By Margo Lawson
Do you ever wonder how one person's perspective on events can change how their world is viewed? How does someone's attitude dictate how the story unfolds, and how sometimes, instead of the world around them changing, all a person or character needs is their mindset to change? This is a central theme explored in the fantastical, spooky children's book- turned-movie written by Neil Gaiman, Coraline.
Alert:Having seen the movie or read the book Coraline is optional before reading this article, although there might be a few spoilers for the work along the way.
Coraline is an unbelievable story of adventure in which a young girl travels to an unknown world to escape the dull and drab world that she lives in. The world she travels to is the same as hers, except everyone is so much more impressive and pleasant and gives her whatever she wants. The illusion of this perfect world is soon broken, and the story turns sour fast when Coraline has to escape and save others who had been trapped in this facade of a world. The story ends when she returns to her world and changes her mindset regarding the people around her and her life by starting to see everything through a different lens.
The Coraline movie has an exciting way of playing with colors and light. The beginning in the real world is plain and grayscale, contrasted by Coraline's colorful hair and bright yellow raincoat. It seems at first as though she fits in much better in the bright "other world" until the end, when she escapes and returns to her world, which now has color in it - not because the outside world has changed at all, but because Coraline's view of the world changes.
In the real world, the only thing that changes from the story's beginning to the end is
Coraline. She is self-absorbed at the beginning, caring only about how others view her and how everyone annoys her. Ultimately, she is more open; her perspective changes, as does the rest of the world by proxy. When she starts seeing everyone else without a filter of annoyance or focus on what she wants them to be like, her world becomes more colorful, lively, and happy, and because the audience sees the world through Coraline, we see the change as she sees it.
This is a very mature theme for a children's story, since you tend to see children's stories where everything comes together perfectly at the end, and the characters get everything they could ever dream of. That theme is unrealistic a lot of the time. Instead, Coraline focuses on how changing your mindset about others and being more loving can increase your happiness and quality of life.
This message can be essential for real life and our situations every day. Learning to appreciate and love all types of people and to love eccentricities in people can be a fulfilling way to live. Overall, Coraline is a fantastic, scary story on the surface, but if you dare to delve a little deeper, you'll find that its true meaning is all about perspective.
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