Coraline, Eccentric Adults, and the Line Between Weird and Unsafe

Chapter 2 of Coraline reads pretty quickly as Coraline continues to seek out excitement and a playmate, and by chapter 3, Gaiman introduces the other world.

The pacing and plot points of the book are understandably different from those in the movie, since they're different forms, but both works present a sense of uncanny danger juxtaposed against strange things and strange behavior.

Ultimately, Coraline is the story about a young girl who learns what it means to be brave as she must overcome a villain in order to save her parents. But the story explores themes of coming of age, implicitly bringing in what it means to be a child and what it means to be an adult.

Strange Adults, Strange Behavior

As the story begins, Coraline is bored and her world seems rather out of touch and unfit for her childlike sense of wonder and desire for adventure. The adults don't even get her name right, let alone seem to be listening to her. Yet, the characters and even Coraline's interests all might, in certain circumstances, come across as quite odd, bizarre, or strange.

Misses Spink and Forcible are constantly talking about their glory days, and of the theater. They seem rather over the top to Coraline, since she's unfamiliar with the plays they're talking about (Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice). If they got her name right and seemed to listen to what Coraline was asking, perhaps Coraline might really enjoy spending time with them - since they seem as playful as she can be. Example:

Miss Spink looked around cautiously, looking over first one shoulder and then over the other, peering into the mists as though someone might be listening.

"Men," she whispered. Then she tugged the dogs to heel and waddled off back toward the house.

But is Miss Spink's dramatic pause and whisper here an example of her acting eccentricity? Is it her way of being playful with Coraline? Is it just a little odd?

The same lack of clarity comes into play if we think about why she's whispering about men sending her flowers at all. Is she whispering because it's forbidden or taboo (should it be taboo? are her actions making it so?)? Is she whispering because young children might often respond, "eeeewww!" to public displays of affection and she's making this fun?

Pulling together some frames as examples from the film, notice the ways that Spink and Forcible honor their love of the theater, yet dress and present themselves in the real world versus how the Other Mother presents them in the other world.

Who has the healthy view of strange behavior? And how is that shown? And how do these details reflect back on perspective and point of view?

Whispering, Oddity, and Interpretation in ELA

This is the beauty of what we teach in ELA classes - it's unclear why Miss Spink is whispering, and students must make an argument or claim about the effect of her whispering (a thesis statement), and then support it with evidence (other details/passages from the text), and explain their reasoning.

For me, especially in light of Neil Gaiman's recently uncovered actions, Coraline offers a meaningful discussion on safety and a discussion of weirdness (where kids or people can be outcast for seeming "odd" or "different from the norm – ultimately unkind) versus weird behavior (strange behavior that goes against societal norms in a way that might signal us to believe – or to rightfully feel – this behavior is dangerous).

Even in typing that explanation - how do we stop people from jumping to conclusions and not slowing down to notice the details and put enough details together to discern how to treat someone or act in a situation? How do we make sure we aren't making a few flash judgments, becoming triggered or alarmed, and then judging and mistreating someone based on our knee-jerk response?

It is important that we listen to our bodies and our instincts when we feel uncomfortable - that's nature's way of telling us to be on alert and cautious. But how do we ensure that our instincts are not confused with the operant conditioning created by social media consumption, and that we are therefore helping our children to develop the proper critical thinking and self awareness to stay safe themselves?

Misses Spink and Forcible seem a little silly, and perhaps a bit neglectful – Miss Forcible is worried about Miss Spink out in the fog: "I do hope she doesn't get lost--it'll bring on her shingles if she does, you'll see... You'd have to be an explorer to find your way around in this fog" (13). Yet, she doesn't bat an eye at a young child wandering off in the fog alone, simply telling Coraline, "Don't get lost, now" (13).

With Spink and Forcible setting the scene for an odd cast of adults, this might make it harder to determine whether the "crazy old man upstairs," (Bobinsky in the movie) is just silly and old, or somewhat dangerous.

Weirdness vs. Dangerous Behavior

Shortly after departing Miss Spink, the old man approaches Coraline and talks to her about his dancing mice circus that Coraline has never seen. After agreeing that she, like the mice, doesn't like the mist, "The old man leaned down, so close that the bottoms of his mustache tickled Coraline's ear. 'The mice have a message for you,' he whispered. Coraline didn't know what to say" (14).

Is the "crazy old man" just as eccentric and unaware of body boundaries in the way that old people often can be around children? Is he telling Coraline that the mice have a message for her to be silly and playful, like Miss Spink and the whispered men? Or is he crossing a line, getting so close to Coraline that his mustache tickles her ear? And potentially luring or tricking her to go through the door to the other apartment by telling her that the mice are warning her, "Don't go through the door" (14)?

In the movie, Bobinsky's choice of attire doesn't bother us when he's just being himself - an acrobat:

But director Henry Selick does draw our attention to circumstances in which the attire combined with a lack of body boundaries should be alarming:

We want to protect our children and keep them safe, we also don't want to traumatize them with topics that are beyond what they're developmentally ready to be grappling with. We do teach young children about strangers. And how do we teach our children to show kindness to others and to not lose their spark - the sweet way young children will sometimes run up and speak truth and ask all kinds of questions of anyone - but also to learn how to discern when they should perhaps be more cautious versus open to new people?

Why Reading is So Important for Learning About Human Behavior (and being a kind, safe human!)

Books. Long form works. It's easier to sit with the examples of behavior and people that Gaiman offers in Coraline, to look back and re-read passages, to debate in a safe space with our classmates about fictional characters and their actions, than it is to process short video clips without context, that are overloaded with reactive comments, and that might have so many overwhelming personal connections and trigger points.

Anyways, Gaiman structures this odd behavior within the genre of myths and fairytales. In chapter 1, Coraline sets off in search of a well. In chapter 3, Coraline discovers another apartment that looks just like hers and has another set of parents just like hers except for their black button eyes. This other apartment has delicious food for Coraline to eat, whereas we saw how much she didn't like her father's "recipes" in the real world. This other apartment conjures parallels to Hansel & Gretel, lured by food into a candy house, where they are eventually entrapped by a witch.

These familiar small stories and fables are workable for young students, yet Coraline offers a middle ground for middle grade students to discuss the harder and confusing topics of behavior that surround them as they continue to develop.

I've pulled some passages from chapters 2 and 3 to either read closely for analysis practice, noticing recurring themes and motifs, or for a little bit of creative writing practice (re-write a passage + revisit sentence types, so that you can vary them).

And it should be no surprise that I've pulled at least five passages and asked students to highlight "weird" or "strange" things and to explain moments of weirdness versus weird behavior 😄.