Lyricism in Coraline - Essay Example

March 27, Lyricism in Coraline Coraline is a novel by Neil Gaiman, about a young girl d Coraline who has just moved to a new town. She has moved with her parents into part of a boarding house that is quite old, and to put it simply she hates the place. It is boring, she does not know anybody there, and her parents are busy with their work and do not have much time for her. Amidst all this, Coraline finds a door that leads to another world. The other world is much like her own, visually it is almost identical. However, there are big differences. The other world is populated by people with buttons for eyes, and all sorts of fantastical and magical things happen there. The narrative is part ghost story, part adventure story, and partly a story of growing up to adulthood and not acting childishly any more. Much of the story has to do with Coraline's interaction with what she calls the “other mother,” the version of her mother who lives in the other world and who, it turns out, is basically a monster pulling all the strings like a spider as she tries to steal Coraline's eyes and replace them with buttons, which will basically kill her or cause her to lose her soul. The theme of the story has to do with Coraline's growing realization that despite all the problems she has at home, sometimes things that seem ideal are much worse. Home is the best place even when it isn't perfect. One interesting scene in the verbal text takes place at the beginning of chapter 4, from pages 35 to 38. In this scene, Coraline is in the other world and meets the cat who lives with one of her neighbors. The tone of the text is fairly straightforward at first, but as the scene continues that tone clashes with the action of the scene and makes it seem whimsical, if not outright nonsense. Coraline carries on a confusing conversation with it which seems to allude to Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. This allusion reinforces the whimsical tone of the conversation, where the cat responds to Coraline's questions with answers that are either so matter-of-fact they are useless or that do not seem to make sense. The sequence is fairly tight for the most part, with the cat and Coraline exchanging dialogue with few interruptions. When there are interruptions, they are usually narrative intrusions which serve to make the scene seem somewhat strange. For instance, the cat's shrug is described in an odd way, or we learn that it's voice sounds like what Coraline hears in her own head. The scene's lyricism comes through in the way Gaiman chooses his words and also in the way he combines them with the action of the scene to create an almost detached, surreal experience for the reader. The same scene happens in the movie version of the story, as well, but several significant details are different. In the movie the scene takes place from about 45:00 to about 46:30. One major difference is noticeable right away. In the book the scene takes place during the day, but in the movie it is night. This immediately sets up a different mood that is easily visible. The conversation in the movie is very different as well, and the pacing of it is punctuated not by narrative intrusions but by the cat itself as he walks behind trees and reappears elsewhere, and generally does impossible things. This still creates a surreal experience—probably more of one, to be honest. However, the detached feeling of the text narrative is gone. The literal voice of the characters also plays a big effect on the scene is a way that is impossible in a text form. The cat's voice is sort of rough, but deep and calm like a jazz singer. Because of this he sounds mysterious. Coraline sounds good-spirited and sarcastic, but also innocent. Her voice is of a higher pitch and it makes her sound like the young girl she is. Formally, the camera in the movie version is very active. Instead of staying in one place and showing the scene, it moves almost constantly, but slowly instead of jumpily. This gives the impression of movement even when the characters are standing still and also serves to show the viewer the mysterious background of the place, adding to the ambient sense of mystery. Each version of the scene has its own strengths and weaknesses. The movie version is able to constantly show the background of the scene and also has a significant advantage in the way it can use the audible voices of the characters to suggest things about them. However, the text version is stronger in its choice of words and in the way its narrator can explicitly state Coraline's thoughts. This strength of the text version explains why some of the actual dialogue is different in the movie. Because these narrative intrusions are lost the things the characters are saying needs to show them. On the other hand the movie can do things the book cannot, and this is why we see so much of the characters' surroundings as they talk, and why the camera moves so much. As readers and viewers, we are required to make different leaps of imagination in each version. The text requires us to imagine how the characters sound, how exactly they look, what mannerisms they have, and all the fine details of the world they inhabit. However, it can tell us their innermost thoughts. The movie version requires us to imagine these, but gives us much more detail about the world and the non-textual aspects of the characters. The lyricism in each version is based on its strengths as well. The verbal text is lyrical in terms of word choice, expressions used, and in the way the author can show us exactly what he wants and nothing more. The movie version of the narrative is able to show us a more thorough imagining of the world, though, and its lyricism thus does not rely entirely on words but on other aspects of the media such as the images we see and the sounds we hear. A careful analysis of these two similar scenes from the book and movie version of Coraline can show some of the differences involved in verbal and visual versions of narration and lyricism. For example, in a visual medium the viewer will be able to see all the nonverbal actions characters make. In a textual form, this is only possible when the author of the piece explicitly states them. The rest of the time the reader must gather clues from the dialogue, or the actions that the author does give. This means that every word must be used to very careful effect, but it also means that the author of a textual narrative can more easily take control of the lyrical mood he or she wishes to give the text. In a visual medium, however, there are more ways this mood can be manipulated. In verbal form, in other words, the words of a narrative must carry the weight of the entire narrative, and it is only by careful expression that the text will create a lyric impression in the minds of its readers. In visual media, however, especially in the form of modern movies, this is not the case. Any number of other things can add to the lyricism, from the visual background of the scene, to the nonverbal ways the characters interact. Since there are so many more tools to work with, it is possible to create a very powerful lyric mood in any given scene. This is not to say, of course, that any one way is easier or better than the other. Both text and visual media can be used to great effect with care, even if they do so by way of very different means. Works Cited Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. New York: Harper. 2006. Print. Selick, Henry, dir. Coraline. Universal, 2009. DVD. Read More