True fact: this weekend I was telling my boyfriend that I needed to post my phone number on my LJ and then coerce you into calling me so I could talk to someone about the book. (I asked him if that was sort of creepy, but I'm not sure he actually answered that question.)
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!
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regna
(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!