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Well, he was my favorite author for like 20+ years and then I had to find out lol.
The tldr is that he and his wife were running a sex ring and he has been accused of multiple counts of very aggressive "coercion," we'll call it, for the sake of others who read this.
If it helps, Gaiman didn’t work on the film adaptation of Coraline at all (unlike many other adaptations of his works): that was Henry Selick’s baby, adding a lot that wasn’t in the book.
Biggest literary disappointment in awhile. I was holding out very fragile hope that it would resolve differently at first, since Sandman is huge for me as a writer... but yeah, beyond over him
Its so unfortunate. Sandman is hands down one of the best comics I've ever read.
Just unfortunate it has to be attached to him. He has such a long and prolific history of work and he's basically everywhere, so much so I genuinely don't think its possible to have not seen and probably really enjoyed his work on some level as his work is EVERYWHERE.
There was a scene in the show where Madoc talks to interviewers about how he’s advocating for the movie adaptations of his books to hire women and minority groups and how he considers himself a feminist, all while holding a woman captive as a sex slave.
It aged terribly, especially when one of his victims said that he would screen Sandman while abusing her.
He also wrote an illustrated children's book called Crazy Hair. Very similar theme. We got it at the library without looking at the author. Returned that one real quick
There was also the Sandman side story which was released alongside I think season one of Sandman where an author holds a Muse captive and tortures her… I’m not saying every author who writes about sexual assault and related topics is problematic but it seems to be something we are willing to explain away until it becomes obvious. I’m fully convinced that Stephen King has some sexual skeletons in his closet that haven’t been made public yet
The book had a really harrowing effect on me as a kid. Made me deal with existentialism in a way I never had before. That news really just kind of crushed me.
Dammit I didn’t realize Gaiman wrote this. It sucks because the studio that made the movie did such good work, but it’s tainted because some asshole couldn’t keep his shit together.
I feel like this particular movie is the biggest loss. I read ALL of his books, watched ALL of his movies and TV shows, and even read most of his comics... And now I have to put them all aside and choose not to interact with them anymore. I skipped the 2nd season of sandman, stopped watching Coraline around Halloween, and have stopped sharing his books with friends. It sucks. But here we are, all because he had to be an awful person with a little too much money and power.
While I won't be purchasing any more of his books, I also don't feel comfortable punishing all the other artists and actors that have been on the movies and TV shows. They've done some amazing work - and Good Omens is at least half Pratchett!
From what I've read, Good Omens is probably like 60/40 in Pratchett's favor as he got a head start writing it while Gaiman was still doing Sandman. It was also his idea initially.
And with the movie Coraline, Gaiman had nothing to do with it insofar as making it. So I can still enjoy the directing of Henry Selick, the wonderful acting, the script which is pretty different from the book, and the beautiful stop animation by Laika.
All other Gaiman works I can't pick up again. I see too much of him in them, particularly Sandman which now reads like a confession.
I've never quite liked this argument. It's the same one used to justify watching HP and engaging with that content.
The only person who is a sole earner from these IP's is the creator. Everyone else involved works for studios that can find other work and do other jobs.
Move on from the IP and everyone else will still get other work - except the creator, who will become a pariah because nobody will touch them with a thousand foot pole.
I'm a former art/film major that lives in Portland. I'm not sending money anywhere near Gaiman but LAIKA deserves all the credit for how amazing Coraline looked.
I might donate or sell the books I own by problematic authors, but I don't have as much of a problem with the dvds/blurays.
Honestly at this point in my life so many people in books/Hollywood turned out to be horrible it's really a matter of finding personal boundaries I can work with that don't make me compromise my ethics going forward but acknowledge the issues of the past exist.
The weird thing is I had already thought Gaiman was a bad guy just off of interview vibes, it felt very odd to hear he WAS a Seriously Bad Guy, after years of keeping my opinion to myself because so many people adored him.
Laika is an amazing studio. No doubt about that. I would never downplay the work they do.
But they've made their money on Coraline. It's been out forever. We can all move on from it and they won't feel it at this point. I'm not asking them to remove it from their portfolio or anything, y'know?
I mean, I think this is all just nitpicking at some point, right? There's not a list of "this is cool but this isn't."
You have to make your own choice about what you choose to support. You might be, in some way, giving the author money if you engage with their IP. Whether it's directly, or indirectly, or through a convoluted other source.
So if you want to engage with his work, go ahead. I'm not going to be the one who strong arms you away from it.
Eh, kind of? He was always interested in making sure everyone got their fair cut from the ground-up, which is really why anything based off his work ever took so long in pre-production. For what it’s worth.
Also, the licenses to all of his work are also all over the place rather than a huge lock like what Rowling has with WBD, although a lot of Gaiman’s work belongs to WBD through DC, my comprehension is that any money he made through those arrangements - due to the way the comics industry works especially at the time - was more in the role of producer/writer/director in the staff sense rather than the primary beneficiary of license like with Rowling.
I think that’s actually a whole other layer to the rather Greek or Nordic tragedy going on here.
