Research Log 1: Primary Source Selection

For Your Consideration...

Before you read on, here is my second favorite track from the Coraline movie soundtrack to accompany your reading!

If you are interested in the entire soundtrack, it is available on Spotify; I will include the link to the entire soundtrack below:

https://open.spotify.com/album/4S1D4o4e4c81Fc7shdFdyI?si=D3SaNFZ3SQqBWtsnc1LodQ

Evaluating Potential Primary Sources and How I Landed on Coraline

To briefly reflect on Humanities Core lectures, seminar discussions, and other activities thus far— I am not afraid to admit that I have found watching required films more entertaining than required readings. Often, I found it was easier for me to put a movie on and laying in bed after a long day, versus sitting down and cracking open a book for HumCore.

This realization made me realize I was likely better off choosing a film versus a work of literature as my primary source for my research project, which helped me slim my choices.

From there, I had specific films in mind that I wanted to pursue and reasons why I wanted to write about them... included below were my choices and information that I compiled:

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Written by Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie, directed by Francis Lawrence.
Film adaptation of the book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes written by Suzanne Collins.
A prequel film in The Hunger Games franchise.
Themes: dystopian society, morality, good versus evil, power, wealth, war, corruption, love, betrayal, family, friendship, etc.
Argument for this film: it is one of the most recent movies I have watched and REALLY enjoyed. The plot and lore is complex, so I would feel pretty confident in coming up with a research topic/question.

Coraline (2009)

Written and directed by Henry Selick.
Film adaptation of the book Coraline written by Neil Gaiman.
Standalone movie!
Themes: thriller, horror, relationships, family, friends, animals, independence, willpower, dreams, illusions, deception, manipulation, neglect, etc.
Argument for this film: this is my favorite film of all time— I watched Coraline for the first time when I first immigrated to the U.S., so it holds a special place in my heart. Since then I have often come back to this movie for sentimental reasons; I have watched this movie well over fifty times and I could talk about it forever. I think I would be very confident in coming up with a research topic/question for this film.

Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)

Written by Elise Allen, directed by Zeke Norton.
Loosely based on the story of Anastasia and Cinderella.
The twelfth movie to be released in the Barbie film franchise.
Themes: social class, education, opportunity, family, friends, lack of wealth, abuse of wealth, rags-to-riches, female empowerment, etc.
Argument for this film: another movie from my childhood, to be honest, I only considered it because it is a funny choice. The plot of the film itself is pretty cliche, but I still think there is a lot to talk about in regards to the themes of the story. I would feel relatively confident in coming with with a research topic/question for this film.

Looking Through the Seeing Stone: Picking Out My Research Topic

As listed above, there are a LOT of themes to explore in Coraline. Prior to making this Digital Archive entry, I rewatched the film and took some time to think about a few things: what aspects of the plot do I really enjoy, my favorite scene(s), and significant messages the film conveys.

Turns out, there's a lot to dissect psychologically in the film— Coraline's relationship with her parents, the "other mother's" presence and deceptions, as well as dreams and illusions. All in all, I do not have a specific research question YET, but I do know that I want to discuss the film and its psychological aspects in my research paper.

So What's Next?

First, I desperately need to settle on a research question; I keep revising, changing, and scrapping ideas. So I need to set aside a good few hours to just sit and map out my ideas, which I will hopefully include in my next research log entry.

I would also like to find new and rewatch old analysis videos of the film, just to get more ideas for my paper. Who knows, I may even watch the movie... again. Maybe in future research logs I will also include a "Coraline watch count," simply because it sounds like a funny idea. But that is it from me for now!

References

Selick, Henry. Coraline. Focus Features, 2009.

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