Coraline

Coraline is a horrific children’s book that was produced into a movie in 2009. Written by Neil Gaiman, the book was published in 2003 as juvenile fiction. Gaiman’s twisted ingenious mind has even frightened adult readers. This creepy fairy tale clearly draws much of its inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. What started out as a children’s novel became a hit movie in theaters. What is so spectacular about Coraline may be the colorful characters, the unexpected turn of events within the story, or the fact that it is the first stop(Stop? animation movie to be viewed in 3-D. The combination of Gaiman’s story with Selick’s (who is Selick? Producer? ) talent for movie presentation has made Coraline a remarkably entrancing and horrifying fairy tale for both readers and movie watchers as they experience the entrancing adventure of a little girl who learned the price of opening a door that was not meant to be opened. Before Coraline hit the big screen it made an everlasting impression as a children’s horrific fairytale. It turns out that Coraline’s name came about because Neil Gaiman kept messing up spelling Caroline. Reading Coraline makes it easy for the first time readers to relate to her character when they think back to their current or past adolescence. Most people would admit to times in their young lives when they were relentless pessimists and complainers, who acted bored and coughed up attitudes on a daily basis. Everyone could share Coraline’s plight when they had felt that there was nothing to do in a new house and were reluctant to meet new people. Viewers and readers alike have also felt a special connection between her family and their own. Children always think about what the perfect mother would be like, and parents also try to be the best for their children. However, both age groups try to imagine something better. Unlike Coraline, no one had ever found a mysterious small door in the living room that led to an almost perfect alternate reality that catered to your every whim. The movie begins with viewers seeing a doll that resembles an African-American child floating into a dark house greeted by hands made out of needles. Accompanied by the traditional chilling soundtrack that follows all Tim Burton films the doll is refashioned. Two hands disembowel a doll and then reassemble it with needle and thread. While not the most warm and fuzzy scene in any cinematic form, what makes it particularly ghoulish is the feeling that you could run your fingers through the doll’s sawdust innards and touch its button eyes† (Clark). The doll is then dressed in a yellow raincoat and blue jeans. As soon as it is finished the mysterious needle hands sends the doll out the window where it floats out in space. This is where we find out that the doll replicates our heroine Coraline Jones. Coraline, voiced by Dakota Fanning, and her parents, voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, had just moved into the Pink Palace, it is a pink house spilt into floors as apartments in the woodsy area of Oregon. Coraline finds the house completely droll and far from the home and friends that she knew. While she explores her new home she finds, as Pratt writes: â€Å"A [Russian Gymnast, Mr. Bobinsky, who lives in the attic] tells Coraline that he's training his circus mice to play music, and Coraline finds him vaguely alarming, if only because she can't tell whether he's serious or joking. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two aging former actresses, live downstairs with a coterie of Scottie dogs. The ladies are happy to dispense tea, inedible cookies, and advice, and they read Coraline's tea leaves, which indicate that she's in danger. † She meets Wyborn, voiced by Robert Bailey Jr. , as Ebert describes, a â€Å"young hunchback whose full name is Wyborn, and it doesn’t take Coraline long to wonder why his parents named him that. † Wybie had found the doll that looked just like Coraline in his grandmother’s trunk and gave it to her. Little did Wybie know, he had given her the doll that was created in the beginning of the film, that was made by the feared Beldam, a witch. She also meets a very aloof cat that turns out to be one of her few allies in her greatest times of danger. In the living room she starts to unpack her set of snow globes, looking fondling on a winter scene in Detroit Michigan, her last home. Coraline discovers that her doll who was sitting on a chair had moved behind a box. As she retrieved the doll, it was found resting against a tiny door with a key hole on it. Coraline begged her mother to find the key that would unlock