History YMMV / Paranorman

%%* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the film came out, having a gay character in a family film was considered noteworthy. Now, it's become more common. %%

* {{Adorkable}}: Norman is closed-off, introverted, and low on the social ladder, he's also a [[NiceGuy]] who's sympathetic background makes him all the CreepyCute to fans.

* CoolLoser: Norman happens to be able to speak to the dead, but is considered an outsider in the community. However, this is somewhat justified when you consider that from everyone else's perspective, he seems to be a kid who is going around claiming he speaks with dead people with no evidence.

** The fact that someone in their town (to whom they may well be related) was ''executed'' for making the same claims lends support to the later interpretation. It's been a few hundred years, but that'll still set off quite a few alarms. And his brother-in-law is a pariah for the same. Hardly encouraging examples.

** The fact that someone in their town (who they may well be related to) was ''executed'' for making the same claims lends support to the later interpretation. It's been a few hundred years, but that'll still set off quite a few alarms. And his brother-in-law is a pariah for the same. Hardly encouraging examples.

* CreepyCute: Even as an angry, [[DerangedAnimation unstable ghost]] [[ShockAndAwe made of lightning]], Aggie still manages to look a little cute, especially whenever her eyes go wide.

* CrossoverShip: Norman gets shipped with WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}, [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Mabel, and Dipper]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Courtney. The HartmanHips certainly don't hurt, plus she has some of the funniest lines in the movie, and is voiced by Creator/AnnaKendrick.

** The line of "What are you doing shooting at civilians, that's for police to do!" is also not nearly as funny.

! '''This page contains unmarked spoilers.'''

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** Depending on your sense of humor, the recurring gag of all the townsfolk trying to cash in on the witch's legend either becomes much less or [[CrossesTheLineTwice much more]] funny with TheReveal that the actual "witch" was a little girl. Particularly considering the "sexy witch" casino billboard...
** The cop's "What are you doing firing at civilians? That's for police to do!" throwaway joke isn't quite as funny in [[UsefulNotes/TheNewTens the New 10s]], when police violence in America came under much greater national scrutiny, though it should be noted that director/writer Chris Butler was aware of these issues and certainly couldn’t have put in such a line without intending to make a point.

* HarsherInHindsight: TheReveal about Aggie's age when she was sentenced to death for witchcraft is even worse when one learns that, in modern-day UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}}, [[http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/08/25/nigeria.child.witches/ this practice is still ongoing]].

* {{Wangst}}: While Norman does have good reason to be angsty throughout the movie, there are times when he goes a bit overboard with it, like lashing out unfairly at Neil, and Creator/KodiSmitMcPhee's delivery can get ''really'' whiny at times.
--->'''Norman:''' You ''never'' listen! Nobody ''ever'' listens!

** Agatha's curse seems disproportionate because [[spoiler:she made sure the zombies could never die and were entirely conscious for the four hundred years they were decomposing underground before rising from their graves]]. Knowing she did it because [[spoiler:Judge Hopkins and the other Puritans sentenced her to death by hanging]] is a little satisfying because they suffer the same fate she did, and with less durable bodies.

** An overarching theme in the movie can be "Those who don't know their history may be doomed to repeat it." One gets the feeling the townsfolk wouldn't have been so quick to attempt burning Norman if they had only known the "witch" was just a sweet innocent girl. Once Norman and his friends tell the townsfolk how the zombies used to be people like them driven by fear, the mob is pretty quick to apologetically drop their weapons, thanks to a little history.
** Rituals need historical context to understand why they are important. When Norman tries reading the book at Agatha's grave, he goes YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe when seeing it's a fairy tale. Reading it again does no good when he's trying to reason with the witch, and it takes a vision of him [[spoiler:seeing that Agatha was a little girl]] to understand that it wasn't a spellbook, it was [[spoiler:a DueToTheDead that Agatha's family performed to deal with their grief]]. As Norman talks with the zombies, he realizes that it was a nice gesture, but it accidentally kept the witch tethered to the mortal realm rather than letting her move on. [[spoiler:Actually talking to Agatha directly and showing sympathy for her traumatic death allows her to realize she wants to go see her mother in the afterlife]].
** Keep accurate and organized records in city hall about your most famous tourist attraction. You never know when the source is going to come roaring in, fact-checking with force. Safe to say if Norman and his friends had found the actual trial records rather than searching for a NeedleInAStackOfNeedles, then Norman wouldn't have risked his life climbing the roof to pacify the witch, nearly breaking his neck.

