Coraline: All Mysteries and Hidden Monsters Explained

it's no secret that there are a lot of secrets in Coraline and in this video I'm going over all of them I've spent the past few years combing through this mysterious story to produce this two plus hour extensively animated knowledge Mega dive from the book to the movie and even into the graphic novel and folklore this is one creepy look at our favorite other world I do hope you enjoy to start off there are a few things that are very different between the book and the movie and those differences really affect how each one works on its own level of horror from the book's gritty dark atmosphere and fast-paced to the movie's too sugary and sweet veneer I'm diving into what makes each one tick because all of this is important to the later theories so let's see how Coraline could have been creepier to start here is the book look at this creepy cover look at it this is the stuff of expressionless clay nightmares and I read it when I was a kiddo it called to me I may or may not have been a weirdo super creepy regardless notice no blue hair color for clothing adorable buttons bright palettes or super expressive faces the Smock made me think the story took place in an asylum or orphanage before I even started reading so that really uh set the tone for my experience Coraline is very much alone with only a candle and clawing Shadows licking at our back this is the stuff of Glorious nightmare Fuel and my over imaginative kid self it was everything and weeks of Night Terrors gosh did I love it what I wouldn't give to watch a film in this more abstract clay style too but then weird heart is all a flutter just thinking about it but yeah I read the book as a kid and was kind of freaked out with certain things that just didn't make an appearance in the film so I decided to look into that more I am first and foremost a bookworm so you know I read the book through twice and watched the movie twice just to make sure I'm not talking nonsense and you know what the book is creepier so right off the rip the decision to make a more cheerful set and have goofy characters absolutely made the movie appeal to more viewers the music legendary and rather hopeful even if it has a bit of a melancholic Vibe the movie has more characters than the book so it feels Less Lonely Too order and timeline of events and pacing is also very different in the movie and little extras have been peppered in for flavor is that instant coffee terrifying I'm not at odds with any decisions whatsoever here they're all very smart and in some cases necessary making things less dark so that more people could see this awesome film is great Coraline is a strong little lady after all and it was heartwarming to see her on the big screen and read her tail in a heaven-scented paperback book over and over again because the book and the movie timelines are drastically different we're going to be bouncing around quite a bit I'm read the book or have seen the movie because hey spoilers abound if you haven't done either of those things do one or both then come back anyway the timing of happenings does have a significant impact on the creep Factor so buckle up and let's unspool This Thread right into the oven in the book we're thrown into danger right off the rip by Page 8 of 163 we discover the other door which unlike the small child size portal in the movie is huge and wooden and carved with the most intricative details large enough for something unsettling to creep through I tears say we're in such danger that shortly after discovering the door Miss Pink and forceful has already read Coraline's tea leaves giving her a charm and issued big warnings page 20. back on page 10 we're already seeing shadows leading us to the door in the Night the movie Waits until much later to show this gotta set it up just right after all and you know Coraline is in for a rough time of things because look at this skewed camera angle you know things are finally about to get freaky oh yeah you may have noticed that I said we discover when talking about at the book door that's because in the book we Are essentially Coraline we don't get to see her very expressive reactions to things things happen to her to us we are essentially perched on her shoulder and experienced everything as she is terrified and all that alone turns the creepy aspects up a few notches speaking of Shadows in the night rats are what make this a whole lot of creepier a whole lot sooner in the movie mice about the night after Coraline first opens the door sweet sweet paper mice magic themselves out of the portal and Scurry around the house eventually leading Coraline to the now open portal door she follows them because they look so innocent and cute and she's bored and why wouldn't you want to follow a bounding bouncy ball Mouse at this much sooner point in the book Coraline's mother has shut but not locked the other door as it doesn't go anywhere she says that night Coraline is awakened by a queen back and goes to investigate she does not see a bounding cute round paper Mouse but what she does see is little more than a shadow it scuttled down the darkened hallway fast like a patch of night page 10. the shape scurries under furniture making its way back to the door which is now ever so slightly ajar and she shuts it there's no cool purple glowy tunnel to lure her instead Coraline goes back to bed where she dreams of black shapes that slid from place to place avoiding the lights until they were all gathered together under the moon little black shapes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth they started to sing We will be here when you fall their voices were high and whispering and slightly whiny they made Coraline uncomfortable these shadow rats chant a few more times throughout the book their song becoming a bit more scary and a lot more threatening each time in the movie it's nice nice other Mr Bobo has a delightful mouth circus mice do the other mother's bidding and sound adorable alarms this mouse pretends it's kept up until the cat reveals their true form to Coraline and she begins to know the other mother's true colors in the book The few mice that we know of are good or at least on our side only the crazy man upstairs Coraline does not find out his humor's name until the last few pages of the book has a mouth circus and these mice are the ones whose whiskers droop when the other mothers missed first appears who warn us of the dangers to come and then tell us that those dangers have in fact passed other Mr Bobo has a rats uh Circus the whole time in the book if you can call creepy chanting a circus there's no pretense in the book rats are everywhere they're sometimes Shadows sometimes corporeal but always following the other mother's orders they are her spies and hands into the real world and can Traverse the corridor between the worlds without issue they can even steal the key from Coraline's real house while Coraline is in the other world these are pretty slippery foes and the fact that the other mother and father are cool them right when we first meet them put me on edge that this world is seriously skewed and alerted me to never trust anything right from the start the book handles the killing of the Rat who steals the final Soul a little uh more graphically in the movie The Cat presents a distraught Coraline with the sand filled redhead which is still clutching the eye in its mouth ew gross yes however jumping to the book after Coraline Falls and cries and loses all help of Escape she opened her eyes and saw the rat it was lying on a brick path on the bottom of the stairs with a surprised look across its face which was now several inches away from the rest of it its whiskers were still its eyes were wide open its teeth visible and yellow and sharp a color of wet blood glistens at its neck yeah blood not sand not stuffing not a doll actual former living and breathing creature blood this is no imaginary world living things can die here the movie other mother puppet spies have nothing on this also like I mentioned rats were the spies into the real world not the crafted puppets now rats exist in our real world like yours and mine right this very minute they are alive and have blood and blend with shadows and potentially work for another other mother as a kid while reading this book I had a family of the critters living above my bed forcibly scratching frantically squeaking incessantly crawling up and down and scampering all around the wall they would only come out at night and I was convinced they would claw their way through the ceiling and follow me anytime now no one believed me for weeks no one took this seriously I felt like book Coraline bringing valid scary things to light and being ignored and dismissed by grown-ups so to say that this book hit close to home is a bit of an understatement and having an overactive imagination on top of that I was on high alert from mysterious doors for weeks rats man the other mother herself movie other mother at first really does resemble Coraline's real mother excluding the button eyes naturally over the course of the movie she becomes elongated and more insect-like eventually assuming her final form of nightmarish spider even in this form however she offers Aid to Coraline in the form of a hint on where to find the lost eyes in each of the three wonders she has created for her even if she has no intention of honoring her word this other mother at least does more of a Coraline than she ever did in the book book of the mother is a far cry from real mother right away she looked a little like Coraline's mother only only her skin was white as paper only she was taller and thinner only her fingers were too long and they never stopped moving in her dark red fingernails were curved and sharp page 27 she has a full set of teeth Each of which are just a bit too long her fingers constantly move either excitedly or like a tired butterfly and her shiny black hair twined and twisted about her neck and shoulders as if it were blowing in some wind that Coraline could not touch or feel page 79 it has a mind of its own unlike in the movie this other mother has no reflection in mirrors which according to her are never to be trusted page 101 is she a vampire just what is a bell Dam she uses more than her mouth to speak her voice did not just come from her mouth it came from the Mist the fog the house and the sky far from offering Coraline any help on the quest she actively hinders her instead sending Coraline to the mysterious empty flat next door where the other mother has set a trap fully expecting the rotting other father to do Coraline in and pelting wind with shards of sanding glass into Coraline's face things bleed in this world and the other mother is no exception at the end of the quest when Coraline launches the cat at her instead of just ripping off the button eyes the cat rips flesh the other mother bleeds copious amounts of deep Terry black ooze again what is she made of she also eats raw beetles none of this chocolate covered stuff perhaps the creepiest thing about the other mother is the fact that she killed her own mother this is not something in the movie how do I know you'll keep your word as Coraline I swear it said the other mother I swear it on my own mother's grave does she have a great s Coraline sharp as effort I might add oh yes said the other mother I put her there myself and when I found her trying to crawl out I put her back how has that for some foreshadowing swear on something else so I can trust you to keep your word my right hand said the other mother holding it up she waggled the long finger slowly displaying claw-like Nails I swear on that page 92. okay also the hand remember this bargain for reference later in this video the other theater show well um unsettling in the movie in its own way the book has Coraline Immortal danger during the show and there are no Glitter bats to be had book Coraline enters the other theater all alone and is shown her seat by a talking dog like in the movie she is called to the stage but as a Target in a dagger throwing segment she survives gets a box of chocolate is a participation prize for not dying and eats a piece I remember thinking this is like the myth of Persephone and Hades Coraline ate some metaphorical pomegranate seeds oh no she's gotta stay there now one of the dogs by her discusses how you can never tell what you're going to get in the dark referring to the chocolates which made me think she was eating bugs it's revealed that dogs in this world eat chocolate which is obviously deadly in Coraline she asks how long this show goes on for and they say forever and always which is a common phrase in the book and a hot tip that not all is as great as it seems and really freaks Coraline out to the point where she gets up and walks out of the forever repeating show leaving her chocolates behind for the dogs to devour she knows not all is right and cannot possibly stay the night in the movie she's having such a great time that her other parents have to come by to collect her at the end of the day and she stays overnight for a second time in that world Coraline is seemingly more taken into the other world in the movie than she is in the book possibly because she's always had her Talisman with her in the book or the book is just that much creepier the other upstairs flat in the movie YB