it. Her mother reluctantly obliged and makes Coraline promise that she will stay out of her mom’s way if she did this favor for her. Coraline replies yes, eager to see what was behind the door. Her mother shuffles through keys in a drawer, picking one whose handle end was in the shape of a button. As fast as Coraline’s heart rose, it sank. There was nothing behind the door but brick walls. Later that night Coraline had been awoken by a mouse that lead her to the door, when she open it and found a long tunnel with a light at the end. Excited for the adventure to come she crawled down the tunnel that, to her surprise, opened right into her own living room. Now though it looked like her real living room, everything was brighter and had a more welcoming atmosphere. Coraline was lured by the smell of real home cooking when she discovered her mother in the kitchen. Pullman said, â€Å"When she discovers a sinister woman there, who looks a little like her mother but has eyes that are big black buttons, the matter-of-factness of the woman's response when Coraline says â€Å"Who are you? † is both disarming and terrifying. â€Å"I'm your other mother,† she says. Coraline finds out that she has other version of all the residents including her parents in the Pink Palace. Mr. Bobinsky, is a very entertaining circus ringleader with synchronized mice that are able to perform fantastical acrobats. Ms. Spink and Ms. Forcible became active and energetic acrobatic performers on a massive stage where they took Coraline to partake in swinging from high wire swings above the crowd of terrier dogs below. Even Wybie, her newest friend is a double that mysteriously doesn’t talk. The Other Mother told Coraline that she felt she would enjoy him more that way. This perfect world that she finds changes her entire perspective on the life that she knew on the other side of the door. Her real parents were busy working for a plant publishing journal, while her other parents were tentative, caring, expressive, and just plain fun. But Coraline learns eventually that even though her other home seems perfect, there is something very peculiar and dark that lurks beneath the button eyes of all the people she meets. Button eyes are a great symbolism in Coraline. These buttons represents not having a soul. Coraline’s other mother turns out to be this cruel creature, he Beldam, who lures children through the secret door. She creates this perfect world for the child, giving them everything they wanted, promising to love them, and the only way a child could stay in this wonderful world is to have their eyes sewn shut and replaced with buttons. Once Coraline is told of this offer by her other mother, she realizes that her other mother’s intentions are hardly loving or parental. Collins writes, â€Å"Coraline meets the ghosts of several other children who had been kidnapped hundreds of years ago, and she realizes that her both her body and spirit are in danger. Coraline discovers that the black cat that has been lurking around the premises is able to talk to her in the other world. He gives Coraline clues for her to realize that everything is not as it seems. To viewers he would be related to the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. The cat tells Coraline that in order to set her parents free and the souls of the three children that she must challenge her to a game. Vejvoa said, â€Å"She has to muster the strength and courage to confront and defeat her monstrous Other Mother is she’s to rescue her real parents and get back to where she truly belongs. Her Other Mother cannot refuse any game as long as she thinks that she can win. Coraline is clever enough to come up with a game where she must look through the house and garden to find all the souls and eyes of the children before the lunar eclipse or she will give up her soul to the Other Mother. Coraline faces three dangers in three wonders that her other mother had created for her. Each of the children’s eyes were trapped in three different objects. The first soul was found in the garden where her other father had sacrificed himself for her to retrieve the soul. The second soul was found on the stage of the two actresses. The third was found in the dark and eerie mice circus tent. Once every soul was collected, Coraline had only to find her parents, who were trapped in a snow globe.. It came to the final task, defeating the witch. What used to looked so much like her real mother stood, a skeletal, towering, spider like woman that was anything but motherly. Coraline tricked her other mother to open the small door between home and the created world. As fast