Formal Film Study: Neil Gaiman

The three movies I watched for my formal study were all movies related to the one and only Neil Gaiman. I watched Stardust and Coraline, which are based off of books he wrote, and MirrorMask, which he wrote the screen play for.  In each film you could most definitely see Neil's touch. The almost equal balance of deeply profound and  utterly bonkers that he's known for.

The things I noticed about all of the films were they all had one: a strong youngish protagonist, two: an evil woman, and three: a fake out ending. The fake out ending I think is the one I going to focus on the most because of what it did to me a the viewer. It gave me a sense of the story is over and done with then shoves it back in my face. As a frequent Doctor Who viewer I pride my self  being able to tell when the end is not a true end but with these films I was caught off guard and that impressed me.

Warning Spoilers Now!

In Coraline after the films namesake seemingly recuses her parents and locks her "other mother" away in her world of nightmares everything seems perfect with the world. Coraline and her parents are getting along and she goes of to sleep. Then she has a dream (dream scenes are also a common thing with Neil) of the previous children that the "other mother" had taken. They warning Coraline that her fight was not yet over and that as long as she had the key to the other world she was still in grave  danger. So she sets off to rid herself of the key in an old well by her home where she is attacked by a metal skeleton like hand of the "other mother" that found its way through to her world. Only after her and her friend crush it with a rock and send it down the well with the key is everything turely done with.

In MirrorMask the fake out ending is quite as happy as the one in Coraline. Just as Helena and Valentine find the mask and are about to use it to send her back to her own world, the evil princess that took over Helena's life pulled down the last of Helena's drawings and closed the last portal. The end seemed complete and impossible to get Helena free, the princess went out and reviled in her victory. After a few long minutes and after I had given up hope the door to the outside slammed shut to reveal a chalk drawing and Helena took back her life. Leading to the inevitable happy ending that followed.

Lastly in Stardust Tristan returned to Stormhold to rescue his lovely falling star Yvaine from the three evil witches bent on eating her heart for eternal youth. He and the prince fight the witches leaving the prince and two witches dead. Tristan turned to fight the third but found that she had released Yvaine and seeing no point in living forever without her sisters let them go. Seemingly out of dodge they head for the door but they shut just before they make it and one heroic fight later the film is over.

Neil's movies are filled with twists, deep thoughts, cats, and smart kids. He has quite a unique stamp on everything he does, but if you ever are reading or watching a Neil Gaiman project expect an unexpected ending.