The Terrors of Family Ties in Coraline

Coraline is an animated stop-motion film that was written by Neil Gaiman and released in 2009. The film depicted a young girl named Coraline who explores her new home. She discovers a secret, miniature door. The door is a portal to an alternate reality where everything is how she wants it: her neighbors are interesting, the house is beautiful and most importantly, her parents show that they care. Once she sleeps in her bed, she wakes up and everything is back to normal, making her believe that everything is just a dream.

Switching from reality to her dream world, Coraline becomes conflicted once her “other mother” asks her to stay there forever. Though it is a fantasy she wants to become true, she immediately rejects the offer once the other mother requests that she must sew buttons on her eyes. Coraline then begins to notice the bizarre behavior of her other mother and very soon discovers that she is an evil being named Beldam that feasts on children, capturing their souls through the forms of their eyes. Though she escapes the traps set by Beldam, Coraline feels the justice to go back to the other world once more in order to free the souls of the children who were previously feasted on. Through her risky ventures, she is able to complete her goal and everything returns back to the originality that it once was.

Coraline was extremely upset that her parents are always working and not paying any attention to her. The only points of acknowledgment she received often times were the judgment from her mother or her father just telling her that he needs to work. Rarely spending time with her, she was always venturing and amusing herself. She was never satisfied, constantly seeking opportunities to fill the void that was created from the neglect which was temporarily satisfied when she was with her “other family”. Coraline was not informed that her “dreams” were actually real but taking place in the underworld. That is one of the reasons why she did not completely fall for Beldum’s trap. She acknowledged that her real family was irreplaceable. When the truth was discovered, her fears and worries about her parents not loving her disappeared, yet other conflicts arrived. Her real parents were taken by Beldum and the previously feasted children’s souls were still held captive. While attempting to fix the entire situation, Coraline, for once, finally began to miss her parents. The hardships that she endured tilted her perspective and allowed her to persevere. She did not give up and once the problems were resolved, a change in Coraline’s personality is extremely visible. The young girl who was constantly angry with her parents for everything soon became one who treasured them for everything. The tone is uplifted and the gloominess of the story no longer exists as Coraline has developed into a much more grateful child.

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