and Coraline enjoyed the mouse circus upstairs early on the flight is so cool in their lights and popcorn and fun cannons everywhere when Coraline goes back to collect the final eyelator the attic is more or less the same with a bit of a color change and with the addition of the Rat composite other Mr Bobo in the book instead of going upstairs for the circus 50 rats visit her in her ugly green and pink other bedroom and perform there even then it's not really a circus but another one of those creepy chants so Coraline has never been to this other flat before going to retrieve the final soul and what she experiences there is kinda creepy the air is heavy and the ceiling is closing in about her so tightly that she can reach up and touch it the smell like every exotic food left out to rot everything is dark and the Rats begin their chance Anew we have eyes and we have nerves we have tails and we have teeth you'll get oh you deserve these when we rise from underneath by this point Coraline has only briefly conversed with the real crazy old man and only once spoken to the other crazy old man before to decline his offer for her to come upstairs and watch the rats feed no thank you I don't even want to know she doesn't even know his name other than the crazy man from upstairs so when he has a deep heart to heart with her accurately pinpointing her frustrations and issues with the real world trying to convince her to stay in the other world it's very unsettling especially because the whispery disembodied Voice keeps Pace with her into every room she passes through and of course we know what happens from here hey the decaying Creations in the movie after a while the other mother's Creations start to go to seed other father looks crazy and then gets a bit runny and the other [ __ ] enforceable look like pulled Taffy the other Furniture is revealed to be bugs which major props to this thematic detail caught in a web however the book did this creepier this is what gave me nightmares and shivers not the sewing of button eyes but the rich descriptions of the creation's decaying let's have a look shall we Coraline's first unpleasant encounter with the other father there was something vague about his face like bread dough that had begun to rise smoothing out the bumps and cracks and depressions okay cool we're getting clay-like like on the cover of the book but then the theater dogs there were things up there hairless jelly-ish she thought they might have once had faces wait these things are now goopy and clay-ish and runny there is decidedly no stuffing and sand in this world it's all decaying organic matter Miss Pink and forcible are not contained in a candy wrapper but in an insect sack it clings to Coraline's hair and clothes the way a spider web would the whole other theater is covered in the stuff as well the two other actresses are still intertwined inside but they are cold slippery covered in slime and horribly unformed and unfinished as if two blessed seen people had been warmed and rolled together squashed and pressed into one thing and then the eyes open four black buttons glinting and staring down at her and two voices that sounded like no voice that Coraline had ever heard began to speak to her one of them willed and whispered the other buzzed like a fat and angry blue bottle at a window pane so we're getting a more bloated decaying slimy story about the Creations dying but when we get to the final scene with the other father things get gross Coraline finds and smells something under a pile of rubbish in one corner of the other empty Flats basement Cellar mixed in about the decaying curtains and mildewy boxes and newspaper it smells horribly of sour wind and moldy bread here and as she goes to leave Coraline spots a foot at the bottom of the trash pile page 110 something more or less the size and shape of a person in that dim light it took her several seconds to recognize it for what it was the thing was pale and swollen like a grub with thin stick-like arms and feet it had almost no features on its face which had puffed and swollen like risen bread dough the thing had two large black buttons where its eyes should have been a mouth opened in the mouthless face strands of pale stuff sticking to the lips and a voice that no longer even faintly resembled her father's whispered Coraline the creatures twig like hands moved to its face and push the pale clay about making something like a nose the thing was white and huge and swollen monstrous that Coraline but also miserable she takes pity on it being relegated down here for upset in the other mother by saying too much it is Blobby and hairless and sticky and tacky like warm bread dough unlike in the movie where the other father ends up helping her retrieve the first die in the book He's unable to resist the other mother's demand to ensnare Coraline the shape that was her father grows it inflates it rides the waiting instructions and then quick as Lightning slithers up the stairs towards her we have a very narrow Escape through the trapdoor and we are thoroughly done with this other world she only a few more things to find the corridor a most ancient Beast this tunnel Between Worlds starts off kind of Pretty in the movie behind a small Whimsical perfectly child-sized door is an eerie glowy purpley entrance to a kids only Cosmos as the story progresses it fades into what looks like a cluttered attic or crawl space with detritus and junk sprawled everywhere and finally to a cob of infested trap now in the book this liminal space is alive behind the huge ornate Narnia gone wrong door is something ancient deep and slow Coraline picks up on this on her first foray into the other world it's a dark hallway with a cold musty smell like something very old and very slow where strange voices whispered in distant winds howl Coraline became certain there was something in the dark behind her something very old and very slow this is not your fun house purple tunnel and we are definitely not alone when Coraline goes back into the tunnel to save her parents she notes to the cat that the tunnel is shorter than she remembers it being like it's trying to get her back in there quickly during our Escape back to the real world the tunnel is most certainly uphill and much much longer than it had ever been the walls also feel warm and yielding as if they were covered in a fine dining fur it moved as if it were taking a breath a few moments later after a howling wind Coraline reaches to stabilize herself again but this time what she touched felt hot and wet is if she had put her hand in somebody's mouth Peach 136 she trips on the other mother's hand but knows she must keep moving because whatever that Corridor was was older by far than the other mother it was deep and slow and it knew that she was there clearly this tunnel is alive and I have some theories but we'll save those for another time just if we thought the other mother was creepy this tunnel is indicative of some Next Level Terror the lack of adults and being all alone no matter how awful things get in the movie Coraline for the most part has real people in her cornerback in the real world her parents don't go missing until a few days of her visit in the other world and even then there are still neighbors and friends about offering Aid in the form of charms and advice now in the book Coraline's parents disappear right after her first half evening trip into the other world she doesn't even stay the night in already her parents are out of the picture the next day she bumps into Miss Pink and the fog who prattles on about telling her parents something or other death to Coraline's plight about them being missing and now being a single child family [ __ ] also mentions that both of the actresses will be out of town visiting a niece tomorrow leaving Coraline even more alone with no adults to help in the movie This is the point where they make her the Talisman in true Home Alone fashion Coraline fends for herself she breaks her savings and goes shopping for food and other Staples and generally holds down the fort until the next night when her parents still are not home she sees them trapped behind mirror they write help us on the fog similar to the movie although this happens days later in that she calls the police to tell them that her parents have been kidnapped but the officer just benignly tells her she simply had a nightmare and to tell her mom to go fix her hot cocoa because that will make everything better man adults are really oblivious knowing that she is truly all alone and no one will believe her or help her makes the book so scary and creepy we are truly alone with her no help to be had after days of being on her own Coraline then Dons a dressing gown in slippers and because she will not eat the other mother's food a few apples to go back into the other world to save her parents the end the hint the last task remember that bargain the other mother made in the book with Coraline the one where she swore on her right hand this is where that comes back into play in the movie after a delightful gardening party that really warms the whole tone of the movie The Children Coraline saved visit her in a dream and tell her she must get rid of the key because the other mother will never stop looking for it the metallic hand meanwhile follows Coraline back into the real world in search of the key although Coraline's not really aware of that until it attacks her and nearly kills YB she traps it while trying to dispose of the key because it was it or them her primary focus was to get rid of the key not get rid of the hand in the book Coraline is very aware that the bone white hand has followed her into the real world this is somehow creepier because it's an organic hand not metallic that has been lopped off in the other door it tries to trip her up as she escapes in the tunnel it nearly scratches through Coraline's bedroom window glass in an attempt to get the key it attacks the actress his dog being a huge guest in port hamish's side Coraline's tea leaves say that all is well except for the hand shape that has clung to the side of the teacup this hand is trouble with a capital T in the movie She traps the hand in the well because it attacks her in the book Coraline has to devise a way to kill it because according to the ghostly child in Her Dream the Bell damn swore by her good right hand but she lied Coraline knows this hand will always stalk her and hurt those around her and their dogs she must devise a cunning trick to trap the hand using the well that if one was to fall into the well and look up they would see A Sky Full of Stars even in the daytime she feigns nonchalance and bravely sets up a creepy picnic with dolls and toys she stretches a blanket over the well weighs it down with two cups of water and sets the key in the center waiting for the hand to make its move all goes to plan and the murderer's hand is trapped in the well with the key in both the book and the movie I gotta say this is terrifying Iris responsible nightmarish this cycle will continue especially because the cat proves that there are still portals open there could very well be one in the well as well oh well so after rereading the book a few more times and watching the jaw-drapping animation a few more times as well I think that my childhood read on the book was in fact creepier there are decaying Creations gory details in dire situations that just weren't in the movie also tons more rats now don't get me wrong both the movie and the book are amazing I just don't get the visceral reaction from the cute animation that I did from the book although I can't see how some people would it's kind of like how the Boogeyman from The Nightmare Before Christmas haunted my dreams in days for years I still cringe and twinge at that part in the animation anyway those are my bookwormy thoughts on how Coraline could have been creepier I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the movie as different as they are but phew with that extensive Coraline book burst movie out of the way we're on the same page now yeah cool now from the book specifically and the movie a bit we get a hint at what is probably the biggest oldest most ancient threat in both the real world and in the other world and it's not the other mother in fact even she parasite that she is is afraid we're talking tunnel vision we're looking into something that is captivated and eluded me for over a decade and a half the passageway between the real world and the other world and how it is even more dangerous than the Insidious other mother now for this video I'm using both the movie and the book as reference but mostly the book and this is all just in good fun so let's have a ball exploring the cobwo at the inner corners of these overactive mental corridors the ancient Corridor the greatest threat is Awakening there are times in the book and then much later on when the movie came out where I thought that the tunnel could be a reflection of the other mother's power like she was the one controlling it to lure Coraline into the other world it has the power to accordion in and out becoming seemingly shorter when coralai walks into the other world and longer when she's trying to escape it appears as though the other mother's rats are able to Scamper through it unharmed after all so it seems at first like it is her passageway and in the movie