Coraline Theory - Part 13 - Car Accidents & Technology - The Fangirl

I have repeatedly gotten a complaint that I keep referencing that the Coraline movie is set in 2009 the release date of the film and instead I should be assuming that the film takes place in 2002 which was the release of the book well some people have different opinions on the year but between 2002 and 2007 is what pops up the most and a lot of the rationale behind this is because of the technology that we see in the movie of the computers and the vehicle that mom drives okay I'll give you that consumer technology updates faster than stop-motion animation can account for but go with me on a journey here to debate an alternative idea one that might also fill in a story gap generally an audience is expected to see a movie as being set in current day time and all future audiences are to assume that it's set during the date it was released so if you sit down to indoctrinate your kids to the matrix and they start asking why the computers in the real world are so bulky and why there are phone booths sitting outside just begging for hoboes to move into them you would have to say something like oh that's just how things were in the late 90s you have to take a movie in context for the time it was set in weather that's because a movie flash is 1999 on the screen or because that's when the movie came out the setting is very important for how you can read a film now there are some exceptions to this rule a movie about George Washington might not list a year but through the characters clothing and things going on it's reasonable to assume that you'll make the connection without being told long story short even if a film doesn't smack you in the face with the year they should give you enough context clues to piece it together for yourself so that being the expectation since Coraline does not tell us the year we're looking at I have to assume it's meant to be current day or at least current day as in the date of the movie release meaning it's set in 2009 that means that the older-looking technology and core lines home is just a flow on the production then right no I don't think that's right either it's a possible but I feel like there was more intent from the creative team involved core lines mother Mel has a laptop that's harder to date but the screen shows a full-color word like program being used so it's modern up to at least 2009 we have the same problem with the VW Beetle in the driveway new beetles pretty much look the same from their re-release in 1998 up until they changed the body style and renamed it the beetle a5 in 2010 ish before that you might see slight differences between the model years but it was essentially the same look but dad's desktop is old and to all you sweet sweet babies out there don't try and tell me this was some state-of-the-art computer for 2002 I was alive and technology-savvy back then and no we didn't have big black and green screens to work on the fact that the computer screen looks like it goes back to the 80s seems to suggest something either dad whose name is charlie is like george RR martin and will only use severely outdated technology or the jones family is dirt poor and truly if you think about it the poor thing makes a lot more sense let's not forget that Coraline is introduced to us via her move and she didn't just move down the street or to the other side of a city that she lived in her family packed up and moved from Michigan to Oregon and the Joneses seemingly have no family or friends around there why would you do that I mean one of the benefits of being a writer is that you can literally work anywhere in the world and mail or email your material in well the biggest reason to move is a financial change either you make more money and so you move to a nicer area or you make less money and have to find somewhere cheaper to live since the Jones family didn't move into the cultural hub of Ashland and according to miss forcible they're nearly two miles from town that implies that we're either looking at a very high income or low income home the fact that the house is split into a apartment and the fact that the other residents surely aren't making any money from a current career also reinforces the idea that the Pink Palace is a cheap place to live not to mention the house is old with bugs brown water in the pipes and the only reason not to renovate it is because you as the landlord don't make enough from the rent to be able to update the place to attract a nicer clientele also notice that cor aligns parents Mel and Charlie are writers and they don't come to town and meet their new boss and get an assignment they're already working the moment they move in Coraline isn't even in school that fast so how did her parents already check into their jobs now you can write from anywhere in the world like I said so where you live is generally more dependent on where you can afford to live I hear those keyboards clicking yes we see Charlie walk into a store called I love mulch when the family goes into town but this looks like some small-scale mom-and-pop business not a business brand or a big-time franchise that would require a catalog I mean Mel clearly makes mention that they're working on a catalog but if you look over Charlie's shoulder at his computer he sounds like he's writing something like an article or a book on compost gardening actually the lovely amber Jones typed out Charlie's screen for me it says let me reintroduce you to the dirty world of compost gardening potato peeler orange Rhonda coffee grounds eggshells lawn clippings you name it any organic garbage can be compost feeling in harmony with our garden and earth it's not uncommon however to run into a few hurdles while conditioning your garden beds with homemade fertilizer here's a few tips that will make your first composting project a green Sun experience let's say you plan on feeding a family of four on fresh vegetables grown in a garden plot that's a hundred by a hundred and twenty feet for six months or you want to grow 75 prize-winning rose bushes on the same plot of land you're going to need approximately 20 cubic yards of compost organic Tyrael every four if that is mine four line what Charlie is typing I can understand why Mel is so annoyed as his editor because that's really sloppy work although Bravo to the director who put in this detail of making his writing sound so bad but I think Charlie's computer screen really helps to suggest that they are not here to make a ton of money charlie is probably doing some kind of passion project and he's desperately trying to go store to store finding places to carry it if he self publishes so there you have it the issue in Coraline isn't that the technology suggests the years 2002 if that were the case Coraline would have a television and other things to keep herself occupied at home and at least Charlie's computer is an Internet capable no wonder Coraline so bored I think that we're purposefully shown outdated technology so that were subtly nudged to understand that Coraline family is on the verge of bankruptcy and the Joneses likely had to sell every non-essential item they had to make ends meet so no TV no updated computers nada that's why Charlie makes such weird dishes out of random ingredients it's practice from stretching the food bits that are just lying around so that they don't have to buy more groceries another detail the movie offers us that the book does not Mel mentions having been in a car accident and that's why she wears a neck brace in the movie it's another detail that people have asked me about over and over again because if they took the time to add it in the movie it has to mean something right so maybe a good question would be did that wreck bankrupt the Jones family because they were uninsured or underinsured or did Mel purposefully caused a wreck to get a settlement check from the insurance company saying people don't realize this but there are dozens of ways that you can cause a car accident that is legally the other person's fault slamming on your brakes using a turn signal when you don't intend to turn people know how to con their way into an injury settle in check my own husband has fallen victim to these scammers before and with Mel's level of frustration and hostility throughout the film it seems to suggest that she is very angry about something that we don't really know about I mean work doesn't make a parent that stressed out and since Mel and Charlie have been a writing team for a while they have surely worked out a home life and work life balance long before now the pure aggravation that Mel has from the first minute she's on the screen leads me to believe that Mel was trying to pull an insurance con but the settlement didn't work out as planned so now the family is broke and they had to move to downgrade their living cause it fits and it finally gives us a reasonable explanation as to why Cora lines mother was in a car wreck why add that detail if it doesn't mean something thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed enough to like subscribe and share this video I've also got a lot of other videos on my channel that you are fully encouraged to go check out plus you can find me on facebook at say hallo goodbye which is my gamertag or twitter at the underscore family

Channel: The Fangirl

Views: 249,647

Keywords: Coraline, the fangirl, coraline theory, the fangirl coraline, coraline parents, coraline explained, coraline neck brace, coraline car wreck, coraline setting, is coraline's family poor, coraline catalog, coraline exposed, coraline analysis, coraline discussion, coraline opinion, coraline other mother, the theorizer, the theorizer coraline, wotso videos, mel jones, charlie jones, coraline doll, the roundtable, video essay, film studies, thethings, coraline theories, looper

Id: AWRnf1SrBvo

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2017