As the leaves turn from green to brown and the air grows crisp, the spooky season pulls us towards tales that blur the lines of fantasy and reality. This October, we venture into the enchanting world of Coraline (2009) where dark secrets and whimsical wonders intertwine. Through the lens of control, autonomy, reality, and fantasy, we uncover the intricate web woven by director Henry Selick, based on the book by Neil Gamon.
I’d like to preface this article with a quote from Selick, “Here everything is art-directed; nothing is random. Every blade of grass, every branch shape, needs to have style.”
Escaping the Pink Palace: Autonomy and Independence in Coraline
In the Pink Palace Apartments, Coraline's world is a delicate balance between sanctuary and confinement. The faded grandeur of the building echoes with the weight of its history, and the narrow hallways seem to close in around her. You may notice that in the real world every room and hallway feels a lot smaller, darker and uglier, than in the Other World; this was done on purpose by Selick to trick us, alongside Coraline, to prefer the Other World.
Within this setting, Coraline's parents, though well-meaning, unintentionally exert authority and control over her. Their protective instincts often blur into a suffocating influence, reflecting the broader societal struggle for autonomy in tweenhood. They pay little attention to her wants and needs, yet still feel the need to control her every move. Coraline's journey is a poignant microcosm of this universal conflict. As she navigates the twists and turns of the Pink Palace, she confronts the reality that true autonomy often demands the courage to step beyond familiar boundaries and into the unknown. Even if it may have, unenjoyable, consequences…
Parents or Puppeteers? Authority and Control in Coraline
Coraline invites us to question the fine line between protection and restriction; at what point do you let your children, friends and family learn from their own mistakes? It prompts us to consider the impact of authority on personal growth and autonomy. Does an overbearing parent cause a child to break the rules? Does an over-relaxed parent create a careless child? Through Coraline's journey, we are reminded that true independence often requires navigating the complexities of authority with courage. Something that perhaps many of us don’t have. When was the last time you stood up for yourself in the workplace? At home?
It is noteworthy that her mother controls her father like a puppet in the Other World, this conveys how Coraline sees her mother as the more authoritative out of her parents, and that while her father seems to want to give her the attention she needs, he ultimately obeys her mother and puts her wants and needs (their work) before Coraline’s. It can be argued that (like in many heteronormative relationships) the mother has had the brunt of all at-home labour, including raising Coraline, and housework alongside her job, meaning that she has been forced to become the authoritative and ‘un-fun’ parent so that their life runs on how her spouse and child expect it to.
Behind the Button Eyes: Unmasking Societal Constructs in Coraline
The eerie appearance of the Other Mother, with her button eyes, serves as a striking visual metaphor. It encapsulates the idea of societal constructs and the masks we wear to conform to expectations.
The Other Mother's world, meticulously crafted to cater to Coraline's desires, is a testament to the power of illusion. It prompts us to reflect on the facades we encounter in our own lives. Are we, too, navigating a landscape of constructed realities? Coraline urges us to unmask these illusions, to question the authenticity of our interactions, and to consider the cost of living behind a layer of conformity. In this modern landscape, where nearly everything you see online is there to paint a certain picture, the idea of what is behind those button eyes is eerily closer to home than you may think.
The Allure of Illusion: Reality and Fantasy in Coraline
The Other World, with its enchanting gardens and fantastical inhabitants, beckons Coraline with an allure that is both entrancing and disturbing. This duality lies at the heart of Coraline's narrative. It mirrors the dichotomy between the seductive pull of escapism and the harsh realities of life. The film prompts us to contemplate the dangers of losing oneself in the siren song of illusion. With the endless amounts of influencers we see online today, an illusion has been created for the general public that we too, can live their ‘perfect’ lives; just like Coraline believes she can live a perfect life when she first visits the Other World.