it looks like it loses its beautiful glowy Powers the other mother loses her power of Illusion too where at first it was bright and glowy in the other mother's Powers were in full control it changes over the course of the movie to feel like a cluttered and cobwobby attic space just as the other mother loses control over her Illusions and appearance I also thought hey this tunnel could be a portal or the deepest well itself however all those theories go right out the window with one chilling Line near the end of the book as Coraline is trying to escape through the tunnel a final time on page 136 she knew that if she fell in that Corridor she might never get up again whatever that Corridor was was older by far than the other mother it was deep and slow and it knew that she was there not whatever was in that Corridor but whatever that Corridor was so this tunnel is a more dangerous entity than even the other mother my gut feeling is that she's afraid of it too or at least respects its more ancient magic and might it is outside of her domain which includes the entire other world but ends on the other side of her own door I think she seeks the key to escape herself as well but here's my theory the other mother is merely a parasite in the throat belly intestinal tract trust me it's Anatomy is confusing of this larger being catching what price she can as it falls into the more ancient Monster's digestive system not unlike a spider spinning webs between trees plants and even in the ground catching what it can in the larger world and that spider theme is pretty prevalent in the movie and even in the book too the other mother spins Illusions and false promises eventually once those Illusions have faded all the places and things in the other world that she created seem to have the sticky spider webbing clung on and around them but just what is this Beast honestly it could be many different things or all the things wrapped up into one new thing but what we do know this thing is alive and it is sentient and it is hungry I've covered the book's description of this shape-shifting Corridor before and from that we know that whatever it is this tunnel is a most ancient entity I'm gonna take all these attributes now and see just what exactly the tunnel could be first off let's talk about the glowy lure you in tunnel from the movie there are some predators that lore pray with this same technique I'm thinking anglerfish of the deep sea who in the dark Waters use their built-in lights to lure smaller prey into their death Jaws kind of like moths and mosquitoes drawn to those bug zappers too come to think of it anyway so this thing's throw glows I'm calling it a throat because well look at it mouth throat portal region okay so anyway keep this glowing part on the back burner for later because in the book there is no glowing but I thought it worth mentioning our first encounter with the tunnel the book is on page 26 where the door opened onto a dark hallway there was a cold musty smell coming through the open doorway it smelled like something very old and very slow okay so there is no light source no heat source is this thing cold blooded and besides potential Decay nothing has been here in ages hence the musty smell I usually associate that with basements or underground Cavern type places this thing is ancient and slow to move or awaken creatures that come to mind tortoises snakes dinosaurs why not this description holds when Coraline leaves the other world for the first time she senses something that is not the other mother in the corridor with her on page 47 Coraline took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness where strange voices whispered in distant winds howled she became certain that there was something in the dark behind her something very old and very slow we have now added distant wind into this mysterious equation a far-off pair of lungs if you well this thing is slowly Awakening and its breathing is now faintly noticeable by Coraline I think those strange voices are either the other mother's rats cuddling to and fro or more interestingly this ancient beings victims from past feedings the ones the other mother couldn't intercept next time we're in the tunnel Coraline is going back in for her Rescue Mission Pages 58 and 59 a cold wind blew through the passageway she took her first step down the dark Corridor she could smell dust and damp and mustiness she heard something moving in the darkness beside her or to one side of her she could not tell it seemed as if it was keeping Pace with her whatever it was let's dissect this the wind is no longer faint but very much present whatever was sleeping is now even more awake and his breathing more heavily in addition to musty Dusty smells we now have dampness added to the mix which means liquid must be involved somehow either leaking in like a wet basement or else this monster could be an underwater creature or Another World creature that presence that keeps Pace with her could be one of the other mother's rats or it could be the expanding and Contracting of muscles like how a snake pushes food down its body step by step or it could be something else entirely on that same trip in the passage Coraline notices that the tunnel is shorter than ever before Pages 59 and 60. Coraline was going to say something like sorry or wasn't it a lot shorter walk last time when the candle went out as suddenly as if it had been snuffed by someone's hand there was a scrabbling in a pattering she put out one hand and felt something wispy like a spider's web brush her hands and her face okay it could be that that scrambling and patterning is another mother rat or something more Shadow and impish like the hands on the cover something that could snuff out a candle it's not blown out like wind would have magix also now we encounter the spiderweb stuff that is all over the other world at this point in the book maybe it's that Coraline is sing through the other mother's Illusions and that the other mother is losing power or we finally see the metaphorical spider web on our way to something more perilous here too we see that the tunnel can seemingly shrink in distance like a spring loading or a neck compressing my logical mind is still on snakes Turtles dinos Etc cool but then a wrench a cosmic wrench so much of the tunnel transformation happens when Coraline and Co are making their final escape to the real world through the corridor page 133 it was colder in the corridor like stepping down into a Cellar on a warm day okay cool it still will cool in here and really windy I mean breathy now too Coraline struggles to shut the other door but when they get closed was like trying to close a door against a high wind and then she felt something from the other side start to pull against her that something from the other side is the other mother I believe but where we at first had far away wind and then right here in present wind we now have high wind fighting Coraline it is worth mentioning for counterpoints that the other mother has the power of sandshard wind which she uses once after Coraline finds a soul but I think that this wind is different from her sand glass wind there were no wailing voices in that wind just pure localized malice this thing is waking up okay great what's this in just two pages this thing has altered its form on page 135 when escaping Coraline turned her back on the door and began to run as fast as was practical through the dark Corridor running her hand along the wall it was an uphill run and it seemed to her that it went on for a longer distance than anything could possibly go okay so where are the jaunt into was shorter than before it's now longer than ever like a body or an X stretching up to ensure she stays trapped it also rotates up like it's lifting its head and waking or to keep her in its belly system oh it's not cool in here anymore either by the way still page 135 the wall she was touching felt Mormon yielding now and she realized it felt as if it were covered in a fine Downy fur it moved as if it were taking a breath she snatches her hand away from it more winds howled in the dark and she again reaches out for the wall for stability this time what she touched felt hot and wet as if she had put her hand in somebody's mouth there's a whole lot going on here temperature changes from cold to warm windy breathing a texture change from Downy fur to all of a sudden a mouth texture hold up are we in the small intestine are those fine dining for his really really in microvilli dang we really are in the belly of the Beast and thankfully traveling upwards towards a mouth entrance girls still sure but closer to the exit of this digestive underworld anatomically this does not make sense we'd have to pass through the stomach well scratch that okay so let's just say it's actually fur like the cavern walls woke up in groover and then shed that fur quickly to become a mouth or there are many furry somethings pigeonholed in the walls some with mouth spacing Coraline my Earthly experience has very much exclude this sort of quick change and let's not forget those distant voices Whispering from earlier descriptions it could be old victims or else the many many new mouths this whole thing reeks of ancient shape-shifting Magics dare I say Eldritch magics quite a leap is it though I cannot adequately rationalize the physicality of this tunnel beast at this point in the book I mean here's where I'm at trying to do that what is ancient huge slow to move quick to change form and potentially glowy and underground underwater Serpentine angler dinosaur and no just kidding even that can't change form like we needed to with all the fertile and it's kind of cute to boot just doesn't have that ominous creepy factor that is so prevalent in the book I think it's honestly some combination of these things and my heart is telling me it's more spooky in other underworldly than physical my gut is on Cosmic ma or something a Sinister and huge it's clearly alive and very much a different and I'll say more powerful being than the other mother so or if you're unfamiliar that's some horror brought into popularity by H.P Lovecraft back in the day it is Rife with gargantuan impossible beings tentacled Cosmic entities Mammoth glowing worms terrifying tornadoes with moths and eyes and teeth many of which live in waiting on this planet we call home Cthulhu for example anyway back to our tunnel it seems more Behemoth more monstrous more love crafting than any creature in our known physical world it's a liminal space between doors and once fully awake I think that it will be exceptionally difficult to contain no I really wish Coraline hadn't let that key fall into the well tunnel throat because I think that key belongs to the tunnel or was to contain that tunnel and now the tunnel Beast has the literal key to its own release there are two doors that we know of but only one key account that we know of and the other mother covets it for herself this makes me think that it's not hers to begin with but something she needs to master something greater to gain more power or to escape herself from the Beast or to level up her own Cosmic status from parasite to host from that really cool Cosmic Terror to a more mundane explanation the tunnel could likely just be a literary device to let us know exactly how scared Coraline is on her Journeys to and fro when she needs to be brave and is stealing herself for a rescue mission she arrives sooner than she would have liked the tunnel seemed shorter than before or when trying to escape it was an uphill struggle seemingly going on for much longer because of how emotionally exhausted and terrified she was at this point Etc but sometimes it is way more fun to think of it as a behemoth ancient being letting the imagination run wild and free life is more fun with access and mental imaginings right so just what is the most ancient tunnel is it a literary insight into our main character's emotions is it merely a passageway Between Worlds a portal is it the deepest well itself perhaps or is it something much more Sinister more beastly more ravenous a creature That Time Forgot whatever it is it's a far greater scale threat than the other mother in her Twisted belt Dam Magics although I'm not sure I'd want to take either one of them on and so are Splunk into the cosmic horror of the shape-shifting corridor and Coraline is at a close so that's one Eldritch being between the real world and the other world but what if I told you there were more many many more scurrying and scuttling annoying and Insidious ones but you never thought to look underfoot make no mistake Coraline can be super creepy and super cute I covered both the movie and the book on this channel pretty in-depth going over how this or that could have been creepier but today or night you brave brave souls I want to uncover the mysterious and potentially nefarious motivations of the most slippery whispery Elusive and beguiling creatures in the other world rats man how the rats and Coraline are more than they seem and hint at something more dangerous the movie uses mice most of the time until the cat reveals the truth in the book we know that the other mother uses rats as her spies and eyes into the real world from the very outset they can Traverse the corridor were these snatch the key from the real house when the door is unlocked that is and