** Is Perry Babcock a bad father who needed to be taught a lesson by the end of the movie or a JerkassWoobie who sees his son being ostracized because he claims that he can see ghosts (which makes the townspeople think either Norman's lying for attention or may genuinely be crazy) and doesn't know how to reach to him AND has to deal with the grief caused by the death of his mother that happened a few weeks ago, and who can only react with anger towards those things he can't control.

** Is that actually Agatha's soul or an echo of her living self? It's not unheard of in folklore that ghosts represent who the living person once was, going through the motions of UnfinishedBusiness, while not actually being them. If it's the case of the latter, [[spoiler:was her echo able to reunite with her mother]]?
* AwardSnub: Many felt this film got ripped off at the 2013 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s due to the favoritism toward Creator/{{Pixar}}, citing that it had a much stronger story than ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''.
* CreepyCute: Even as an angry, [[DerangedAnimation unstable ghost]] [[ShockAndAwe made of lighting,]] Aggie still manages to look a little cute, especially whenever her eyes go wide.

** Agatha's curse is disproportionate because [[spoiler:she made sure the zombies could never die and were entirely conscious before rising from their graves and decomposing after four hundred years]]. Knowing she did it because [[spoiler:Judge Hopkins and the other Puritans sentenced her to death by hanging]] is a little satisfying because they suffer the same fate she did, and with less durable bodies.
** Norman calling out the zombies for what he did, claiming this is NotWhatISignedUpFor because he was just going to help his uncle, not [[spoiler:save the town from its historical FantasticRacism]]. He points out that [[spoiler:it's their fault they're all in this mess because they acted on their fear and executed a child for seeing the dead. They all completely agree, with Hopkins saying in his zombie-speak that he knows Agatha is punishing them. Norman then determines they have to find another way, because the fairytale book isn't working]].
** Norman's friends calling out the angry mob that wants to burn him alive. They all pull a GoThroughMe and SuddenPrincipledStand, saying they are acting on fear the way the zombies once did. It works; the mob goes MyGodWhatHaveIDone on realizing they nearly became child murderers.
** Norman reaching out to Agatha and talking to her, persevering as she turns the woods into an EldritchLocation. When she starts having her VillainousBreakdown, Norman tells her [[spoiler:what happened to her was horrible and unforgivable, but staying on this plane and continuously torturing the zombies isn't helping anyone and turning her into a bully. He goes further, saying that the people who loved her are in the afterlife, and they want to see her, so she must want to see them. If she keeps bullying the zombies, she'll never find her loved ones that would read bedtime stories to her grave. It works; Agatha calms down, says she wants to see her mother again, and vanishes into the place beyond death]].

