Growing up, I remember watching “Coraline” using the DVD player on my TV all the time. The title screen used to always scare me because of the creepy music and the ghost children that would appear throughout it. Nonetheless, I loved to watch it. As much as these things may have frightened me, I always loved watching/reading creepy movies, video games and books. Even to this day, my sisters and I will say random lines from the movie and recite the script from memory.
I’ve grown an even deeper love for the movie as I understand hidden messages and meanings throughout the film even more. Recently, I even attended the film’s rerelease at my local theater with my sisters and I got to see a lot more of the behind the scenes. It was great to see the movie with surround sound and to watch it with others who love the movie, too. Since Halloween is coming up in just a few days, rewatching and revisiting the spooky lore of “Coraline” is a great way to celebrate with friends — especially if they can come to appreciate the masterpiece like I did.
“Coraline” is a story about a curious, bored, and pretty much ignored young girl that discovers an alternate world where everything seems better. She’s introduced to “Other Mother,” a copy of her own mother but with one clear difference: she has buttons for eyes. In this other world, Other Mother gives Coraline everything she could ever dream of. This, of course, includes parents that pay more attention to her and do the things she likes. However, soon enough she finds out things aren’t as great as they seem. She figures out the true reality of this world, why Other Mother created it for Coraline, and the other children that fell victim to Other Mother.
In the opening scene of the movie, a doll is seen being taken apart and then remade by peculiar hands to look exactly like Coraline. When I was little, I always just assumed the tools used to make the doll were a simple sewing kit. However, I later learned these tools are actually an 18th century funeral director’s embalming kit. The way the doll is cut open and sewn back together is very similar to what an embalming process would look like. These hands are eventually revealed to be Other Mother’s. She creates this doll with button eyes in order to see into Coraline’s world. This “embalming” of the doll signifies Other Mother depending and counting on Coraline’s death. Not only does the doll help Other Mother learn about the things Coraline likes, it also is used to lead Coraline straight into a trap. The doll moves around unnoticed and helps Coraline find the hidden door that would later lead into the other world.
The first night Coraline comes to this other world, she enters through a portal from a little door. This portal looks vibrant and mesmerizing, but in reality, it’s much more morbid. She discovers later in the movie, by running away from Other Mother, this portal is actually a tunnel full of children’s toys, clothes, shoes and more. There are items seen that once belonged to the other children that were killed. During the same first night, she has a big dinner with Other Mother and “Other Father.” She’s given a cake that says “Welcome Home,” the first “o” has one loop and the second has two. In graphology, a double looped “o” is theorized to mean that person is lying about the word they wrote. So, the cake is telling Coraline that she is welcomed, but she definitely is not home. Not to mention, Other Mother and Other Father talk about how much they love mud, to which Coraline says, “It’s not even raining.” As if Other Mother did it herself, it immediately starts to rain with a big lightning bolt shown out the window. In one frame, it’s in the shape of a hand. Every time they eat together, Other Mother never eats. This is because she can’t eat the things a human can, and it symbolizes she’s hungry for one thing: Coraline. The only time Other Mother does eat is when she eats a beetle, hinting at her true form later in the movie — a spider.
While pretending to be Coraline’s other mother, “The Beldam” is seen with button eyes. The other children that fell victim to Other Mother refer to her as The Beldam, which is an old term for a witch. In the “Coraline” movie, it’s hinted that The Beldam feeds on the souls of the children that fall for her plan. The Beldam feeds on the lives of children but can only do so by replacing their eyes with buttons. The phrase “the eyes are windows into the soul” is known quite well and is very true for The Beldam. In order to reach the souls she yearns for, she needs the children’s eyes. Everyone in this world created by The Beldam has buttons instead of eyes, also symbolizing how she controls them. Therefore, once The Beldam feasts on a kid’s soul, their eyes are replaced with buttons. Coraline, in the middle of the movie, meets the ghosts of these children and is told how they were once like her. However, they met a worse end. They gave their eyes to The Beldam who promised they’d be happy; instead, they would stay trapped forever. The Beldam even traps Coraline’s parents, forcing Coraline to go back to the other world once she’s already escaped.
Through a game, Coraline finds the ghost children’s lost eyes and, cleverly, tells The Beldam to open the locked little door because her parents are in there. With the door open, she is able to escape again and break open the snow globe her parents are actually in. Everything then seems to be over until the ghost children, now free, tell her to get rid of the key. She does so in a fight with The Beldam’s hand that seeped through the door. Her and Wybie crush the hand and send the key down into the deep well outside. Everything finally seems to be done and over, yet the cat — that’s appeared throughout the whole movie — could only disappear in the other world. Although, in the very last clip of the movie he does so in what everyone now thinks is the real world. This leads many to speculate that The Beldam was never truly defeated.
One thing that is definitely true of “Coraline,” is the movie is much more vibrant, and less creepy, than the book it was based on. This year, I’m planning on reading “Coraline,” the book, as well. It’ll definitely be fun to compare both the book and movie later this year. So, as Halloween comes around in the next few days, I suggest sitting down to watch “Coraline.” Not only does this creepy movie fit with Halloween, it is also a great movie worth watching.