perform the most creepy of whispery chance now these chants are what I want to dive into more in depth the first chant Coraline barely hears that she slips off to sleep on her first night after opening but not going through the other door remember it's not locked and the rats are able to slip through the corridor this chant is after Coraline here's a creep egg in the night and goes down to investigate finds the Dora jar shuts it it's still unlocked though and goes back to bed to fall asleep where she dreamed of black shapes that slid from place to place avoiding the light until they all gathered together under the moon little black shapes with little red eyes and sharp yellow teeth they started to sing We are smart but we are many we are many and we are small we were here before you Rose we will be here when you fall their voices were high and whispering and slightly whiny they made Coraline feel uncomfortable now it could be said that this rat chant is a warning to Coraline about pursuing the other door further but why would they warn her don't they want her there she has not yet gone through it in the book so the rats could be marking her on behalf of their mistress the other mother it's a creepy chant to be sure but after a bajillion rereads I'm not entirely sold on the target of it being Coraline the line we were here before you Rose that sounds like someone or thing rising to power not just being born or moving into a new house or waking up in the morning then these rats are stating that while they may be small they are a very threatening many who will Outlast whoever or whatever Rose by saying we will be here when you fall again that seems almost too epic of words to use regarding a small little child even if she is pretty Fearless so let's gather some more information on these little rascals the next time they chant Coraline has just entered the other world for the first time just met her other parents and had a delicious meal other mothers suggest that she go to her weird other bedroom of off-putting green and peculiar pink to play with the rats from upstairs Portland looks under the bed she's a rat and tries to converse with it but it turns out it can't talk but it does smile unpleasantly at her before joining a larger circle of rats then they began to climb on top of each other carefully but swiftly until they had formed a pyramid with the largest rat at the top the rats began to sing in High Whispering voices we have tails and we have eyes we were here before you fell down you will be here when we rise and a pretty song Coraline was sure she'd heard it before or something like it although she was unable to remember exactly where then the pyramid falls apart and the other crazy old man from upstairs holds out his hands and absorbs the rest into his clothing and asked Coraline if she wants to watch the red speed in the Attic she declines because she senses some major creepy and the Rats start to whisper to each other after being rejected needless to say Coraline gets very bad vibes from that alrighty so these rats are unable to talk to Coraline when she tries talking to them but they are able to creepily whisper to each other and do their creepy reactions without issue maybe because there's a soul powering their Collective being Hive minds but alone they can't respond to an outsider now back to picking apart the quote more threats about the many many teeth they have between them and the many many eyes that have seen many many things and of course Tails which could either be like in the sense of I have seen so much have I got some stories and tales for you or could just be the sheer number of literal rat Tales between them what they could form some colossal Rat King type of being we were here before you fell they could definitely be hinting at Coraline's almost certain demise in their eyes they have no idea who they're dealing with and the fact that they will now rise to power and Coraline's little husk will remain here in the other world as they do are they the ones that feed on the children that would make the watch the red speed request more dire maybe they share with the other mother but here's the thing I don't think that little Coraline would warrant that much malice I think that someone or something that has perpetually used the rat's Eye Spies and ears someone or something that is also desperate to escape or assume a larger place in the world someone or something that uses the many many rats to their advantage but doesn't offer any real share in the benefits would warrant this much malice for something like the other mother or going Beyond even her the rats could be referring to the Colossal ancient being that we've talked about before they could have been here before it fell asleep or died and they think they will be the Masters once that Beast rises again or awakens reincarnates if you don't know what I'm talking about specifically here do I have a video for you to watch after this one which brings us to the last chance Coraline has already found the first soul in the toy box wrestled the second soul from the decaying other actresses barely escaped her near-death encounter with the doughy other father and is about to enter the other upstairs flat to find the final Soul she knocks on the Green Door which swings open and she walks in we have eyes and we have nerves we have tails and we have teeth you'll all get what you deserve these when we rise from underneath whispered a dozen or more tiny voices red eyes stared at her little pink face scurried away as she came close darker Shadows slipped through the Shadows at the edges of things amid even more thinly veiled physical threats of sheer numbers you'll all get what you deserve cease okay okay that definitely sounds like more than one target or targeting the entire real world there is certainly a grudge here when we rise from underneath seems to me like an underdog situation here disgruntled Hench Rats on the rise to overthrow their Master it appears through most of the book that the other mother is their Master but some things don't seem to line up the rats are not her constructs I think for one thing they don't have button eyes but also when the other world is falling apart the other father is a Blobby mess others think enforceable are gooey blobs and the other theater dogs are sweating dough with wings the rats remain rats they stay whole even as the other mother loses some control over the other realm in the movie I think that they are sand filled puppets making them constructs there this is not so in the book they do bleed real blood as is evidenced when the cat takes care of the largest rat trap to run with the soul the other crazy old man from upstairs has button eyes and may be a construct but the rats themselves do not so maybe the book other mother didn't make them but until something better comes along or until they have the strain to rise on their own the rats will remain loyal to her it seems like that time is almost nigh though the rats are very clearly intelligent on this last creepy visit to the attic the other crazy old man from upstairs who is made of rats has an in-depth chilling conversation with Coraline although that could just be because the soul the refs have possession of as being influenced by the other mother's wishes but here's the thing where the Blobby actress creation could barely move to fight Coraline for the soul powering it the Rats first try the power of persuasion to try to convince Coraline to stay and failing that do everything they can to Ferry the soul out of her reach and Away to safety this tells me that they are sentient in a similar way to how the other mother is and not like her other creations they desperately try to cling to the soul but if it's really for the other mothers best interest is unclear I think that their hive mind is tied to its power and that they are also trying to escape the other world as the other mother is oh yeah recap video here either with her or in spite of her or else they could be trying to assume a terrifying form to make sure you'll all get what you deserve sees when we rise from underneath visuals that fill my mind are a colossal Rat King able to Traverse or defeat the corridor and a stranger things rat type construct ew makes sense with all those tails and teeth and eyes that tries to take over the real world after it escapes Waits a minute maybe the other realm is akin to the upside down hmm what if the rats gain this much power I am unconvinced that they will still be loyal to the other mother and because I have certain thoughts about the nature of the other Corridor my gut says that they will overtake more than just the other mother in the other world they have clearly been plotting this Uprising with their hive type mind for what could be centuries given the span of time periods that the other child victim's hail from were the rats here before the more ancient entities were or before the more ancient entities started to awaken before they Rose other rats all possessed by the same Legion type demon and that's what's driving them for they are many and they seem to have a grudge so my thoughts are if the rats have their own mind and are just playing along with the other mother until they can rise what else in the other world is independently sentient and can potentially threaten the other mother and even different worlds if the rats are a parasite and tool to the other mother and the other mother is a parasite or tool to a greater entity how much deeper does this go if the rats are possessed just what is possessing them and what are its goals all of these questions speak to something greater at play maybe even something lovecrafting yet again so that's my decoding of the many rat chancing Coraline but what are some of your thoughts are the rats taking the other mother for a ride biting their time will they be successful in their Uprising okay you can't have an overabundance of rats without some sort of cosmic Pest Control Coraline is filled with unsettling monsters and Creations the other mother is so scary because she crafts a fine web of false security for her victims her Creations the other father spin forcible and the rats are so terrifying because they are her eyes and spies and are forced to do her bidding and then of course there's the tunnel or Corridor which I believe is the most terrifying entity in the real world and other world and even the other mother is afraid of it she'll only send her rats or a part of her body the hand in there but then there's another entity one that is not bound by a door on either end of the corridor I'm of course talking about the cat the portal hopping nameless mysterious and comforting being that seems to know everything that goes on in both the real and other worlds there's absolutely more to this cat Cosmic horror Corridor level stuff and we're going to find it for this video I'm diving into the book movie and even graphic novel to make sure we cover all of our cat-tastic bases just like the cat is everywhere Between Worlds they're everywhere across these mediums I'm considering the books as primary lore sources and letting you know when the movie differs from them I'm also pulling in info from my tunnel and rap Theory videos but I'll try to recap them as we go anyway let's dive in out of the three Coraline Stories the cat is first introduced in the graphic novel no I don't mean like that was released first I mean the cat appears on the first page before the story even begins whereas in the book and movie we meet the cat a bit later in the story a cat does appear with Coraline on the first page of the novel but it's not alone this graphic novel order sort of sets up the cat as pretty important or always there a feeling that the cat themselves gives when talking about their extensive knowledge of the other world or it just be a cute way to start off a graphic novel which I mean it is however the cat appearing solo before we even meet our heroine Coraline has the same feel as the movie where at the very end the cat disappears into what I assume is yet another portal behind the Pink Palace sign they are shown independently of Coraline whose story at the end of the movie we assume is now happily ever after oh well sweet summer child Coraline's story is over but the cat's story continues this is pretty significant especially when you think about how much knowledge of the other mother in the other world and the other victims they have like how small the world is how it existed before the other mother found it and how they know all about creatures like that this fur baby has a lot of knowledge about this realm and its inhabitants and yeah the cat would absolutely cringe at hearing that endearing term sorry buddy the cat belongs to themself and is a fur baby to no one even why be because of course there is no YB in the books the cat resents names saying cats don't have names now you people have names because you don't know who you are we know who we are so we don't need names that's deep cat it might not be or it could be extremely deplore like the cat is a cosmic entity beyond our mortal brain's comprehension when Coraline encounters them again the cat says see it wasn't so hard to recognize me was it even without names and furthermore calling cats is an overrated activity might as well call a whirlwind which is this an admission of your true Cosmic