** The entire sequence of Norman trying to pry a book out of a corpse's hands, eventually resorting to tactics like slamming its head repeatedly against the underside of a desk to get some leverage, and finally ending up pinned under the dead man's body... At which point its tongue rolls out of its open mouth and slops across his face.
** One of the spirits at the beginning is a bird who’s seemed to have died by being choked by plastic rings used for cans.
** Given the national discussion of police brutality in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, the line, "What are you doing, firing at civilians? That's for the police to do!" is either [[HarsherInHindsight extremely uncomfortable]], [[BlackComedy even funnier]], or both, depending on how dark your sense of humor is. Having a black woman, mostly assumed to be targeted by police, just adds the line even further.
* CryForTheDevil: The WickedWitch was just a little girl named Agatha Prenderghast, who, like Norman, had the ability to talk to the dead. She was driven to vengeance because the townspeople executed her for something she had no control over. After she comes to her senses thanks to Norman, she tells him before she DisappearsIntoLight that she just wants her mother.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Courtney. The HartmanHips certainly don't hurt, plus she has some of the funniest lines in the movie and being voice by Creator/AnnaKendrick.
* {{Fanon}}: A fairly popular idea in fanart that swaps Norman and Agatha's roles is to give Norman [[PlayingWithFire fire based powers]] [[LightningFireJuxtaposition in contrast to]] [[ShockAndAwe Aggie's lightning based powers,]] often reasoned as a result of Norman having been [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]] rather than hanged.
* FriendlyFandoms: This movie gets along quite well with ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. In fact, all four of them together has generated a fandom of its own, dubbed the "''SugarWiki/MysteryKids''".

** Depending on your sense of humor, the recurring gag of all the townsfolk trying to cash-in on the witch's legend either becomes much less or [[CrossesTheLineTwice much more]] funny with TheReveal that the actual "witch" was a little girl. Particularly considering the "sexy witch" casino billboard...
** The cop's "What are you doing firing at civilians? That's for police to do!" throwaway joke isn't quite as funny in [[UsefulNotes/TheNewTens The New 10s]], when police violence came under national scrutiny, though it should be noted that filmmaker Chris Butler was aware of these issues and certainly couldn’t have done that without making a point.
%%* GhostShipping: Norman/Agatha.
* HarsherInHindsight: TheReveal about Aggie's age when she was sentenced for witchcraft is even worse one learns that, in modern-day UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}}, [[http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/08/25/nigeria.child.witches/ that practice is ongoing]].
* HilariousInHindsight: Neil's face in the beginning when he's in the car with Mitch and Courtney while Courtney was talking to Mitch, trying to impress him. With TheReveal that Mitch is gay, Neil most likely knew the entire time and was wondering "Should I tell her?" (Given that she was being a MotorMouth [[TheDitz ditz]], who wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise, he probably figured it wasn't worth the effort.)
* InformedWrongness: Agatha's treatment of the Puritans. While Norman was telling her that she was [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becoming just as bad as them]], that message somewhat falls flat as Agatha's curse wasn't as severe as what the Puritans did to her. They had ''murdered'' an innocent 11-year-old child and had gotten away with such a heinous action. Agatha only cursed them to rise from their graves (it's ambiguous as to whether or not her curse had killed them, since neither she nor her descendant Norman showed such an ability in life, so it's possible she gained that power after her death) so they could be ridiculed and tormented by the townspeople. While the townspeople would accuse Norman of being behind the zombies and try to lynch him, that was not part of Agatha's plan. She only wanted to make the people [[DoubleMeaning "see how rotten"]] the Puritan judges were. Compare that to the Puritans' act of killing a child and Agatha seems like the lesser of two evils.

** Agatha, for the same reasons as Norman. She was very vengeful to the townspeople for what they did to her, but she was ostracized by everyone for her ability to talk to the dead.

** Depending on your POV, Norman's father. Yeah, he's intolerant of Norman claiming to be able to communicate with ghosts and actually admits that he wishes his son was different. However, he knows that his son is ostracized by most of town due to his claimed ability to see and talk to ghosts (which makes them think Norman is either lying for attention or genuinely crazy), he honestly has no idea how to connect to his son, and Perry admits at one point that he's scared of Norman becoming just like Uncle Pendergast. His mother also died from an unspecified illness a few weeks before the events of the film and the fact that from his POV Norman is pretending that she's still around as a ghost isn't helping that much with his grief.
* LGBTFanbase: Unusually for a StopMotion animation, but this movie has a solid one. Given how [[RainbowLens relatable Norman is to LGBT folks]] and the movie having [[spoiler:a canonically gay character with Mitch, who's queerness is treated as completely normal]], this shouldn't be a surprise.
* RainbowLens: Norman can [[ISeeDeadPeople speak to the dead]]. His power has isolated him from his family and caused him to be ridiculed by his peers. When Norman's powers are exposed during a school play, his father, who wants him to be more "normal," grounds him. Norman is told by the ghost of his grandmother that it's okay to be scared as long as he doesn't let it change who he is. Norman is able to save his town after he is able to bond with the wrathful spirit over their shared status as outcasts, and in the end, Norman's family accepts him along with his power. The fact that Chris Butler, the co-director and writer of the movie is gay himself, this isn’t an accident.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the film came out, having a gay character in a family film was considered noteworthy. Now it's become more common.