We are told that if we just buy what they buy, just live where they live, just attend the fitness classes they attend (the list goes on) that we can have a life just like theirs. We are fed capitalist illusions wrapped up as a ‘perfect life’ daily, whether we mean to digest this media or not. This is without thought of whether we can afford that life, or even want that life. Just as Coraline navigates the treacherous terrain of the Other World, we are reminded of the importance of discerning between what is real and what is imagined, and of facing the sometimes harsh truths that reality presents. We have to remind ourselves frequently that what is shared online is mostly a façade, and that no one lives that perfect life; people are being paid to sell you a dream that probably cannot come true, a dream that they probably do not live by themselves. Don’t think morbidly though, there is beauty in living a normal life, having your own dreams to pursue and not bankrupting yourself to try and live a life that is not yours.
Now, onto some fun bits!
Easter eggs
When Coraline is making her final escape through the tunnel that is eventually filled with webs, you might notice some items of clothing along the tunnel. If you look at some of the ghosts or portraits of the children that had been previously taken, you notice a lot of the pieces match. The main example is the boring blue boy and his two striped collared top, you see just before she gets back into the real world.
A small detail many have questioned is the medal Babinski is wearing. It represents being a survivor of Chernobyl. You may wonder why that is relevant, but one theory is that all the neighbours who are still there and have been for a while, are unable to have children. Spink and Forcible are too old, and Babinski, being a Chernobyl survivor, has very low chances of being able to procreate. This makes sense as to why they have lasted so long there, as they have nothing to lose. You may also notice that the ladies have an extra place set at their cards table and Babinski has a spare mug out in the real world. What do you make of that? Do they know the Other Mother? In certain frames you can see that she has dolls of them all, perhaps she manipulates all of them?
A morbid Easter Egg is that the tools used in the opening sequence on the dolls are embalming tools; used for funerals. Cotton and sawdust are pulled/ poured out, and these materials are also used in funeral homes for embalming. Furthermore, your eyes and mouth are often sewn shut when you die as they relax open. From this, we can infer that in the opening sequence, we watch her preparing Coraline for her own funeral.
The author, Gamon, took inspiration from a John Keates poem ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad’. The poem is a narrative of an encounter that entails both pleasure and pain about a person who has brought both joy and unhappiness.
A darker Easter Egg woven throughout the film is the link with Shakespeare. I won’t point them all out – I will let you look out for some yourself. But the one I will note is Miss Spink and Miss Forcible in the Other World performing their final quote is from Hamlet,
“What a piece of work is a man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals. And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”
Except, they miss out the final line. The quote builds up the audience’s hope, speaking on how beautiful the world and humanity can be. Yet we are ultimately let down, when we are told we are all just piles of dust, a quite depressing and shocking end to the speech. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible missing out that final line may come across as hopeful to some viewers, but I think it is foreshadowing Other Wybie’s death – turning into dust.
The entire plot of the film happens in the first 4 seconds. The wallpaper we see in the opening scene is a Reed Warbler and a Cuckoo bird. Cuckoo birds are known for ‘brood parasitism’, where they pretend to be other birds to gain love. They are also known for eating eggs and chicks. Pretending to look like something else, wanting love, and eating children. Uncanny?
A fun calligraphy fact: In one scene, Coraline is served a cake from the family with the words ‘Welcome home’ written on top. If you look closely, you can see that there is a double loop in the ‘o’ of the word home. Why does that matter? Well, according to graphology (the analysis of patterns that occur in handwriting) a double loop on a lowercase “o” means the person must be lying.
A final thought. Are they really her parents when they are back at the end? How did they get out of the snow globe? Coraline takes the snow globe from the Other World that has her parents in, but it goes missing in the tunnel on her way back. She notices the snow globe in the real world is broken and the bears are missing, immediately after this her parents walk in covered in snow. This is reminiscent of another part of the movie where Coraline runs towards who she thinks is her real mother and hugs her but it turns out to be the Belle Dame; she pushes her away and as we see her change into the Belle Dame we notice that she has eyes and snow on her. If they were trapped in the Other Mother’s snow globe, how did they escape in the real world? Either the Belle Dame can move into the real world and let them out (unlikely?) Or is it a game and they are still trapped?
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