R@dical ®evolution

Hanging Glass Whale / Wall Art and Lamps

Zaytseva Glass on Etsy

See that picture above? That’s a close up of my great grandmother’s immigration papers when she first came to the US back in the early 20th century. But my great grandma’s information isn’t the important part here. The important part is that line in the middle there about how they arrived in the country.

And how ‘stowaway’ is a legitimate, valid option to select.

The movie is captivating, but the book is twenty kinds of terrifying, even now, ten years after I first read it. As disturbing as the movie may have been to some, the things Selick added really serve to cushion just how horrific the story really is.

First of all, the character of Wybie does not exist in the book. Coraline is facing all of this nearly alone, with her only help coming from the sly comments of the cat, a warning from the circus mice, and the stone given to her by her neighbor, presented with no comment but that it “makes the unseen seen.”

Second, the Other Parents are never quite as warm (and, dare I say, normal) as they are in the gifs above. They’re described as having paper-white skin and the Other Mother’s hair is said to move on its own, and her long, red, claw-like nails don’t ease any uncertainty that she is absolutely, positively up to no good. The first time Coraline meets them, they (and the rest of the Others) seem to be playing roles (for whatever reason, Coraline does not seem to pick up on this), like they all know what to say and what to do and are simply waiting for Coraline to make her move in their terrifying play world. This is shown to be partly true when the Other Parents tell her they know she’ll be back soon after she refuses the buttons - this time, to stay.

Third, the Other Mother commits atrocities that really should not have been in a book for anyone not fully grown up. She physically deforms the world around Coraline to slow her progress in their game beyond any mild traps the movie portrays, and, instead of turning the Other Father into the wandering pumpkin-thing seen in the film, she simply ceases to use him and throws his body away in the cellar, leaving him to rot with whatever bit of sentience he has left. She begins to lose her touch, as Coraline gains the upper hand. Her world doesn’t just become a nightmare - it falls apart completely. No creepy but oddly cool bug furniture here, just the house that now appears to be a child’s drawing. Whatever the Other Mother is (a beldame, but something tells me she’s much more ancient and powerful than that), she does not give half a hump about what she has to do to ensnare Coraline. Destroy the supporting characters of her twisted creation? Done. Allow herself to be dismembered to ruin Coraline’s life in the normal world? Not even gonna bat an eyelash.

On a final, personal note, imagine eight year-old me, ignored by my parents, absorbed in the story and identifying with Coraline from the start. Imagine me finishing this bloodcurdling book and immediately thinking of my basement, where there is still a locked door that my grandmother swears up and down is nothing more than a storage room, but has not once in my (or my mother’s) lifetime unlocked.

This keypad randomizes the numbers every time so someone doesn’t figure out the password from your hand movements

All 4 of my cats paws have unique black/pink combinations

My Great Great Aunt’s 100 year old nursing kit has a vile full of cocaine tablets and a syringe.

This metal strip at a local bar is freezing cold, to keep your beer cold.

Customer came in and let me take a picture of her hands that had 6 fingers on each

The contents of this empanada are labeled on the crust

A view from my friends apartment during a rainstorm

This hotels mirror tells the weather

Itsukushima Shinto Shrine appears on the dish when sauce is poured on it

A dock with a duck dock

The soap dispenser for this sink is a tiny sink

This airport has a therapy dog for people to pet before they fly

These frog prints on my car this morning.

I saw a lenticular cloud over a cumulus cloud that made it look like a helicopter

I killed a mosquito and his blood filled one square in my window screen only.

My new sheets have tags identifying the long side and the short side.

Train seats in Japan facing outwards so you can see the scenery

This is what floor heating looks like

The web on a dollar bill is made by a spider

This chocolate bar is divided into unequal pieces

Robin‘s nest in the top of a fence post

This leaf that got in the way of the street painter