** Norman's walk to school and conversing with the ghosts is likewise one. Showcasing the parallel between how the living people see him vs how the dead treat him.
* {{Squick}}: Mr. Prenderghast's corpse falls on top of Norman... And so his tongue rolls out of his mouth onto Norman's face... And licks him as Norman struggles to get him off.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Salma. She initially seems like she's being set up as the SixthRanger for Norman's group, since she's the first person to complain about the play's portrayal of the witch being an unrealistic stereotype and is Neil's OnlyFriend before Neil befriends Norman, plus it would have been nice to have [[TwoGirlsToATeam another girl on the team along with Courtney.]] But she's only contacted during the car chase so Norman can figure out where Agatha was buried and she barely shows up again after that, with Neil apparently all but forgetting her now that Norman's his new best friend.
** Somewhat made better in the novel, which she's the narrator of. Her character is given a bit more fleshing out and she gets to describe the events of the entire movie in detail.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: This is not only a zombie movie, and thus rather gory, but it milks its PG rating for all it's worth. And TheReveal about the identity of the "witch" (she was an 11-year-old girl who was hanged for speaking with the dead and, underneath 300 years of rage and bitterness, [[TearJerker is still just a scared child who wants to see her mother]]) is '''really''' dark.
* {{Wangst}}: While Norman does have good reasons to be angsty throughout the movie, there are times when he goes a bit overboard with it, like lashing out unfairly at Neil, and Creator/KodiSmitMcPhee's delivery can get ''really'' whiny at times.

** Norman. Not understood by anybody, including his own family, and largely treated like crap as a result. He's a frequent target for bullies and his father in particular often pulls no punches in criticizing his behavior.
** And of course his counterpart Agatha, too. Though she is the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.

* UncannyValley: The stop motion used for the film can sometimes come off as this.

* {{Wangst}}: While Norman does have good reasons to be angsty throughout the movie, there are times when he goes a bit overboard with it, like lashing out unfairly at Neil, and Kodi Smit [=McPhee's=] delivery can get ''really'' whiny at times.

** The fact that someone in their town (who they may well be related to) was ''executed'' for making the same claims lends support to the later interpretation. It's been a few hundred years, but that'll still set off quite a few AdultFear alarms. And his brother-in-law is a pariah for the same. Hardly encouraging examples.

* FanPreferredCouple: A very questionable one -- Norman and Aggie. Some find the Shipping weird because they are related, but it is also justified because of three hundred years of genetic separation. Also, the song ''Little Ghost'' in the credits ''really'' enforces it. Not to mention, someone out there did the math and figured out they're 2nd cousins eleven times removed. Aggie, coming from her time period, wouldn't have even had a problem dating a first cousin. So it's definitely justified. However, there really isn't any canon competition for the ship -- the movie doesn't really have any romance whatsoever, barring the humorous subplot with Courtney and Mitch.

* GhostShipping: Norman/Agatha. See FanPreferredCouple for more information.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The film's message about bullying in the climax, especially since it takes a rather different approach to the subject than usual: For however much Aggie insists that people "deserve to suffer," Norman points out that all she's really done is [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become a bully herself]], and that meting out violence is only making things worse, both for her victims, [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget and for herself]].