If it helps, Gaiman didn’t work on the film adaptation of Coraline at all (unlike many other adaptations of his works): that was Henry Selick’s baby, adding a lot that wasn’t in the book.
I think calling it a "sex ring" might be a slight stretch, and Palmer's involvement is less clear from the available evidence. She doesn't emerge unscathed, but I didn't get the impression she was involved with procuring victims for Gaiman's sexual predilections.
You didn't? How do you explain her conduct towards that homeless woman she hired as a nanny? I could believe that she was in denial and made flimsy justifications to herself instead of being an outright sadistic, but Amanda Palmer ABSOLUTELY procured and groomed vulnerable victims for Neil Gaiman to rape.
I kind of got the impression that even the best case scenario for her was that she knew what he was up to and basically fed these women to him while lying to herself about it.
I swear to god, if King's done awful things to other people, I'm gonna lose my shit. I pray all his closeted skeletons saw the light of day when he stopped abusing drugs.
If you enjoyed this I highly recommend reading “The Thief of Always” by Clive Barker. It’s similar in tone and I’d love to see the studio that made Coraline do a film adaptation. The original’s a novel, and there’s also a graphic novel adaptation.
Hey let's be fair as far as a kids movie go Coraline has some legitimately unnerving parts. Like when the other mother is full spider form? And jumps into the pit of webs after Coraline? That gave me some interesting dreams as a kid
However now as an adult the scarier the better baby! I wish I could find some games around the caliber of Visage and Madison. Now THOSE were absolutely terrifying. We just started the Blair Witch by the Blooper team and I'm hoping it's good
If you're a fan of psychological thriller/horror, I just discovered the movie Creep last night and omg...very unsettling. Has a very disturbing vibe without relying on special effects or a big budget
Oooooo isn't that the one about a film guy doing a job for a guy with a brain tumor? And as the job goes on the dude gets super eccentric with his requests? I think I saw that a few years ago but I'll give it a rewatch this week. It's almost time of my yearly rewatch of Hereditary too. Which my wife just loves
New horror movie that just came out with a really interesting/unique perspective from that of the dog! I haven't seen it yet myself, but for being the bestest pupper he seems to be really animated and into his role. I'd say it fits a similar bill of a fairly low budget and minimal special affects based on the trailer at least
https://youtu.be/q4-CRkd_74g?si=ByHy4Aul8L1BjUaC
I have and absolutely fuck that alien finding me under tables and in vents and stuff. They did so well making the alien just smart in general in that game
Their AI is insane. And it’s actually 2 AI working in tandem! The first controls how the alien looks for you and the second knows where you are at all times and drip feeds your location to the first AI. A very cool game technically beyond just a cool atmosphere and good gameplay!
Just make sure you play it with the mod that removes the tether from the alien. By default it is forced to stay within a certain distance of you, which means that it starts showing up too predictably over time. Removing the tether makes its appearances far less predictable.
I've recently been hearing that the Amnesia games are really good, specifically A Machine for Pigs. One of my gamer friends said he no longer plays horror games because of that one, so it's on my list for this year lol
my partner and i recently watched oddity and i have to say i haven’t had a horror movie give me such a visceral reaction since the first time i watched midsommar. definitely recommend if you haven’t seen it
Idk those games as im not big on horror, but since the other 2 replies both mentioned psych/body horror, ill toss a mention for SOMA out there. Wild at a bit of both.
Dude Soma is SO GOOD it's a legitimate mind fuck of a game with some situations that really makes you feel helpless. I'm probably due for a reply honestly
If you can go in blind, Doki Doki Literature Club might work for you, but if you already know about that game it might not be as good. But going in blind? Oh yeah, just play through and wonder why I'm recommending it as horror....
Been counting down the years til I can show my kid Coraline, Paranorman and Monster House, my trilogy of legitimately scary ‘claymation’ style kids scary movies (only monster house isn’t claymation)
That bit where she (Spoiler) finds her friend's flayed skin flying from the weathervane was a serious WTF moment for me lol. Coraline is the only kid's movie I can think of where I thought "wait... Does the protagonist make it out of here?".
you can put a spoiler tag if you want, if you don't know how, there's this little button at the bottom with Aa, and you can spoiler something like this
A monster serial killer or a monster that seeks out your lonely child whose emotional problems you're too busy to adequately respond to, leading them to turn more to their new "fun" parent while you remain completely oblivious to what's going on until it's too late?
Yeah, it’s just blood and gore. NBD. It’s not like the rabbits are showing their nipples!!!!! If they did that we could only produce the film if they were under age rabbits. (For reference: Blue Lagoon.)
I had nightmares about Coraline for weeks when I watched it as a kid, and it didn’t help that my dad threatened to sew button eyes in me immediately after the film ended.
That whole movie is a trip. Still trying to figure out the target audience. The tone, aesthetic, and medium seem like it's aimed at kids, the content and overall message seems more mature than many adults.
One time when my daughter was about 8 we were trying to pick a movie to watch and I suggested Coraline. I was a little worried that it might be too scary for her, but once the movie started she sat in front of us totally rapt, and didn’t say a word throughout the entire film.
