other version even SPOILER! diesfor her).
What I like about her (and Yuffie, too, actually; in my mind they share a lot of characteristics) is that Coraline is bold and confident in her actions and decisions. There's a scene in the movie where she runs up a flight of stairs with (Other) Wybie behind her. He holds onto the railings; she doesn't. Coraline's movements are certain, unlike Wybie's, which needs support. (Coraline could totally be a meme like Chuck Norris. Coraline doesn't run up stairs, stairs run from her! ...Let's pretend that made sense.) That's a very telling scene.
Where was I going with this...
The quote is taken from a post about YA literature and teenagers' experiences in general. And hell yeah do I agree. Those years were hard and confusing and painful - I still am baffled by a lot of what happened, by a lot of what I did. I read YA novels as a kid and teenage, though I don't think I actively searched for them or even realized that I was reading in the YA genre. When I got older and started to differentiate between YA and adult novels, I moved away from the former. But now I think I'm becoming enamored with them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-30 01:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-02 05:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-30 02:19 am (UTC)I sort of want to get the book so I can go through and make notations about every mention of a parent figure (both Coraline's real mother and father and her other parents). There is a message in there about growing up and how important that is (which is kind of cool because most messages about childhood are about how it is the best, and you shouldn't give it up, and when it's gone it's a terrible loss). The other mother is offering Coraline an eternal childhood where she'll be adored and fed and indulged in every way she could ever want. She loves Coraline, but in a way that doesn't allow Coraline to become her own person. When Coraline fights back, it's not just for her parents or the souls of the other children (who have been trapped as they were and never allowed to move on), she's fighting for the chance to live in a world broader than her own desires and maybe to begin to know her parents as people rather than just those guys who should be feeding/paying attention to her better. Even the last line of the book is about the end of summer, but there is a sense of anticipation there, because we know she's on the verge of going back to school, and having a life outside her house and family a little bit, and just generally getting older. I like that the feeling isn't that she's giving something up or leaving something behind so much as now she has the chance to see whatever comes next. And that's fitting, because Coraline is an explorer.
I wish the movie were out on DVD now instead of in 3 weeks. Boo!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-02 06:49 pm (UTC)babble until your ear falls offtalk about Coraline with you! Eeee that'd be awesome! I'll email/post my number in friends-locked post. Seriously, it'd be so much fun to talk with you.Ok, I know what I'm doing this weekend. And YES you are so completely right about everything in that paragraph. I never realized how stifling childhood can be, from that point of view. In the movie, the Other Mother not only wants Coraline to be her daughter but also her doll (which adds some interesting comments on women's identity and roles). Coraline has to rebel against that passivity - in both versions - in order to define herself; and like you said, part of what she's fighting for is the adult ability to see other people as individuals with their own dreams and desires (and this is an ability that Other Mother doesn't seem to have).
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the movie! I really really really hope you like it. It needs at least two viewings, I think; Pete and I liked it much much more the second time around.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-03 12:10 am (UTC)I think the doll thing is very appropriate. I was thinking how much the Other Mother treats the children like toys - she's excited to have them for herself, wrapped up with playing with them until eventually she gets bored and annoyed, puts them away and longs for the next one. On the surface she's a parent figure, while on the other she's a monstrous child.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-04 03:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 09:44 pm (UTC)Interesting comment about how the children are playthings to the Other Mother. So maybe the dolls of the children that she makes are the ideal versions?