** Rituals need historical context to understand why they are important. When Norman tries reading the book at Agatha's grave, he goes YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe when seeing it's a fairy tale. Reading it again does no good when he's trying to reason with the witch, and it takes a vision of him [[spoiler:seeing that Agatha was a little girl]] to understand that it wasn't a spellbook, it was [[spoiler:a DueToTheDead that Agatha's mother performed to deal with her grief]]. As Norman talks with the zombies, he realizes that it was a nice gesture, but it accidentally kept the witch tethered to the mortal realm rather than letting her move on. [[spoiler:Actually talking to Agatha directly and showing sympathy for her traumatic death allows her to realize she wants to go see her mother in the afterlife]].

** An overarching theme in the movie can be "Those who don't know their history may be doomed to repeat it." One gets the feeling the townsfolk wouldn't have been so quick to attempt burning Norman if they had only known the "witch" was just a sweet innocent girl. Once Norman and his friends tell the townsfolk how the zombies used to be [[NotSoDifferent people like them driven by fear]], the mob is pretty quick to apologetically drop their weapons, thanks to a little history.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Neil's face in the beginning when he's in the car with Mitch and Courtney while Courtney was talking to Mitch, trying to impress him. With TheReveal that Mitch is gay, Neil most likely knew the entire time and was wondering "Should I tell her?" (Given that she was being a MotorMouth [[TheDitz ditz]], who wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise, he probably figured it wasn't worth the effort.)
** The premise with the legend behind Agatha seems similar to the one in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', except in that movie, the premise is that the group are trying to prove the so-called witch was good and executed unjustly [[spoiler:and the ''twist'' is that the witch really was evil and deserved to be executed]]; one could almost consider ''[=ParaNorman=]'' to be ''Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost's'' less historically offensive [[labelnote:*]] (considering ''[=ParaNorman=]'' '''doesn't''' imply that some victims of Witch Trials may have been guilty and deserved it) [[/labelnote]] SpiritualSuccessor. It also has a nearly identical plot twist to that movie's predecessor, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'': [[spoiler:the zombies were evil back when they were alive, but now they're actually trying to ''help'' the protagonists.]] It's likely this is intentional, as the creators of ''[=ParaNorman=]'' directly mention ''Scooby Doo'' as an inspiration in interviews.

** The premise with the legend behind Agatha seems similar to the one in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', except in that movie, the premise is that the group are trying to prove the so-called witch was good and executed unjustly [[spoiler:and the ''twist'' is that the witch really was evil and deserved to be executed]]; one could almost consider ''[=ParaNorman=]'' to be ''Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost's'' less historically offensive [[labelnote:*]] (considering ''[=ParaNorman=]'' '''doesn't''' imply that some victims of Witch Trials may have been guilty and deserved it) [[/labelnote]] SpiritualSuccessor. It also has a nearly identical plot twist to that movie's predecessor, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'': [[spoiler:the zombies were evil back when they were alive, but now they're actually trying to ''help'' the protagonists.]] It's likely this is intentional, as the creators of ''ParaNorman'' directly mention ''Scooby Doo'' as an inspiration in interviews.

** The premise with the legend behind Agatha seems similar to the one in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost'', except in that movie, the premise is that the group are trying to prove the so-called witch was good and executed unjustly [[spoiler:and the ''twist'' is that the witch really was evil and deserved to be executed]]; one could almost consider ''[=ParaNorman=]'' to be ''Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost's'' less historically offensive [[labelnote:*]] (considering ''[=ParaNorman=]'' '''doesn't''' imply that some victims of Witch Trials may have been guilty and deserved it) [[/labelnote]] SpiritualSuccessor. It also has a nearly identical plot twist to that movie's predecessor, ''WesternAnimationScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'': [[spoiler:the zombies were evil back when they were alive, but now they're actually trying to ''help'' the protagonists.]] It's likely this is intentional, as the creators of ''ParaNorman'' directly mention ''Scooby Doo'' as an inspiration in interviews.