storm formed yet I know I know probably not but but there's more to support this Cosmic or Beyond nature when Coraline first interacts with the cat in the other world she says I saw a cat like you in the garden at home you must be the other cat the cat shook its head no I'm not the other anything I'm me it tipped its head to one side green eyes glinted you people are spread all over the place cats on the other hand keep ourselves together if you see what I mean now is this cat talking about all cats or their specific type of cat a cosmic entity per chance able to survive a corridor pass Between Worlds and into others we may not yet know about because they are extremely self-contained or just so all-encompassing that they are everything and everywhere all the time that's cute and terrifying the movie cat is very self-assured and even cocky like there are Carefree trickster God entity in the books they're more reserved but no less unnerving and here's another thing only in the other world can Coraline have a conversation with the cat she also talks to the theater dogs as well although not in the movie this makes me think that the rules of the other realm let her speak with every creature like she can hear the rat's creepy poem song too well I guess that's in both worlds maybe it's a dream wish superpower thing or maybe it's a hive mind scenario or it's the literary and audio device to let us know that she is for sure in the other world when she talks with creatures regardless the cat seems unfazed by it even used to it but here's the thing in the movie and graphic novel it seems as though the cat is talking with Coraline like out loud verbally even moving its mouth in the film and with directional speech bubbles in the graphic novel In the book this is not the case good afternoon said the cat its voice sounded like the voice at the back of Coraline's head The Voice she thought words in but a man's voice not a girl so the cat's voice is not out loud it's like an internal monologue or a conscience the cat acting like a Jiminy Cricket is laughable somehow but yeah this to me means that the cat communicates telepathically I can't say that I think the other creatures in the other world communicate this way because the book only calls out this cat's dialogue sounding like the voice in Coraline's head the others she just seems to hear normally the cat seems special like it's in her mind it's beyond the other creatures to me I guess we cats have far superior senses to humans could mean mind melting no the cat's body language seems the same in both worlds Coraline just gets to have a back and forth verbal or mental conversation with them when she's in the other world I think she eventually understands how to communicate with the cat in the real world and that's something the movie and graphic novels show us really well there's the time the cat wakes her with cold beans to show her the foggy mirror with her parents in it Coraline could imagine its voice dry he's a dead fly on a windowsill in Winter saying well where do you think they are this whole exchange is silent on the part of the cat but Coraline is becoming burst in cat body language and the movie Cat does seem genuinely worried about Coraline going back into the other world also by the end of the story The Cat tolerates belly rubs from her which while I think it's supposed to show trust between the two just makes my brain scream what kind of cat encourages belly rubs from a new acquaintance surely this cat is an anomaly the cat's familiar body language and appearance is also what makes them disarming just like the other mother herself where at first she looks like Coraline's mother but then as her power slips she becomes more and more decrepit or as in the movie spider-like as The Story Goes On Her facade a pleasant and comforting slips the cats doesn't the cat is always the cat thinking back to that earlier quote no I'm not the other anything I'm me you people are spread all over the place cats on the other hand keep ourselves together if you see what I mean this makes me think that they always have control of their powers much like the ancient and mighty Corridor that scares the other mother so the cat retains their appearance between where worlds everything in the other world is twisted and has buttons for eyes a sign that they belong to the other mother or were created by her the cat does not have button eyes they do not belong to the other mother but no this could be a kind of twist on the whole witch's familiar Trope right the Bell Dam a witch of sorts has her creation specifically rats as her familiars we could say she considers the cat Vermin most people would consider Rats the Vermin and cats the familiars maybe everything is just backwards in the other world but there is a line the cat says that almost almost makes me think that they could be working four or at least towards a similar purpose as the other mother too that is there are those who have suggested that the tendency of a cat to play with its prey is a merciful one after all it permits the occasional funny little running snack to escape from time to time how often does your dinner get to escape and then the cat takes up the rat in its mouth and carries it off into the woods behind a tree so the cat's dinner never gets to escape it seems cool we know better now but in the story at this point this would seem like foreshadowing Coraline's fate with the other mother and wouldn't you know it it's the cat who encourages Coraline to play a game with the other mother maybe Coraline will be a prey that actually escapes challenge her there's no guarantee she'll play fair but her kind of thing loves games and challenges and we know that the other mother like the cat will never permit her prey snack to escape even if they've won hmm additionally it feels like the cat is encouraging Coraline to play a bit into the other mother's hand for context book Coraline has just decided that she is uncomfortable sleeping in the other mother's house as she should be when she wakes up the next morning the other mother looks more full of energy like she sucked it all at a Coraline yikes so then the cat's advice for Coraline is to get some sleep you have a long day ahead of you knowing it will invigorate the other mother and also make Coraline even more uncomfortable it feels like the cat is controlling her into this trap but of course there's more working against this Theory then for it the cat says that it doesn't like rats at the best of times which shirt not getting along with your co-workers isn't unusual but uh eating them sure is now of course the cat travels between and within the worlds via the portals exactly how many worlds and portals there are is unknown I think there's at least one other to the pharam as one of the children victims was a fairy maybe that's through the mushroom Circle by the well hold on to this very notion for a bit later in the video no other being can do this Coraline has to walk through the corridor to get to the other realm but the cat just walks like this it walked behind a tree but it didn't come out the other side Coraline went over to the tree and looked behind it the cat was gone she walked back towards the house there was another polite noise from behind her it was the cat so essentially the cats showing off their trick which potentially enables them to escape danger in any given World by portaling out of it to another or around the danger within it and of course there is another cat that seems elusive in this same way also from a Henry Selleck film The Nightmare Before Christmas these two stop-motion cats do appear similar The Nightmare Before Christmas cat especially looks like how the book Coraline cat is supposed to look with green eyes Etc this nightmare stray cat kind of feels like it could be Sally's feline familiar and in the New Nightmare Before Christmas book long live the pumpkin Queen when the main danger in that novel engulfs literally the whole world and all the holiday towns it's only Sally zero and this stray black cat who are safe in Halloweentown Sally is immune to the danger because of big spoiler but the cat hmm maybe they're safe because they portaled away from the threats is this the same cat in both stories that'd be wild or is it a family group of cats that has this portal power and keeps showing up in creepy fantasy the cat is doubtful when Coraline tells them that the other mother is trying to block the means of travel she may try there are ways in and out even she doesn't know about and in the movie The cat gives a speech that they have been coming here for a while what like eons hmm and they and the other mother have a game where the cat sneaks in and she tries to block them this sounds like they're both playing with their food doesn't it hmm But the cat comes and goes as they please also by the bye the movie cat says a lot more about the other mother than they do in the books and the movie gives her powers to close portals and build worlds that she does not appear to have in the originals to that degree the time the cat is truly scared is when all the portals to the other Realms are closed the cat no longer has a means of Escape their power is lost they freak out and relay on Courtland to save them as well as herself the cat's fur was on end and its tail was bristling like a chimney sweeps brush what's wrong ask Coraline they've gone said the cats they aren't there anymore the ways in and out of this place they just went flat the cat growled lowers its tail and Coraline could feel how hard its heart was beating oh it was trembling like a dead leaf in a storm but the cat stayed where it was looking miserable and oddly much smaller interesting with their ability to Traverse gond they also diminish in size did they lose their power when the other mother's power is weak her Creations melt is something similar going on with the cat or are they just scared Coraline picks up the cat the cat was heavy but not too heavy to carry so the cats seems smaller this is interesting especially when we put it next to some other incidents of shape shifting Coraline has entered the other flat where she encounters the doughy other father in the tub was a dead spider the size of a small cat now yes gross but what does it mean just gnarly oversized spider or perhaps no hang on it could be another shape-shifting cat or this cat but what I want to point out here is the potential shape-shifting and scaling of things because this isn't the only time the cat seems out of proportion when Coraline is in the white emptiness she thought it might be some kind of lion at first some distance away from her and then she knew what it was its first stood straight out from its body and its eyes were wide while its tail was down between its legs it did not look a happy cat shape-shifting or literary tension hold the shape-shifting notion next to the fairy notion here too is another thing I want to talk about there are a few other places where the cat is absolutely uncomfortable and not in their power one is the empty space bad place that the cat if you want to call it a place which I don't nothing to find here this is just the outside the part of the place she hasn't bothered to create referring to the other mother I should note that in the movie The cat is cocky as I'll get out during the scene not so in the books where they're on edge and scared to me this empty space is the pre-other mother space a space in place more ancient than she like the corridor which also happens to terrify the cat at first the cat seems fine well competently aloof is they in Coraline stroll down it but as they get further along in the corridor the cat gets noticeably scared its fur was bristling and its brush of a tail stuck up in the air when the candle went out as suddenly as if it had been snuffed by someone's hand clearly not smug and Powerful anymore like it's a sneaky Lesser God or trickster trying to escape notice of more ancient and creepier things and beings but being caught and honestly I'd be freaking out in the corridor too to me that is the single most terrifying entity in Coraline and I I think the time the cat is the most terrified is when the portals are closed now here's the thing in the book it's unclear who or what closed the portals they've gone said the cat they aren't there anymore the ways in and out of this place they just went flat in the movie The cat says she closed the eggs it's leading us to believe it's the other mother because the book doesn't distinguish this and it also hints at the corridor and the door itself being some sort of ancient entity that watches Coraline I think that this could be one of the cat's true fears rightly so right the cat is scared in the corridor and they're scared when whatever is in control of the ways in and out decides to trap the cat and Coraline in the other realm leaving their only exit through the corridor itself that Corridor needs to eat too hmm and this fits with the cat not so much being scared of the other mother but more like the antagonize her and play games with her they are her equal and some sense but both the other mother and the cats are afraid or at least respectful of this gatekeeper entity if there were a power hierarchy this ancient power is above both the cat and the other mother but back to the fairy Portal's potential shape-shifting and mist you know that