This open access collection brings together an international group of practitioners and scholars to examine Coraline's place in animation history and culture, dissect its politics, and unpack its role in the technological and aesthetic development of its medium.
Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009) is stop-motion studio LAIKA's feature-length debut based on the popular children's novel by British author Neil Gaiman. Heralding a revival in global interest in stop-motion animation, the film is both an international cultural phenomenon and a breakthrough moment in the technological evolution of the craft. This book celebrates stop motion as a unique and enduring artform while embracing its capacity to evolve in response to cultural, political, and technological changes, as well as shifting critical and audience demands.
Divided into three sections, this volume's chapters situate Coraline within an interconnected network of historical, industrial, discursive, theoretical, and cultural contexts. They place the film in conversation with the medium's aesthetic and technological history, broader global intellectual and political traditions, and questions of animation reception and spectatorship. In doing so, they invite recognition - and appreciation - of the fact that Coraline occupies many liminal spaces at once. It straddles the boundary between children's entertainment and traditional 'adult' genres, such as horror and thriller. It complicates a seemingly straight(forward) depiction of normative family life with gestures of queer resistance. Finally, it marks a pivotal point in stop-motion animation's digital turn. Following the film's recent tenth anniversary, the time is right to revisit its production history, evaluate its cultural and industry impact, and celebrate its legacy as contemporary stop-motion cinema's gifted child.
As the first book-length academic study of this contemporary animation classic, this volume serves as an authoritative introduction and a primary reference on the film for scholars, students, practitioners, and animation fans.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Coraline: A Twitchy, Witchy Girl in Stop-Motion Land
Mihaela Mihailova (University of Michigan, USA)
Part 1: Historical Contexts and Perspectives
Chapter 1: Drawing Coraline: Illustration, Adaptation, and Visuality
Malcolm Cook (University of Southampton, UK)
Chapter 2: Mixing it Up: Coraline and LAIKA's Hybrid World
Miriam Harris (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand)
Chapter 3: Armatures in the Closet: Coraline and the History of Stop Motion
Mihaela Mihailova (University of Michigan, USA)
Chapter 4: The Surprising Migrations of 2 ½ D: The Background to Coraline
Norman M. Klein (California Institute of the Arts, USA)
Part 2: Stop-Motion Technology, Process, and Spectatorship
Chapter 5: Replacing Coraline
Dan Torre (RMIT University, Australia)
Chapter 6: Coraline's 'Other World': The Animated Camera in Stop-Motion Feature Films
Jane Shadbolt (The University of Newcastle, Australia)
Chapter 7: A World within Reach: A Neuroanimatic Perspective on Themes of Threat in the Miniature World of Coraline
Ann Owen (Falmouth University, UK)
Chapter 8: Darkness and Delight: The Reception of Coraline in the USA and UK
Rayna Denison (University of East Anglia, UK)
Part 3: Puppet Politics: Ideology, Identity, Representation
Chapter 9: The Other Maiden, Mother, Crone(s): Witchcraft, Queer Identity, and Political Resistance in LAIKA's Coraline
Mx. Kodi Maier (University of Hull, UK)
Chapter 10: Becoming-Puppet: Failed Interpellation and the Uncanny Subjection in Coraline
Eric Herhuth (Tulane University, USA)
Chapter 11: The Wandering Child and the Family in Crisis in Henry Selick's Coraline
Jane Batkin (University of Lincoln, UK)
Chapter 12: Fa(r)ther Figures: Locating the Author Father in Coraline
Nicholas Andrew Miller (Loyola University Maryland, USA)
Index