as she could react, Coraline tossed the cat at the Other Mother and she made a run for the door with all of the souls. The Other Mother broke free from the cat and chased after her through the tunnel. Coming through the door Coraline used all of her strength to shut it completely. But the Other Mother had her hand stuck then torn off from her wrists landing on the floor. The hand had disappeared, and the souls were set free. Although the souls and her parents were free the Other Mother’s needle hand was still at large and wanted the key to the door at all costs because there was only one. Everything seemed normal until Coraline decided to throw the key to the door away. She trekked to the well where she approached the opening of the well. Out of nowhere the Other Mother’s hand leaps out to grab the key, but since it is on a string wrapped around Coraline’s neck, she was being choked until Wybie had crushed the hand with a huge rock. The hand is tied within the blanket with the string holding the key and is thrown down the well. After vanquishing the Other Mother, all of the lost souls of the children were set free. The movie ends with Coraline and her parents hosting a garden party in which they had finally started planting and creating a beautiful atmosphere. Here all of her neighbors, Wybie, and Wybie’s grandmother come to gather. Coraline tells Wybie’s grandmother of what happened in the house and how she saved her twin sister’s soul. Coraline is no longer as pessimistic or as unpleasant when she started her adventure. The movie ends with a chilling song of children voices that makes viewers get the shivers when they recall the scariest moments. This film was hailed by all age groups, and more so towards the adult crowds. According to Ebert, â€Å"this is a movie for people who know and care about drawing, caricature, grotesquerie and the far shores of storytelling. In short, you might care little about a fantasy, little indeed about this story, and still admire the artistry of it all, [it] gets under our psychic fingernails. † Coraline is certainly a darker version of a family film when compared to Disney, but that is what makes it much more intense and rememerable. Cinema reviewer, Kernion said: â€Å"It isn't gory or excessively violent (certainly not as much as Prince Caspian), but there are some pretty frightening threats, and the peril that main characters often face can seem real and intense. It's similar in tone at times to Spirited Away — if you think your kids can handle the Miyazaki film, they should be fine with Coraline. † However, not all viewers and critics were impressed with the big hit movie. Jim Vejvoda, said, â€Å"a story where a mother plucks out kids' eyes and replaces them with buttons or sews their mouths shut might be a wee bit too torture prone for some members of toon-going crowd to stomach. † A movie blogger, Sean, said, â€Å"Coraline really clicked for me. It takes a while to get rolling, but once the twist is revealed and we understand the true extent of Coraline’s predicament, it’s hard not to be completely absorbed. The storytelling is on par with a Pixar film, or even Guillermo Del Toro’s critically-acclaimed Pan’s Labyrinth. † When comments were all said and done about the actual story, critics, and movie goers alike were both please and displeased when it came to the 3-D presentation of the film. 3-D films have become very popular in our recent movie viewing trend, however Henry Selick, the movie director, doesn’t want audiences to focus on the 3-D. According to Clark, â€Å"3-D is just a means to end, to showcase the medium he loves to work in: stop-motion animation, in which the hands and every other part of the characters in the movie are manipulated frame by frame to achieve movement and expression and to tell a story. † Selick has previously been honored for directing, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Coraline racked up a total of $60 million dollars for the stop motion animation to come to life via 3-D. Coraline has entranced and horrified both readers and movie watchers through the eyes of a once very unpleasant girl who learned the cost of being careful what she wished for. Neil Gaiman’s way of putting a twist on this story is what makes Coraline so chilling and mesmerizing. Coraline’s story is truly frightening, and Gaiman goes to great lengths to forge an ‘other’ mother world where every aspect of our lives is perverted and twisted into the macabre† (Collins). He teaches us that even though children, even adults, who think that the grass is greener on the other side, don’t know what they have until they lose it.

