Film Adaptations: A Visual New Meaning to Coraline and Alice in Wonderland

Fans who eagerly anticipate film adaptations of their favorite stories often leave the theater bitterly disappointed. Likewise, critics often dislike adaptations on the grounds that they are “unfaithful” to the text, which means that the film betrays the text. However, as Robert Stam argues, film adaptations allow the audience to have more bodily response than in novels. He says, “Films are felt upon the pulse, whether through in-your-face gigantism of close-ups or the visual impact of flicker effects,” (6). In Henry Selick’s adaptation of Coraline and Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, both directors use visual effects, Technicolor, and cinematography to create an appealing and a fun movie. Even though both movies do not completely remain faithful to its original text they tell an equally engaging story. Film adaptations are important because through the use of visual effects, Technicolor, and cinematography they bring the text alive by providing detailed images of the different worlds in Coraline and show transformation of characters in Alice in Wonderland. The use of these effects leads to a deeper understanding of why Coraline prefers the other world to the real world, and how Alice matures and becomes courageous throughout her journey.

Selick’s stop-motion feature Coraline, based on Neil Giaman’s supernatural novella, is created with new innovations, including advanced machine-version cameras and the emergence of practical 3-D. Coraline inhabits two worlds: the drab real world and the fantastic other world. They are distorted mirror images of each other, as different in tone as Kansas and Oz. Coraline discovers a small doorway in their new home which leads her to an alternate and seemingly utopian universe. When Coraline crawls through a portal to get to and from the other world the tunnel is cushy and organic looking that glows with moving purple cyan patterns. In Pete Kozachik’s article, “2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions,” he explains “Chris Peterson created the patterns by taping scraps of color gel onto pairs of large Plexiglas discs that were motion-controlled to counter-rotate against each other.” Its colors purple and blue, engage the audience immediately as she curiously crawls to the other side while her blue hair fades in with the tunnels colors.  The composition of color and the use of medium and wide shots helped the film become real and enticing. The color scheme dazzles which makes the film less boring and dull compared to the book.  In the novella the tunnel is a “dark hallway.” Giaman says, “The bricks had gone as if they’d never been there. There was a cold, musty smell coming through the open doorway” (26). The film reveals that Coraline is attracted to the multicolored tunnel more than she is in the book. Through the use of cinematography and visual effects the story becomes a real fairy-tale nightmare.

Selick uses film references and 3-D techniques for the supernatural other world with exaggerated color schemes, which were used when the other mother is enticing Coraline to stay with her. The 3-D method enhanced the story and mood, like any other photo technique (Kozachik). Through the use of 3-D Selick was able to differentiate the real world from the other world, specifically in sync with what Coraline was feeling. For example, in the other world Coraline feels loved and welcomed and this is shown through multiple colors and facial expressions. When she has her first dinner she is given everything she wished her real mother would cook. When Coraline is given the opportunity choose the type of drink array of flavored drinks come before the audience, and this adds to the fun and excitement of the film.

In the real world Coraline is bored with lonely because her real parents are too busy to pay attention to her. Selick shows this through pigment and tone. Her real home is empty and dull with a few pictures hanging on the walls. Cinematography was used to distinguish the mood between her real and other bedroom. Coraline’s other bedroom had warm practicals and multiple spots shaping and picking out details designed to delight the audience. Coraline’s room was never overly bright, with only bright moonlight to play a part. On the other hand, her real bedroom has a chilly soft light from the overcast sky. Kozachik says, “[Photographer John Ashlee’s] challenge was a moving-camera match dissolve in 3-D that was complicated by two sets with radically different physical depths.”  In the novella, Gaiman describes Coraline’s other room as an “off-putting shade of green and a peculiar shade of pink” (30). He describes her room as “a whole toy box filled with wonderful toys” (30). Even though he uses descriptive imagery to describe her room, watching the movie gives the audience a better feel and connects them to the movie. It also shows that Coraline was happy to be in the other world than in the real world.

Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is based on Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The film uses a combination of live action and 3-D animation. Most critics would say that the film is “unfaithful” to its original text because in the novel Alice is a young girl; a child young enough to wish that the book her older sister is reading had pictures in it. Just like in Coraline the main character travels through a portal. The film begins and ends in a Victorian England, in live-action scenes, but most of the story takes place in Underland, also known as Wonderland.

Alice begins her journey at a garden party led by the White Rabbit into the forest, she falls down the rabbit hole and lands in a round room, a set build at normal size. Then, she shrinks to two feet tall and walks into a CG (computer graphics) garden that looks like an English garden in disrepair. Alice is six inches, two feet in one scene, and then for one moment she is 20 feet tall, and then at the end, her normal height. For example, when Alice holds the Mad Hatter’s hat she is tall, but when she jumps into his hat she is tiny and crawls around the brim, drops to his shoulder, and then the two walk into the CG forest.  From that point until the end of the film, the environments are digital. In Barbara Robertson’s article, “Curious and Curiouser!” Carey Villegas says, “The idea was that Tim could virtually see the characters in the [digital] environment on set,” (14).  The film uses so much imagery and Technicolor that the novel does not provide. In the novel when Alice shrinks Carroll writes, “she was now only ten inches high” and when she gets tall he says, “just at this moment her head struck against the roof of the hall: in fact she was now rather more than nine feet high…” (58-59). Through the film’s techniques the theme of maturity is illustrated as Alice shrinks and grows. She is still quite naive and has an unprejudiced and innocent way of viewing the world. She has to deal with the egos of all the adult people around her, and to overcome her naivety.

Another theme that Burton shows through his visual effects is courage. Alice finds courage within herself to be brave and confront the Jabberwock in the end of the film.While Alice confronts the Jabberwocky, a battle rages in the background between the red and white knights. Inspired by chess pieces, the white knights look like human figures with alabaster armor (“Curious and Curiouser,” 20). The white and thin red knights, by contrast, look like playing cards. They are made of slighty bendy interleaved steel plates (20). When Alice decides to fight the Jabberwocky it is significant because Alice understands who she is; she doesn’t have to depend on gender roles and expectations to determine what she can and can’t do. She is able to find courage within herself to be brave and take on the Jabberwocky. This links in with identity, because she finds the courage to be brave and begins to believe in herself. Alice realizes who she really is and this is what she was meant to do. The Jabberwocky does not appear in Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” but in his 1872 novel’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” and “What Alice Found There.” Since the Jabberwocky does not appear in the original text the theme of courage is not as apparent as it is in the film.

Through the use of cinematography, Technicolor, and visual effects Selick and Burton create unique characters that add to the depth of the film. Color is used to establish each character, and each character has its own kind of color scheme. The directors remain faithful to the original text in most ways, but through their creativity and imagination we are able to get insight into the nature of characters and the different worlds through pictures. Through these films we were able to understand the different worlds in Coraline, and how Alice becomes an adult and finds bravery within herself.

Works Cited

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Ed. Richard Kelly. New York: Broadview,  2000. Print.

Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Print.

Kozachik, Pete. “The ASC — American Cinematographer: 2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions.” ASC: The  American Society of Cinematographers. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.   <http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/February2009/Coraline/page1.php&gt;.

Robertson, Barbara. “Curious and Curiouser!” Computer Graphics World 33.3 (2010): 12-20. Academic Search Elite. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.  <http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=105&sid=08c35670-932d-4925-ad85-            e0c3ec3f78a1%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=af h&AN=49787390>.

Stam, Robert. “The Theory and Practice of Adaptation” [excerpt]. Introduction to Literature and  Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Ed. Robert Stam and  Alessandra Raengo. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 1-8.

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