Paredes 1

Giselle Paredes
Professor Lewis
English 115
25 October 2015
Different Parenting Affection, Different Affect
There is that common saying You dont know what you have till its gone. An
appreciation for something or someone, but only after it is no longer there. In both the movie
Coraline directed by Henry Selick and the novel Coraline written by Neil Gaiman, the main
character is a young girl named Coraline, who goes through a realistic obstacle of almost losing
her family, changing her life forever. But in this case, she is given a second chance to change her
viewing of her family and life, causing her to appreciate what she already has. Coraline is given
the freedom to explore her neighborhood all by herself, giving her a sense of independency, but
is still being parented by her parents. Her parents are what theorist Louis Althusser refers to as
the ideological state apparatus, or ISA. ISA can be seen as social institutions like church,
family, education, and morality paradigm are political agencies that work to inculcate the spirit
of allegiance to the existing ideologies among the individuals of a given social formation
(Breakfast by John Steinbeck: A Site for Ideological Interpellations). These institutions set up
rules and expectations for other to follow for those who are in the same institution. For Coraline,
her institution would be the rule makers, her parents. But each set of parents sets up different
living environment of showing their affection towards Coraline. Since the two adaptions are
different when it comes to the relationship between Coraline and her parents, Coraline is able to
appreciate having her family back after almost losing them in the other world but in different
ways: as the lesser of affectionate parents and the ones truly love her.

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Coraline is able to appreciate having her family back after almost losing them in the other
world but in different ways: as the lesser of affectionate parents and the ones truly love her.
Coraline is treated in a more negative neglected way in the film than the book. To start
off, the movie begins the storyline by focusing on the way in which Coraline is treated. She goes
through an unwanted change, having to move out of state, leaving behind her friends; due to the
decision of her parents, to benefit themselves in their careers. This shows that the parents are
more concerned on their career, rather than to discuss and work out a compromise for the entire
family, showing care for everyones feelings. Coraline is unhappy with the move, moving into a
location where she does not know anyone and does not have her friends for entertaining and
comfort. Her parents are too busy with work to pay attention to her and makes comments to
Coraline as to how she pesters them so much. Normally, if a child heard these comments or felt
this neglected feeling, they would cry and share their emotion to how unwanted they feel. But
Coraline is not the average young girl, she is already used to this treatment, showing how
independent and strong she is for her age. The movie shows a more exaggerated and negative
choice of words and relationship, as if they are not happy with their lives. Along with this, there
are dark colors throughout the movie, starting from dark color of clothes, to dark lighting in their
house and cold, rainy weather environment. All these details reflect a more extreme hostile and
cold environment for Coraline, rather than the novel.
Although the book describes a negative environment as well as the movie, it is not as
extreme as the movie. In the novel, it does not share much of her background information as to
how she got to her new home. Instead, it starts off right away with the description of the setting
and the neighbors she meets when she goes exploring along the next few days. Coraline then is

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told to come back home to eat and is told to dress warmly from the parenting of her mother.
When Coraline finished discovering her environment from outside, she gets bored and looks to
her parents for entertainment. Both again, are too busy with work and try to come up with ideas
to keep her busy. The author uses a more friendly language when the parents are talking to
Coraline, showing a more loving side to them, but that their work is their important priority.
A similarity with the movie and novel is their ideology. Ideology can be fined as a set of
ideas, beliefs, or stance that determines a perspective with which to interpret social and political
realities (Ideology). There are rules and requirements to be met from Coraline by her parents.
Though they are often too busy and do not pay much attention to her, they do want her to be safe
and malnourished. Her parents make sure that Coraline is wearing the proper clothing for the
weather condition and take precaution if it is unsafe for her to go outside. They also require her
to come home to eat, and prepare her meals, instead of her having to do it herself. In the novel, it
shows a more understanding that her parents must work in order to meet their deadlines, giving
them no other choice than to keep Coraline out their distractions. After reading this book, it
allows more imagination as to how to view the familys relationship with one another, as to how
the parents express their care for Coraline.
Though both the movie and novel have similar story lines as to how Coraline finds
herself in another world, each have their own ways of luring Coraline to stay. In the film,
Coraline is first amazed and then enjoys the attention given to her from her other parents in the
other world. She is praised with appetizing dinner and then welcomed by friendly faces and
entertaining neighbors, which is unlikely to happen in her real world. She goes back and forth
through these worlds, seeing a tremendous difference as to how she is treated. Coraline later goes
through an obstacle that leaves her confused and lost at first, but then confident in her decision to

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return to her home with her original parents, no matter how they treat her. The other mother is
persistent in taking Coraline soul, needing only one thing from her, sewing in button eyes on her.
Other mother shows her true self when transforming to an evil dark mother, as well as doing
malicious competitive actions, giving Caroline a hard time. This frightens Coraline but is
determined in saving the lives of her parents and to return home safely, back to her real world. In
the novel, her other parents do similar methods to lure Caroline to their world, showing her the
fun and loving side. After Coraline made her decision in refusing to sew on buttons into her eyes,
the other mother changes her approach to her, by attempting to brainwash her in thinking her real
parents do not love her. Once other mother has had enough with Coralines refusal, she locks
Coraline in a dark closet, abandoning and ignoring what Caroline has to say. Other mothers
words and actions does not get to Coralines head, as Coraline risks her own life to save her real
parents, eager to bring them home with her.
Once Coraline returns to her real world, home safe with her parents, there are different
ways to interpret the appreciation of being back from both the movie and the novel. In the film,
she is back home safe, but not necessarily as happy and appreciative as most people would feel.
Now she no longer has to deal with the thought and fear of other mother coming after her to take
her soul. Coraline can go about her day without having to be talked to as harshly and being in an
environment that cannot being controlled to attack her. Although now she must deal with her
neglected parents, where she does not get attention, she now knows that there are worst
situations out there and to instead accept it and value this relationship with them. In the book,
Coraline comes back to her real world, rescuing her parents. Even though they do not recall
going through the other world, Coraline is still appreciative in having not only their presence
back, but also their love. She can now notice the little effort they make to pay attention to her,

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and can be more understanding when her parents need their space. She realizes that they truly do
love her and would never do anything to hurt her.
There are many differences in both the movie and novel, but one focus is the relationship
among Coraline and her parents. Although the movie and novel had a slight different parent-child
relationship, it brought a different appreciation of both outcomes. The movies home environment
brought a more neglectful and unloving relationship but with the appreciation of being in home
without having someone after ones soul. While the book brought a more loving environment
with parents in which they really did care for Coraline but are too busy to give her their full
attention. It gave her the appreciation of having their care and not just the feeling of being used
for her soul. Coraline is able to appreciate different aspects of her life after going through the
other world, through the different roles of the movie and the novel: true love and mistreated
parents.

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Work Cited
"Ideology." - New World Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.
Saleem, Muhammad. "Breakfast by John Steinbeck: A Site for Ideological Interpellations."
European Scientific Journal, 9.32 (2013): .