Eerie miss that settles around the Pink Palace in the book The Mist that surrounds the house starts the day after Coraline bottles the rats to the other door so within like the first few pages but before we meet the cat Mr Bobo warns her that the mice also do not like the Mist you know what else mice don't like cats perhaps it's possible that the cat is responsible for the Mist now in the graphic novel we've officially met the cat right before the Mist before the corridor the day Coraline finds the well I mean the timing in that is just pretty suspicious Coraline also seems to think that the cat comes from the Mist after thanking them for their help with the rat she says so you go off into the midst or wherever you go to her the cat seems tied to the Mist in some way this is different in the movie where the Mist happens a lot later and we've got YB who's not in the book to break it up comedically with slugs I love him another is a literary reason for the Mist that could also be translated into visuals of the graphic novel and movie Mist often means disorientation confusion dreaming near-death blurring of reality with fantasy all of which seem to apply to Coraline's current situation right there's also Celtic folklore specifically the magical cloaking Mist that hides the ancient to a dadanin the people of the Goddess dhana from Human sight Supernatural Powers they have gone into hiding from Mortals since the mist and in their place are now the she or fairies of sorts who can emerge from said Mist which of course leads me to the cat she which is a witch that can switch from her human form to the cat form nine times and on that ninth transformation she remains a cat for the rest time our mysterious black cat could be a ninth transformation catchy this is a soul-sealing Fae creature from Celtic folklore which coupled with the portals to the real world otherworlds and likely Fey realm the knowledge of this other world that seems like it's been gained over many lifetimes perhaps nine the maybe shape-shifting in telepathy and the Mist which hides the Tua de Dana Bay creatures really makes sense the soul-sealing bit and the trickster nature also seem to align with how it almost seemed that the cat had a similar to the other mother hers to be to drain her victims life Essences the cat she's would be to steal their souls however catches usually have a mark of white on their chest which our cat appears not to him also as mentioned before the book's cat's voices stated to be male in the movie's cat follows that that's not to say that a cat she couldn't be fluid though I guess maybe the cat is so creepy because they are so Elusive and undefinable and they are very different between the books and movie when I started this I fully expected to be in love with the cat even more by the end being the obsessive cat lady that I am however the proof is in the pudding well in this case book graphic novel and movie I'm so intrigued so just what is the cat an interworld freeloader an ancient Cosmic portal Hopper a fake creature that gets a kick out of deadly tricks a deceptive Bell damn familiar or just some regular mischievous cat the fact that they are in the Coraline Cinema logo has to mean something right tailing the cat is a potential cat she or a fairy creature we need to talk about something else stalking the real and other world there's a monster in Coraline that everyone missed this being is powerful sneaky and once it traps you good luck finding your way out of it it's not the other mother it's not a creepy doll it's not even the Pink Palace although that's getting closer it is ancient and similar to The Living Corridor between Realms but it's one of the earliest characters we see in the movie and books but everyone missed it quite literally so in this video I went through and obsessively watched this entity through every window that appears in the film those 12 leaky Windows have nothing on the tool that stuck on my brain I know that sounds like Overkill but it was necessary research and there are a lot of interesting creepy things that I discovered doing this and then I also reread the book and graphic novel and compiled all my notes on them in order to paint the most complete picture that I could about this slippery mystical being and what it means for Coraline and for you so if you like deep dives into very obscure details and ancient folklore I hope you enjoy my Twisted tale Coraline is lovingly crafted frame by painstaking frame so everything in it is intentional same for crafting a story with words or images which is why when something is mentioned repeatedly we should take notice but what if the thing we're supposed to notice is visually subtle well that's exactly what the misting Coraline is it's live now hold on on I know you might be thinking the Mist yes it sounds bizarre but by the end of this video I assure you'll think differently of this foggy fiend we do have a lot to cover in both the movie and book but first we need to make some things clear it's important to note from a lore and climate perspective that the book takes place in England a place heavily steeped in folklore and not the Pacific Northwest like the movie in the book there is no YB or doll but there are rats that are not costume this cute little rodents the pacing is also very different in the book versus the movie The Book is much faster and creepier in most ways but despite the differences the Mist seeps in through the plot similarly I'm going to start off with the books timeline to put some hyper focus on all the occurrences of mist and fog and at the same time pop into the movie for the relevant scenes as we get to them to quickly set up the book mentions the door on the first story page but Coraline lives in the new old house for two weeks before that exploring the grounds in the colder than usual summer and finds the well and a fairy ring made of squishy Brown told stools which smelled Dreadful if you accidentally Trot on them which Mrs fairy 101 do not enter mushroom Rings lest you enter the fairy realm unknowingly book Coraline at this point could very likely already be in another realm but unaware and she keeps exploring outside until one day the rain makes it impossible so she explores the house and finds the creepy large door she has mom unlock it and because it leads to Bricks mom doesn't like it that night it creaks open Coraline wakes to investigate it tracking a little patch of moving rat Shadow to the creepy door behind which is still bricks Coraline also casts a shadow in the room but she looked like a thin giant woman hello other mother she's already watching Coraline in the real world as if simply unlocking the door unleashed the other mother and and something else anyway bravely Coraline returns to sleep with the slippery rats infiltrate her dreams with their creepy creepy poem Song the next day it had stopped raining but a thick white fog had lowered itself over the house lowered itself you say book Coraline goes out in it where she runs into Miss [ __ ] who comments on the rotten weather and then gets lost in memories Coraline walks away a mere three quarters of the way around the house in fact when she bumps into Miss forcible who asks after Miss Pink saying I do hope she doesn't get lost this mist is so disorienting that the theater girls have already lost each other you'd have to be an explorer to find your way around in this fog which of course she is Coraline continued walking through the gardens in the gray Mist she always kept inside of the house after about 10 minutes of walking she found herself back where she had started which remember Coraline has spent two weeks getting familiar with these grounds this dense Mist which soaks Coraline's hair and face rolls in right after the door was unlocked but not entered and is not natural not only had it lowered itself over the house but it's made misspink and forcible lost and on edge in their own way and has coralined the capable Explorer walking around in circles unintentionally like the movie the mice worn Coraline not to go through the door but also the mice do not like the Mist it makes their whiskers droop these mice know a lot and you know if they fear the Mist it's for more than a bad whisker day this pervasive fog is a hint that wants to come once she finally does traverse the corridor into the other world or she's already on her way there because you see the corridor door is locked and unlike the movie mom didn't do it Coraline hasn't gone through the door yet but she did Trot on a mushroom Circle and walked through this Mist she's also so taken with the mistake that she tries drawing it but after 10 minutes of drawing she still had a white sheet of paper with m-i-s-t written on it in one corner in slightly Wiggly letters mist is really difficult to capture on paper and yet it completely changes environments and feels as though it transports you anywhere and what's more this Miss changes form in the other world it becomes gray in the world around it becomes sketches so Coraline's drawing is kind of prescient barely a page later after her iconic interaction with board over work dad Coraline finds herself in Miss Pink and forcible's flat where they read ambiguous danger in her leaves and give her the stone with a hole in it eventually Coraline heads out the Mist hung like blindness around the house she stopped and looked around in the Mist it was a Ghost World which could mean it's even thicker now or has altered the landscape in some way or has ensnared Coraline and is bringing her elsewhere in the movie This scene takes place after Coraline has unlocked and gone through the door but to get us here from the movie's perspective let's rewind just a bit mist is one of the First characters we meet right after the other mother sews the Coraline doll and it flies out of the starry window we see our hidden monster right away in the Moody heavy gray clouds and in the mountains it's in the first shot the whole time with Mr Bobo bravely doing calisthenics on the roof of the ominous Pink Palace the moving truck movers mom neighbors a beetle themed front door Etc the Mist also creeps into the mountainsides quintessential Pacific Northwest right perfect for setting the tone and location of the movie Yes but it's also much more the clouds Loom overhead as Coraline explorers and unwittingly steps into a mushroom ring not great and then sticks were headed the next day the clouds are closer to the house it's raining so much that exploring outside is impossible almost like something when it Coraline 2 have to stay in to find and unlock that creepy little door when Coraline barkens with her mother in the kitchen we see raindrops through the thicker blur kitchen window but judging by the swaying pine trees it's pretty windy and yet it's still foggy despite this this Cloud must be tenacious and purposely moving towards the house like it has a mission this is when Coraline gives the spying doll every window leading up to finding the door is Misty the one in dad's office is dreary the 12 leaky windows are surprise surprise [ __ ] the fog up the drawing room themed Beetle windows are clear but rainy when she finds the door that night Coraline goes through the tunnel to the other world where all the windows are not Misty but clear and Starry a tiny silver sliver of waxy moon is hanging in the kitchen window and dad's office shows twinkling stars not dreary rain this is very reminiscent of the intro scene all darkness and stars Coraline wakes in what we assume is her real bedroom and there's low billowing Mist right outside of her window well dense fog fog is technically denser than Mist cut to the kettle with steamy steam to crank up this extra Misty morning just look at that heavy that rolled in even closer to the house this is the missing from the book but visually changed so that we could see the animation and not just you know fog Coraline goes out in it and it gets thicker up by Mr Bobo's flat inside of which is a pot boiling over steam spewing out of its lid by the time Coraline gets his pink enforceables flat downstairs the Mist has reached the house and the fog has gotten so heavy that it's absolutely pouring down into the stairwell almost like it's reaching for Coraline following her trying to grab her and because we're two for two let's go for three as the actresses warned Coraline about danger and rattle about death the tea kettle boils more Misty steam coming out of it and then of course the teacup and pot so there's Misty Wonderland outside of course but also missed inside each residence too when Coraline leaves pink enforceables flat to the low Mist has thickened even more and it keeps on pouring in so much so that it completely obscures slug Hunter YB and the cat it's also moving much much faster and feels as agitated and pushy and hungry it's been getting closer now it's here in the book after the big Mist the next day the sun Shone almost too good to be true Coraline goes shopping asked about the empty flat beyond the bricks and finally goes through the musty old Corridor she meets the other mother who is creepy right away goes to the theater show and Retreats back to the real world where her parents are missing already like the movie her parents appear in the mirror now interesting thing about this mirror in particular is that it was already in the house when book Coraline's family moved