Coraline is a deconstruction of wish fulfillment

Think about it. Coraline is a girl who essentially wants a better life, in no small part related to her workaholic parents and her unfamiliar new surroundings. A few days in however, she finds an alternate world that's seemingly built specifically for her, were everything is practically perfect. Upon further inspection, it's an elaborate trap by the Other Mother that breathes High Octane Nightmare Fuel, and everything quickly goes to Hell as her plans become more obvious. It's quite apparent that the other world was created to trick the children into thinking they'll get anything they wanted, so it actually makes sense that it deconstructs the entire genre of Wish-Fulfillment down to it's foundation.

I don't really think any plot where wishes come true but there is a twist are deconstructions of wish fullfillment. My opinion is that for it to be a deconstruction the wish has to go perfectly the way it was meant to and yet it still goes wrong or not right. So in my opinion the world would have to be a world that really did give you all you want for no reason. But that's a little harsh and I'm sure you have a different veiw on the matter.

That's more of a subversion than a deconstruction, let alone the coveted "brutal deconstruction".

Another possible deconstruction of a wish is to have the wish go exactly as planned, but the effects of the wish start to take hold on the wisher. Let's say someone wishes to have infinite money. The wish is granted, and he is able to summon any kind of currency through his wallet. At first, he could go around buying all the things he wanted, and quitting his job while never worrying about paying bills and other necessities. However, he starts to notice the homeless and how many people only can spare a cent or two for the poor fellows, so he decides to give them something generous like say $100. All seems good.

This is where things get trippy. Let's say at this point, the US has slowed down the creation of new legal tender and is focusing on rebuilding the economy through what's already in circulation. However, with all of his expenses and lack of financial foresight, it seems the amount of bills in circulation is larger than they had projected, raising the suspicion of many different parties. Also, with the money he gave to the homeless, they go out not to buy food, but drugs and alcohol to help curb them over, which could lead to some fatalities. The man himself is not having any fun either, feeling no satisfaction due to not really earning everything he paid for. And since he can't go back on the wish, he's stuck. Soon, officials and the higher-ups in the city start tracking the rise in tender back to him. Some think he's a valuable asset, others feel he needs to be eliminated, while others still want to use the wallet to drive America into the ground. Eventually, it all culminates, and any way you roll the dice, the man is sure to turn up dead in a river, either on his own accord or because of some third party.

This is definitely more along the lines of Be Careful What You Wish For, and that's usually what many people shoot for when it comes to "wish deconstruction." This could happen to any wish, even to ones with plenty of foresight and failsafes. Coraline is really more of a subversion than anything, if not anything at all, as there wasn't really a wish on Coraline's behalf.

I think that the "Other World" was a representation of everything Coraline wanted to be better about her life(more colorful, more exciting, everyone paid attention to her,etc.), but in the end she got to realize that it wasn't really what she wanted at all. During her final encounter with the other Mr, Bobo, she says:"If I got everything I wanted, it wouldn't mean anything, you see?". She saw that, as imperfect the love and care her real family gave her was, it was much better than love that was false or at best, simply love of her as something to "own". She chose a life of true happiness(and sometimes unhappiness), over a life where all of things trying to make her happy were simply a materialistic facade of puppets who were not reciprocal of her love at all. Sorry for the necro-post.

edited 1st Mar '16 10:49:17 AM by cake1