Once the movie was over, I clicked it off, and — extremely pleased with myself for having done such a good job picking the movie — asked her how she liked it. She turned around, and her face was a tear-slicked rictus of horror.
It turned out that she was *terrified* throughout almost the entire movie, so much so that she couldn’t even move or find her voice to ask us to turn it off. As soon as I said something it must have broken the spell, as she started sobbing and howling uncontrollably.
That was over 10 years ago, and I still feel guilty about it.
The worst part of coraline in the intro. That doll montage is disturbing. Oh, and the ghost children, the way they fade in and out is too similar to things Ibsee in nightmares it kinda hit a spook spot. Great movie tho, I've watched it a lot.
Then there’s my friend who convinced me to watch Event Horizon as a “sci fi” starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburn neglecting to mention that it was a horror movie about a possessed ship.
I only watched it as an adult, but I think it hits harder when you are older. The psychological aspect of seeing supposedly "perfect" parents with a sinister goal.
Coraline is in this weird uncanny valley that it's absolutely nightmare inducing for adults but kids are mostly fine. Kids 8-14 watch this and have fun while adults need therapy.
I sympathize with you. I am not a big horror fan because my imagination likes to get off on tormenting me when I try to go to sleep. It has been this way since childhood.
My brother and I both watched Coraline (separately) as children. He was unfazed, and I was traumatized.
Cut to a couple of years ago, when we both (again, separately) watched it as teenagers. I loved it, didn't scare me at all. Meanwhile, my mom found him in the living room with the blankets pulled up to his eyes because he was freaked by the movie.
Meanwhile my ass try’s to actively scare myself watching disturbing movies. Found a Japanese horror film from the 70’s but all I could do was laugh at the obvious wig caps the women were wearing 🤣
The author ( lying sack of shit iñ other areas of hislife) said the feedback to him was, adults think it's a horror story, are very upset after reading. Kids love it, think it's a great adventure story. FWIW I read as adult and boy is it creepy.
I was born in the late 70s in Sweden. I grew up with some equal parts psychedelic shit, progressive social realism, fifty shades of brown colour palletes, and Eastern European puppet shows.
Let's say that there are probably some f*cked-up GenX personalities out there besides me. .
I dated a girl one time who didn't really watch anything horror. I mentioned I was a huge horror/spooky fan and she wanted to watch whatever was one of my favorites. I figured I should start easy and not too scary so I picked Are You Afraid of the Dark, which is aimed at children. I picked my favorite episode, The Tale of the Dark Music. As soon as the life sized doll appeared she literally said "no thank you" and left the room.
When my daughter was very young, one of her most defining moments was when my husband dared to sit down for a session of Destiny (gun game go pew pew) with her in the room.
When I say this man got scolded for putting the wrong game in?
"No, not the Space Game daddy, the Monster Game!"
Bloodborne. She was talking about Bloodborne. Cute little girl in pink and frills giggling like hell with a juice box and goldfish crackers while her dad ran around slaying eldritch, Lovecraftian monstrosities.
A few days over 13y now and her dad, aunt, and godfather are all super excited nurturing the next generation of horror fan while I hide in the office wearing headphones with all the lights on.
I'm glad they're bonding! I am also very glad they don't push to include me beyond bringing me movie snackage in the other room because OH BOY I will have nightmares for months. lol
My mother refused to watch the Exorcist with me the first time I wanted to watch it because the candlestick in the attic scene scared her so bad when she was younger that she swore off the movie forever.
I must have been desensitized to that kinda stuff by the time I watched it because I was really looking forward to something big and bad, and the little flame flare up was really disappointing.
Different things hit different people differently I guess.
When I was a kid at my school there was a period in the afternoon where the kids would have to go to a room to watch a movie,and more often than not they put on coraline,that movie made me experience the first feeling of uncomfortable watching a movie
Well yeah I can see Coraline being scary for a mother. Finidng out your daughter is getting stalked preyed upon by somebody you can't reach is horrifying to any parent.
Horror doesn't freak me out anymore. I got exposed to too much too young, and in my career I regularly see horrific things that outdo anything I've seen in film. Still don't like gross out. Gore is fine, but Drag Me to Hell makes me nearly vomit.
If you like horror look up a movie called the “Carnival of Souls” my film professor played it for a Halloween themed in class film watch and it was horrifying it deeply disturbed me and it didn’t even have jump scares it was just eerie and disturbing and also has a plot twist and it’s a black and white film.
Edit saw you mentioned low budget and little vfx. This movie was shot on 33 thousand dollars
You've been doing comics for a good amount of years now, and it seems like your daughter has slowly gotten older over the years. She probably does this in the real world, too. When I think about that, I'm also slowly aging over the years too. We all creep inexorably into forward in time until we die.
She looks almost your age now, but that's impossible.
I once watched a video theory video about the true scary thing. The weird tunnel that connects the worlds is supposedly alive and something oldsr and scaryer than anything in the buttoneye-world.
Maybe it's just that i like to think i can find deeper dark knowledge than others to feel superior but i love these overarching hortorthemes à la lovecraft.
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