in they didn't bring it with them it could be a window into another realm it could be anything the trapped parents cannot speak through it but Mist allows them to communicate mom breathes on it and quickly before the fog faded she wrote help us with the tip of her forefinger the fog on the inside of the mirror faded and so did her parents then Coraline realized they aren't going to come back are they not under their own steam which breath fog missed steam all clouds all mysterious and important in this story The Book of the mother twists this fog when she uses the mirror to show Coraline's parents happy to be rid of her in the movie this seems to be an icy fog mom and dad used to communicate in the near it's still raining outside when Coraline burns the doll but note that the snow globe in this world is still mist free even though her parents are gone it's like the other mother's magic cannot work in Coraline's world but this foggy frothy outside Mist can through the corridor we go and the only snow globe that is Misty is the one her parents are trapped in here mist is used to obscure but there's something else it's also possible that the Mist itself stole them mom went out in the mist to go grocery shopping and we never saw her again dad was in town now they're gone something to watch is as the other mother's power wanes this globe stays Misty on the other grounds the further both coralines get from the house the sketchier the trees get until they become the rough idea of trees then she kept walking and the Mist began again it was not damp like a normal fog or Mist it was not cold and it was not warm it felt the Coraline as if she was walking into nothing the other mother could only create the house the Mist is just here on the borders as the borders perhaps the world she was walking through was a pale nothingness like a blank sheet of paper or an enormous empty white room it had no temperature no smell no texture and no taste it certainly isn't missed that Coraline although she didn't know what it was there was no ground beneath her feet just a misty milky whiteness just like her first Misty Adventure she's back where she started at the dark house which loomed at them out of the formless whiteness the cat confirms that she hasn't gotten turned around it's just a very small world this scene plays the same in the movie but the house instead of looming Darkly like in the book sorta Twilight Princess glitches back into existence on top of the empty white fog that's not a fog after she finds the second Soul Outside The world had become a formless swirling Mist with no shapes or Shadows behind it while the house itself seemed to have twisted and stretched the other mother's power is weakening with every soul found and the Mist that lingers on the edges of her power is encroaching more and more erasing her trees distorting her home Coraline tells the other mother that she only has one more soul to find thank you Coraline said the other mother coldly and her voice did not just come from her mouth it came from the mist and the fog and the house and the sky she's just creepily standing there in the paper gray fog of the flattening World between her voice coming from everywhere and the flattening of the world into fog it seems like the other mother is unraveling in this mystical Mist on her way to the third Soul Coraline walked around to the side of the house in the gray Mist that wasn't amidst I'm an Explorer said Coraline out loud but her words sounded muffled and dead on the Misty air this more than missed entity is everywhere and hungry eating her words and from now on the word mist is no longer referenced but gray seems to have replaced it like the gray in the movie Once the exits have won the house no longer looks real more like a drawing a crude charcoal scribble of a house drawn on Gray paper be missed while gray is everywhere now gray overtaking the scrawled house the Soul's marbles are also a frosted gray like the other mother's influence has been drained from them the movie also uses gray in this way to show the other mother's power draining out of the world the souls whatever it was used to create and the gray nothing taking the space back and like bookcoreland's Words something's eating the Stars after the theater there are less stars out and more distant clouds and the shadowed moon is nearly full by the time we see yb's clothes hanging there are barely any stars left in the sky the button is about to eclipse the moon when Coraline nearly loses the third Soul the Cut's timely gift stops it in its tracks though there are even fewer stars in the gray sky now like something's obscuring them or eating them the movie uses the button Shadow to show the other mother's score in the game against Coraline if you will but there's another thing at play here I think the Glitchy great is her score against the mist and uh she's losing there when the last soul is collected I think the near last bit of the other mother's power is lost the part holding back the white Mist the gray nothingness rests of the other world at Bay the other mother lives in a pocket and has been able to maintain her home for so long only by harvesting Souls which she no longer has with the power crumbling the house crumbles the paper Peels and the defenses of the other mother in general are crumbling against the bigger blank threat of the gray emptiness the button Moon that was keeping Cortland score now implodes to show the other mother's tiniest nearly up she can no longer maintain Illusions but something is still maintaining that Misty snow globe on the mantle in a last-ditch effort to steal power the other mother resorts to overtly trapping Coraline in her actual web which is no longer an illusion but a flimsy spiderweb amidst the vastness of the blank white Mist but not not miss nothingness it's scary how small she feels now how insignificant her power feels when this is in the picture the web is literally her last threat against the blank Mist back in the book Coraline now home still has more to do to get rid of the gray in the real world because it's bled over metaphorically into that world too the gray pre-dawn light showed her the whole Corridor not that Corridor completely deserted she opened the front door and looked out at the gray sky knowing she has to get rid of the key yes these are poetic uses but it feels as though this gray is fighting for its grip on Coraline's world and losing because after this gray morning the weather is wonderful and once Coraline tricks the hand the Knight finally turns warm the end and to end the movie The Clouds do the same lingering thing in the real world after escaping for the first time the outside world is not rainy or Misty mom and dad are back and it's an uncannily clear night in what we hope is the real Pink Palace we can see the first moon in the real world again if you trust that where we are and it's waning losing face just like the mist and the other mother as Coraline and YB struggle to destroy the hand and dispose of the key the clouds above are positively roiling and boiling like they're fighting from above when they succeed the clouds spin to almost nothing and stop moving once the hand is gone and the well sealed the other mother Misty hands finally released their hold on the moon and we transition into the first sunny day in the whole movie I would say happily ever after but I have serious doubts about that in the book this Mist appears after the door is unlocked but before Coraline goes into the corridor like it's been unfettered and eager to escape mist is also used to communicate and twist and deceive as the other mother's power weakens the mist or gray nothingness gains strength in space it's everywhere outside in the mind in the other world it destroys whatever is too weak the Mist in the movie is similar to the myths in the book although it visually had to change it's there all the time constantly waiting in the background but after Coraline visited the other world it feels like it followed her back out in his clawing to get her back in both the book and movie the fog and mist is present in the real world and the other world both as clouds and then as gray nothingness the other mother's magic specifically the snow globe does not show in the real world but the Mist does now for some fun by looking through all the windows in the movie we get to track a few things first is the mist and how it works between the worlds generally it's always foggy or rainy in the real world and Starry and clear in the other world then they flip as the other mother's power weakens there are fewer and fewer stars in the other world and it becomes dark whereas the clouds pull away from The Real World Windows second Through the Windows we also get to track how time is passing in the other realm via the moon phases when Coraline first visits the other world we see a tiny sliver of a waxing moon in our real world this would actually be a waning moon it's almost a dark moon but here it either seems backwards and that's how I'll call it or relative to the other mother's increase testing or decreasing power because next trip through has a half moon rising above the garden and by dinner breakfast time the moon outside the kitchen window is now a smidge more than half full next time after Coraline runs upstairs to get away from the buttons we see nearly a full moon back home after saving her parents Coraline's real bedroom window shows a waning moon and a clear night if these Moon phases are anything to go by time passes a lot faster in the other realm we went from essentially a new moon to a Full Moon over the course of a couple days in the real world in the book 2 a ghost child says she'll keep you here while the days turn to dust and the leaves fall and the years pass one after the next like the tick tick ticking of a clock time passes differently in the other realm kinda like the fairy realm which is a major clue as to what our sentient seemingness could be and finally this is where we get into some nerdy specific Mist folklore unlike rain where there's usually some warning that it's on the way tree leaves will turn upwards thanks Grandma as a hint Miss can just appear sometimes out of nowhere specifically fairy fog or a Faith theater we've sort of covered it here before but it's extremely important in this context especially when you consider the book and how it's more steeped in folklore the fairy myth purposes many fold it's with the ancient beings the two of the danen would wrap themselves in to hide from humans according to Legend This enabled them to survive but also to sneak up on enemies or to capture Mortals but Coraline accuses the other mother of stealing her parents and ybuses the word stolen when talking about his great aunt this Mist can roll into the hills and mountains of the countryside without warning and will be to anyone cotton wears in it they could be transported to the fairy realm the Coraline myths could be a type of fairy Mist we've also covered that the cat could be a type of fairy entity and we also know from the book that the other mother has access to the fairy Realm by the little fairy Soul she trapped ages ago or the other world is a fairy world itself fairies are notorious for unfair Bargains here skinned as gains they also use food as a way to entrap Immortal into their realm longer just like the other mother in her mouth-watering cooking also everything's Supernatural happening after gorilla Lane crosses into a mushroom circle at the very start of these stories certainly seems like fairy mischief to me all these little details add up the mist and Coraline seems to act just as fairy fog but with some mind of its own or worse a Mindless need to expand and overtake it's present in both Realms and it also changes form in the other Realms and I think overwhelms the other mother's little pocket of Pink Palace with her power waning she can no longer maintain her borders and she and her home are dissolving in it like they're in the stomach of a much bigger entity hello old Corridor the Mist is disorienting and potentially indiscriminately destructive another way to look at this mist is in terms of being a symbol mist is commonly used to represent the border between reality and non-reality like dream worlds fairy worlds and in this case the other world it's a liminal space where anything can happen best dreams and worst fears and appears naturally on both sides of the things it's separating like the real world and the other world it can go between because it is the between and if one of the worlds is losing power well the Border pushes more and more into it in Coraline all it took was a little key and a lot of imagination to set it loose and begin a terrifying adventure to get a bit esoteric this border concept is perfectly summed up in one particular type of tarot card the ace it can be of any suit cups Pentacle swords wands because they all follow the same thing a single hand holding the suit potential coming out of the clouds clouds here are used as a threshold or an entry point into reality the obscured made visible it's full of potential can we just appreciate how cool that is it feels like the other mother's hand is trying to guide or beguile us or handing us a key to a problem missed what everyone missed but I hope you enjoyed this kind of poetic very obsessive video about the Mist zinc or line