Eleanor Roosevelt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Eleanor Roosevelt - Essay Example Eleanor Roosevelt had contrasting kinds of relationship with her father and mother that shaped her independent and caring identity. Elliott Roosevelt had quite successful brothers, with whom he had differences with. Elliott, instead of establishing himself in any particular profession (Wills 80), became more of a drunkard though, and because of this, his older brothers eventually banished the former to Virginia because they thought being apart from his family would change him (Youngs 46). Despite his physical separation from his family, Elliott loved his daughter, Eleanor, so much that he sent her letters, and Eleanor loved him dearly in return (Youngs 45). Before he left for Virginia, he even painted a picture for her (Youngs 45). Elliott’s relationship with his daughter developed Eleanor’s strong sense of independence and compassion. For instance, in terms of independence, Elliott wanted his daughter to â€Å"love the outdoors as he did† (Youngs 48). The outdoo rs symbolizes freedom and independence. Furthermore, Elliott wanted his daughter to be as gentle as he was. ... relationship with her mother had been strained, but their relationship, however different from her father’s, helped her to focus more on inward development than physical looks. Anna did not seem to like that Eleanor was her opposite in terms of looks and interests, and she even told her once: â€Å"You're so plain that you have really nothing to do except be good† (Wills 80). Anna’s stern treatment and criticism of her daughter might be one of the reasons that Eleanor shied away from the public limelight, even when married already to FDR. Nevertheless, Eleanor Roosevelt’s introvert nature might also have helped her develop herself more intellectually and socially, but in a more social-interest-oriented way. Eleanor Roosevelt bloomed as a student, where her school life and experiences improved her self-esteem and enhanced her independent personality. Eleanor studied at Allenwood, an exclusive-for-girls school near London. Marie Souvestre was the headmistres s of Allenswood Academy, and she motivated Eleanor to become more active in school and civic duties. Youngs depicts Eleanor in her intellectual growth as she realized, that, in school, â€Å"she did not have to strain to win attention; she simply had to be herself† because in an academic environment, people were similar to her in interests and aspirations because they were â€Å"more interested in ideas than social conventions† (65). Souvestre helped Eleanor find her mission in life- to be of service to others. Eleanor excelled in school and participated in community activities. When Eleanor went back to New York in 1902, she volunteered at the Rivington Street Settlement House on the Lower East Side, where she served as one of the teachers of the immigrant poor’s children (Wills 81). Hence, her education

Arguementative Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arguementative - Research Paper Example THESIS According the American Heritage Dictionary (2011), abortion is defined as the induced termination of a pregnancy, achieved via destruction of embryo or fetus. Abortion therefore refers to ceasing the process of child birth before the child is born. Opting for an abortion is not an easy decision, but there are many unfortunate circumstances where women find themselves with no other choice. Several reasons for opting for an abortion may include: rape pregnancies, accidental pregnancies, divorce, illness of the mother or the mother being underage etc. Abortion has for long been viewed unfavorably by most societies. In America, abortion was legalized only in five states in 1970 and in all states in 1973 (Levitt & Donohue, 2001). Women who do opt for abortion to avoid giving birth to unwanted babies face many difficulties in areas where abortion has not been legalized. If a woman is too young or unhealthy to bear a child, or if the baby is unwanted, she should have the right to ter minate her pregnancy before bringing the child to life. This will not only save an unwanted or abandoned baby from being born but will also give the woman a chance to live a healthy life and make a career after attaining whatever education she may seek chances of which would be rare if she gave birth to a baby while being in her teens. Unprepared couples or those not wanting another baby do not prove to be good parents and it is not fair for any child to be born in a home where he or she is not welcome and where his or her parents cannot support the baby. In worse cases where abortion is not an opportunity and the baby is not given for adoption either, the baby is either abandoned, or is brought up very poorly by the parents or parent. There are cases where pregnant women are murdered by their partners who are unwilling to have a baby and share the responsibility or in some extreme cases; even the newly born infants are murdered by one of the parents. All this can be avoided by taki ng a timely step namely that of abortion if contraception did not work. Even if given a chance to live, unwanted babies are deprived of normal lives where parents care for children and support them. Unwanted children often have abusive, frustrated parents who do not care for the children, resulting in unhappy lives for such children. ANTI-THESIS There are always two sides of a picture and it is pointless to prove an argument while ignoring the counter arguments available. There is some available research and literature in favor of not legalizing abortion as well. Lott and Whitley (2010), cited in UFI (2010) conducted one study to find the relationship between abortion and crime rates. They concluded that contrary to what Levitt and colleagues (2005) previously found, crime rate specially that of murders had actually increased with legalizing abortion. The researchers supporting this finding explain that with legalized abortion, pre marital and extra marital unprotected sex has also become a more encouraging option which has therefore elevated the rate of related crimes. Some people who oppose legalized abortion claim that abortion is another form of discrimination. Dr. Garton in her book ‘Who broke the baby?, cited in Murti (2006) says that we have actually conveniently excluded

