Yes, I've read the book. And it is dark and dsiturbing and a kiddie book. Think Roald Dahl but even more macabre.Jesslyn said:Okay, is it me or is the Coraline movie trailer a little disturbing? Are they marketing that to kids? Anyone read the book?
YuckBacardi Jim said:Yes, I've read the book. And it is dark and dsiturbing and a kiddie book. Think Roald Dahl but even more macabre.
Gaiman is my second favorite author. He writes kids, teens and adults books usually in the dark/urban/contemporary fiction.Jesslyn said:Okay, is it me or is the Coraline movie trailer a little disturbing? Are they marketing that to kids? Anyone read the book?
Could be worse. Kids could all be like me and reading Poe and Stephen King before they hit High School.Jesslyn said:Yuck
Its alot like Corpse Bride or Nightmare Before Christmas. If she can handle those she should be OK. Mind you there are some things that might go over her head(thank god!) like Coraline talking to the spirits of dead children(its implied heavily that 'fake mom' killed them but never says it out and out).Anniehow said:
Could be much worse. I was reading Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susann before HS. (My Mom would die if she knew thatMikuto said:Could be worse. Kids could all be like me and reading Poe and Stephen King before they hit High School.
Keep in mind that most, if not all fairy tales, have occult/dark elements in them, especially the original versions.Jesslyn said:I guess I don't like the occult aspect; I would rather that the darker elements (death, fear, etc.) be dealt with in a different manner.
If I cared more about this thread, this is what I would have posted. Almost word for word.Mikuto said:Keep in mind that most, if not all fairy tales, have occult/dark elements in them, especially the original versions.
Look at Grimm's Fairy Tales, for example. The Wicked Witch in Snow White dies in the end by dancing to death wearing red hot slippers. And don't even get me started on the sexual and morality aspects of Little Red Riding Hood! Cinderella deals with familial abuse and self-mutilation (in the original version, the sisters hack off pieces of their feet to fit into the shoe) while Hansel and Gretel is about abandonment and cannibalism!
I've heard it said that the reason fairy tales deal with such dark matters is to sort of prepare children for the real world. But you can take or leave that explanation.
In the end, children don't always see how dark things are because they're not seeing it with an adult's eyes. As Chobitz said, Neil always has children read his stories meant for kids first, then adults, and the only people who ever find it dark or disturbing are the adults.
Actually, fairy tales originally were meant for adults, not children. Once they were being directed toward children, the darker aspects of the stories were usually changed (think of Disney versions versus the Grimm brothers' versions). It's only been more recently (historically speaking) that fairy tales have been considered a genre for children.Mikuto said:I've heard it said that the reason fairy tales deal with such dark matters is to sort of prepare children for the real world. But you can take or leave that explanation.
I wonder why Disney never made this one into a cartoon? LOLMikuto said:In the end though, children can handle dark themes. Even the most sanitized version of Hansel and Gretel still leaves the two abandoned in a forest by the parents, only to end up with a witch that wants to eat them, escaping only when they burn her alive.
I forget which show I was watching a couple of weeks ago, but it was probably on The History Channel. I think it was about the mini-ice age. They related the Hansel and Gretel story to parents abandoning some of their children so there would be enough food for the rest to survive during that time of famine.Mikuto said:In the end though, children can handle dark themes. Even the most sanitized version of Hansel and Gretel still leaves the two abandoned in a forest by the parents, only to end up with a witch that wants to eat them, escaping only when they burn her alive.
I've seen the trailer but have not read the book yet.Jesslyn said:![]()
Okay, is it me or is the Coraline movie trailer a little disturbing? Are they marketing that to kids? Anyone read the book?