The Tim Burton movie Coraline was a stop-motion animation made in 2009. In an interview, Henry Selik, the director and producer for the movie, said that every detail made the story more significant and added more lore to the background of basically every character. 

The most commonly known detail is the double loop in “Welcome Home” on the cake the “Other Mother ” gives Coraline. The double loop in the lowercase o means that the person writing is lying to the reader. Having this indicates that the “Other Mother” is welcoming her, but she is not home. Another common detail is how much the “Other Mother” tries to recreate the Pink Palace by “fixing” it, making it more to Caroline’s liking (or so she thinks). The Other Mother does this by making her room more decorated and having her picture of her old friends interact. 

Things I Noticed 

While watching Coraline, it’s almost like you’re underwhelmed by her real life. The boring colors (brown and gray) and just the depressing mood of it all. In the beginning, Coraline feels her life is unsatisfying and empty. As soon as she finds the other Pink Palace (Coraline’s home), the colors are vibrant, she is immediately welcomed with gifts and a huge dinner with many interactive elements. It’s as if the “Other Mother” was trying to manipulate her to stay with her because of the “great” things she has done for her and given to her. 

Throughout the film, the “Other Mother’s” nails grow long and sharp. When we first see her, her nails are short and groomed with a color of polish. As time moves on in the movie and Coraline becomes more aware of her true malicious intentions, her nails become longer. The second time we get a shot of her nails, they are still well groomed to match her demeanor, but her nails are now round at the ends and longer. The third and final time we see her nails is at the end when she has finally broken and Coraline has won the game, or the “deal” that the “Other Mother” said she would let the three little ghost children go, they have played and Coraline is close to escaping. It’s like when she knows she is getting closer and closer to her failure, she gets closer to what she truly is, the tall spider-like woman. 

I love all of the little details of Coraline, but my all-time favorite will always be how close the “Other Mother” was to recreating the original Pink Palace. In her version, every picture in her house is just a different media of the Pink Palace. Some of the drawings were painted, drawn, or in different art styles. It was almost like she was making blueprints for her version of the Pink Palace. The “Other Father’s” pictures in his office are supposed to reflect the boxes she has in his office. There are so many things about the “Other Mother’s” and “Other Father’s” relationship that is odd, the amount of the “Other Father” getts and the beats to his song spelling something out. I have a feeling that almost everyone who has watched this movie has a special love for him because of what she puts him through.

There are so many references to Shakespeare, especially in Miss Spinks and Miss Forcible House. It does make sense; they are very theatrical throughout the entire film. When they show us the wall of their taxidermy dogs, if you look closely the names are references from Shakespeare. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are seen quoting Shakespeare a lot of the time.

Theories of The Movie

Some people believe that the cat that guides Coraline throughout the “Other Mother” “game” is the son of the “Other Mother”. They have supported their theory by the photo of the boy with blue eyes with the ice cream in his hand. They say that they could be the same being in the movie because of their eyes and because the cat is the only one besides Coraline that can go in and out of the other world. There is another theory that goes along with this in some way, people think that the “Blue Boy” in the picture is dead and has reincarnated into the cat because the “Other Mother” hates cats.

If you look closely toward the end of the movie when Coraline escapes, there are clothes scattered around the tunnel. People think that the clothes in the tunnel match the clothes that we see that are worn by the three ghost children that the “Other Mother” has kidnapped in the mirror. Some clothes seem to match the outfit of “Blue Boy”. (This could go with the theory above.) This could show that all of the children have tried to escape; they just couldn’t make it, unlike Coraline.

There isn’t a lot of evidence for this theory, but it is possible that the “Other Mother” won their “game”. There is a very small shot of the garden that could look like a garden from the other world. Coraline also sees her parents in the snow globe while she is in the real world.