Capstone Research Project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Capstone Project - Research Paper Example It is the view of this paper the Department of Homeland Security should come up with better screening strategies, efficient devices and trained staff in order to minimize or prevent any attack. Effective security is a matter of concern that should be paid attention to because it affects every nation (Silke, 2003). Globally, terrorism attacks have been noted to occur frequently in several countries. Such attacks usually end up in massive destruction because of lack of preparedness. Silke highlights that most of the attacks that have been reported occur during transportation and especially air travel. He states that long air travels are usually targeted because they give the terrorists’ time to plan the attack without being noticed unlike the short journeys. According to Silke (2003), many attacks are conducted by individuals or small entities that claim to have a relation with the Al-Qaida. Terrorism attacks in the United States still remain a matter of concern because they emanate from within the country and internationally. There has been an increase in the activities in the recent few years hence calling for the need of restructuring of policies and strategies tha t will counter the attacks. Counterterrorism success in the United States is reducing due to management and ineffective security actions in the security department (State News Service, 2013). Before the 9/11 attacks, screening for explosives in the aviation sector was limited to certain baggage especially those in international flights (Rollestone, 2012). After the attacks, the aviation and transportation security unit came up with strict policies and insisted on 100% screening of baggage on international flights to and from America. After the attacks, there was a safety upgrade in the transport sector where devices such as sensors, scanners and cameras that monitored the movement

Legalization of marijuana Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Legalization of marijuana - Research Paper Example However, there is very little evidence to prove the claims of negative effects of Marijuana on a person. The purpose of this paper is to discuss both sides of the issue while championing the side of legalized Marijuana sale and use based upon factual evidence from highly reputable newspaper and similar sources. Let me start off this discussion with the beliefs of the naysayers. Marijuana has always been listed as an illegal drug. This classification means that Marijuana, even when used for medical purposes will cause an addiction among its users. More so if people are allowed open access to the drug from an early age. Those who are opposed to the legalization of Marijuana continue to do so even if there are claims of medical benefits from its use. According to these people, there have not been any significant clinical studies to prove that the plant actually has any medical benefits that will aid a patient during his healing process (â€Å"In Our Opinion: Marijuana Should Not Be Mad e Legal†). So their argument is that the claims of medicinal use for the plant are baseless and are merely debate points that the supporters of the legalization of Marijuana use in a futile attempt to get Marijuana declared legal, at least for medicinal purposes. The opinion of the naysayers is that even as a medicinal drug, Marijuana has the ability to have debilitating effects upon the user. In the Netherlands, a study showed that 50 % of the patients with psychosis are Marijuana users. While there is a 4.5 chance that heavy users will develop psychosis. Even as the medical content of Marijuana, known as CBD or Cannibol shows some promise of being an effective medicinal tool to some extent, it is important to remember that Marijuana is still considered a criminal drug and as such may cause serious side effects (â€Å"Marijuana Shouldn't be Legalized†). Due to the ease that accompanies the cultivation of Marijuana, it is readily available, which is the major factor in the drug being the most highly abused in the United States. It is this sort of addiction that produced a great cost that resulted in the prohibition of Marijuana. Readily available information dictates that: Marijuana is currently the leading cause of substance dependence other than alcohol in the U.S. In 2008, marijuana use accounted for 4.2 million of the 7 million people aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of an illicit drug. This means that about two thirds of Americans suffering from any substance use disorder are suffering from marijuana abuse or marijuana dependence (â€Å"Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana†). . Contrary to the opinion of those who support the medical legalization of Marijuana, the drug can actually be more dangerous than the cure. Since Marijuana actually contains a higher level of toxins than regular cigarettes due to the pure form that it is smoked in, a single joint can have the same harmful effect as smoking five cigarette st icks. It also activates cancer causing agents within the body of the user in the case of non-cancerous users. Aside from the fact that Marijuana is a carrier for the Kaposis Sarcoma disease, regular pot users also find themselves with a higher rate of lung destruction that a regular cigarette smoker (Enyart, Bob â€Å"Why Marijuana Should Be Illegal†). The prohibition of

Issue of gun control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Issue of gun control - Essay Example This essay discusses the issue of gun control in the United States of America. Here gun related violence is one of the leading causes of bodily harm and fatalities in which many of the guns used in these crimes do not belong to the shooters. Ideally, the acquisition of these guns tends to be legal, but they end up falling in the hands of ill-motive individuals that avenge attacks on innocent civilians. On the other hand, proponents of gun control restrictions argue that citizens should not own guns either legally or illegally because owning a gun is one of the contributors to gun related violence. In Parma, major calls are on the ban on the licensing of handguns and assault weapons while the obtaining of the other types of guns should be within law requirements. As a way of ensuring that the Ohio state’s curbs the gun violence menace, advocates for the debate have decried the need to have an arms registry that would help in accounting for the weapons used in committing crime. Additionally, gun shows are also potential areas that aid in flooding the population with unlicensed firearms. Ideally, gun acquisitions at gun stores tend to have intense requirements, but firearm shows do not have the same because their intention is making sales and not in safeguarding the population.Also the problem also lies in the accessibility of firearm clips. This is because gun handlers that have high capacity clips tend to spray more bullets without having to stop to reload their weapons, which causes more damage. 3. Data that supports the debate A majority of those that commit gun related violence tend to be individuals that have had priors in crime that has led advocates on the restriction on gun ownership to influence the Ohio state to adopt the background check to be law. When passed, an individual that has a prior history of crime becomes non-illegible to obtaining a firearm because of the information obtained through the national registry. In the past, this measure w as strict, but gradually became non-applied by firearm sellers because it attracted minimal profits within this trade. Ideally, many argue that conducting of background checks on a purchaser of a gun contravenes ones privacy and that it is also discriminating because of the stereotyping associated with past offenders. 3.1 National data According to the Survey by the National crime victimization, almost five hundred people became victim to gun related violence in 2011. On the same year, data by the FBI showed that sixty eight percent of American murders drew influence from firearms (Carter, 351). Additionally, forty-one percent of robbery crimes and twenty one percent of

Global Warming. Who is responsible Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Warming. Who is responsible - Essay Example And the major part of the warming that has been reported this century took place from 1900-1940. Ironically, the release of greenhouse gases was less during this period of the century when compared to the second half. In reality, the rise in temperatures over the recent years has been relatively higher when compared with the increase in greenhouse gases.1 Over the last few years, the issue of global warming has gained widespread media coverage. It has been the subject of many TV debates and now has a central role in the ongoing U.S. presidential elections campaigns. Many TV programs depict polar bears stranded as huge chunks of ice continue to melt into the polar waters. This has even been the subject of advertisement for many cruise lines that lure customers by promising them to enroll on a trip to witness the effects of global warming as it melts down polar ice that has been there for more than two million of years.2 According to a document released by the United Nations' International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide [generated by fossil fuel consumption], methane and nitrous oxide [due to agriculture] have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years."3 However, the document is also optimistic and states that global warming can be curbed if effective measures are put in place to cut down global carbon emissions. That's because slowing down human activity, which according to the panel is the major cause of climate, can be the first step towards overturning the current situation. Global warming is a genuinely dynamic problem today's world. The current level of excess concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is as a result pass human activities. In the same light, the fossil fuels we burn today and related activities will affect future generations. That's because carbon gases emitted today will settle in the atmosphere and leave a negative effect on our planet when we are all gone. As a result, we have to take into account the welfare of our grandchildren each time we make a decision that can affect the environment.4 There is need for us to consider alternative sources of energy, and that's because fossil fuels have two major drawbacks. In addition to pollution, fossil fuels have become expensive.5 More recently, the issue of global warming has been gaining grounds even in religious spheres. More and more people of faith are now adopting global warming as one of their religious concerns. "As with concern regarding the nature and reality of the Holy, as with concern about one's relation to divine things, to God, to the sacred, as with concern for what may be one's ultimate purposes in life, global warming puts radically reorienting questions to life. Global warming puts life itself into question--not only our own individual lives, or the lifeline of our species, but all of life and its future possibilities. Global warming evokes the fragility of life and its mysterious contingency and begs caring response on our part."6 Another reason why global warming should attract religious concern is that most religions have some common principles that guide their teaching. These include having concern for the vulnerable as well as appreciation for the majestic works of God. "Global warming, by