just water who was maintaining the snow globe trap the powerless other mother or the swirling shapeless tasteless mist or something else hush and shush say nothing for the Bell damn might be listening what exactly is a bell Dam why isn't that term brought up very much in Coraline are spiders involved scorpions is the other mother part fairy how are button eyes and wild eyes and one poisonous Beauty potion tied together how does the other mother change form between the Coraline book and movie and is that relevant in the movie Coraline the other mother has us on pins and needles that she is made of well pins and needles her movements and Lair become more spider-like is her more terrifying form is revealed in the book she is a paper white skinned Crimson quad sharp tooth mess of motion she's always moving whether be her hair blowing in a non-existent breeze or her fingers tapping and twitching and dancing in anticipation or agitation the book other mother looks healthier and Rosier after Coraline sleeps the night away behind the mirror in the other world almost as if she had siphoned off some Life Source but as different as these other mothers are in appearance both of these Bell dams have button eyes an affinity for bugs and an overwhelming need to consume The Souls of children are these traits common among all Bell dance and which traits track back furthest also if you're curious and are thinking my what creepy hands those are I invite you to check out my other channel a bit late where I've got a lot of spooky cool things and calm cozy stories of ruin so what exactly is a bell Dam the phrase has been around a long time and has an interesting origin story itself even if there's not very many Google results on it both the Miriam Webster and Oxford dictionaries definition on Bell dam is an old woman wow super helpful very literal Oxford elaborates a bit more with a malicious and ugly woman especially an old one a witch okay so a descriptor for grumpy old women and those others deem ugly not loving it but the catch-all a witch there we go that one word which can have any number of a hundred meanings and connotations and it's just sort of casually tacked on there with no further elaboration which witch are we talking about let's put a mental pin in this witch part for a bit later because Witch is quite the slippery word throughout history meaning different things at different times to different people for different motives it's interesting that the word Bell dam is used to describe ill-tempered ugly and or old women especially when its etymology comes from a combination of French and English words seemingly meaning quite the opposite in the 1800s the old French Bell meaning beautiful in the English Den French Dane for women together they would mean beautiful woman if it weren't for how this phrase was used and changed over time and side note maybe this is when one of the other mother's older victims was first claimed and why they would use the term Bell Dam to describe her to Coraline anyway now when used in late Middle English the word Belgium or Bell Dam meant grandmother Bell in English meaning Grand so what designation which yeah grandmothers can be old sure but they are not always ugly and mean in spiteful so where does that newer or older evil ugly witchy connotation come in right about in the middle of when a particular usage of the word Bell dam was widely used in 1819 English poet John Keats wrote a ballot titled La Belle dance merci or the beautiful woman without Mercy this got its name from a French poem about rejected love with the same name written around 1424 now that without Mercy part definitely sounds like our soul-scrounging arch nemesis from Coraline and after hearing what this ballad is about there's even more of a connection Keats writes about a beautiful child of a fairy who seduces a knight with her wild eyes and by singing in strange fairy verse something to the effect of I love thee true not unlike the other mother's oft repeated phrase I'll love you forever and always like Coraline's other mothers this Bell damn feeds the night's sweet relish Wild Honey and manadu all things that sound delicious and rather extra just like the other mothers packed like meals for Coraline eating food proffered by fairies and gods is quite a tricky or deal with major consequences just look at Persephone and the pomegranate seeds required to reside part-time in the Underworld because she ate of the food there back to the Ballad The Fairy daughter and the Knights end up in her elf and grot where she cries so he kisses her and then she lulls him to sleep where he has a dream of pale Kings and princes not unlike the ghost children who warn him that La Belle Dom Samir see hathi and thrall the knights wakes up for interpretation on a cold Hillside where he forever alone in pale the lighters forevermore I can really see Coraline's other mother in this ballad with the wild eyes that stand out to the night are like the uncomfortable button eyes of both other mothers this spell Dom lures the night in with Promises of comfort and potentially romance whatever the Knight was looking for just as the other mother lures in her prey by steaming to provide whatever they are most looking for for Coraline it's a mother and a father who are more actively involved in her creative world colorful clothes her real mother won't buy Faraway friends brought near fun and frivolous toys and good recognizable food no more of Dad's experimental recipes each of the other mother's previous victims was lured in with a promise of their own heart's desire fulfilled and as an added bonus Keith's Bell dam is a child of the fairies in Neil gaiman's book Coraline one of the husk children the other mother and snares is actually a fairy this is interesting as it could mean that the other mother herself may be part fairy and able to travel between the Mortal realm and the Fey realm because of the that or her Web of Lies and deception lies at a Crossroads as covered in this video here also the fact that the knight in the poem dreams of the beldam's past victims the pale princes and kings warning him that he is now in her thrall absolutely Sparks some similarities to how both the book and movie other mothers past victims warn the still living Coraline about the true nature of the other mother the Bell dams Elfin grot is her Lair just as the other mother has a layer on the other side of the corridor where the fairy child seduces the night with tears and then lures him into what seems to be a forever sleep where he meets The Souls of the others kids poems La merci inspired a lot of the 19th century Femme Patel iconography beautiful but deadly and this beautiful but deadly woman can easily morph into a deceptively beautiful but deadly woman a trickster the ugliness of the witchy Bell dance serves to warn readers about the true nature ugly of the pretty and seemingly loving woman maybe not a witch in the sense of the nebulous Oxford dictionary definition but certainly bewitching to be sure and really though so many people were accused of being witches as an excuse for someone else's Behavior oh she Bewitched me or I was compelled to do this thing because of their Wiles Etc of course this witch accusing is a much bigger and more nuanced topic and out of the scope for this particular video but I want to get back to those entrancing wild eyes from The Ballad and the button eyes that make many so uncomfortable with the other mother Bell Dam but before that let's take a look at the Italian four beautiful lady Belladonna if this word seems familiar to you in a poisonous way you are absolutely right to feel that way and Sally would be so proud Belladonna is the type of deadly nightshade definitely seeing the time between beautiful but deadly hair that was used as eye drops to dilate women's pupils back in the day yikes yeah it would make them look sparkly and wide-eyed some would say wild eyed like our Bell dam in the kids ballad these little poisonous drops of course not regulated back then would cause blindness and heart palpitations among other unpleasant side effects do not use them obviously but it's kind of poetic in a Twisted way the Bell Dam with the wild eyes that promises love as she entraps and maybe kills the night's Kings and princes the Bell Dam that makes promises of the heart she entraps and drains the souls out of children may be killing them and the Belladonna that promised young women an attractive look in order to snare the attention of a love in society only to leave them with serious harmful side effects maybe killing them the way each of these valdans claimed their victims is through their eyes wild passionate moments sewn buttons or self-administered poison eyes are the window to the soul after all I do love it when motifs can be stitched up neatly but there is something else that claims to hold on the word Bell Dam something that I haven't really been able to track down to a source but I have seen traces of online some blogs write it as a type of forest witch who acts exactly as the Coraline Belgium with regards to trapping children and playing games but there's no information beyond what a particular writer writes these entries are mostly from 2019 and after and don't link to any sources so while there are a lot of details that conveniently very nearly match our coral and other mother like spiders glamours Etc there are not a lot of solid pieces or sources which is really frustrating but an older quote blog from 2010 mentions a Romanian Forest Spirit a bell Dan name Mumma pajuri who while inhabiting a very very ugly body protects the untouched forests in which they live that's very Noble they grow to hate humans who destroy what the spirit is protecting understandably Muma paduri has a girl fata pajeri who is a forest girl demon that lures Travelers in with her beauty then becomes a monster once she has them not unlike the other mother the story is very old and I've looked and looked for an older version of it because 2010 is not old and the pakora line was written before then alas no dice Beyond a story published in 1885 that mentions scorpion witch who breathes fire and yes I'll be covering the story on the ability channel so stay tuned there but no specific mention of bell Dam like the first story now Forest witches and dwellers who happen to have exactly the solution a person needs think the starving Hansel Gretel who encounter a witch with a candy house my my are a Common Thread in folklore and fairy tales and perhaps that's why the other mother is so scary even if we can't exactly pinpoint her so that's how the other mother the Bell down is tied to poems poisons Beauty glamorous fairies Mythic meals old which is the promise of forever and always love and more now that we have a clearer idea of what a bell dam is why the obsession with sewing button eyes onto every kid she encounters why are we so repelled by button eyes anyway is there a folklore root in that fear is it for good reason buttons you either love them oh cutest buttons or they trigger something in your soul that makes you just a snitch uncomfortable or if you just use them to fasten clothes and such and don't have any weird emotions tied to them lucky you but after today's video you may have an altered a little sewing joke outlook on these little discs why does this little Fastener cause so much of a stir if you've seen or read Coraline you may have more than an inkling there's no doubt about it the thought of sewing buttons on top of your eyes is really creepy and if you're squeamish nauseating and there may be a really creepy reason well a few reasons that button seems so creepy the movie Ann's book Coraline bring these plastic discs front and center our very first visuals into the movie world of Coraline are of the other mothers sewing a doll together with of course button eyes yikes but it kind of makes sense movie other mother has button eyes on all of her creations and constructs that inhabit the other world rats Mr Bobo even miss pink and forcible's dogs have these creepy manufactured eyes I think these buttons Mark creatures as hers whether they be her Creations or her victims maybe they are a metaphor or maybe they literally make her minions see only the things she wants them to see literally blocking their vision from reality or maybe she can see through there but nice hive mind ice spies while there is no creepy Coraline doll doppelganger in the book buttons are just as prevalent on page 45 of 162 the other mother and father say that in order for Coraline to be with them forever and always she has only to sew black buttons over her eyes and it won't hurt a bit which book Coraline takes to mean that it will hurt quite a lot and I'm with her there the movie goes extra hard and uses buttons and sewing from the very start and throughout to drive home the idea that the other mother is like a spider literally threading a web through and around her world and the people and creatures in it and while I could dive really deeply into the metaphors about said creepy button eyes I am of course more interested in where this potentially chilling Association originated from because you know that has to be creepy so where do button eyes come from and why are they so creepy but here's a button that's not creepy be the Subscribe button some of you spooky Souls watching these videos are just floating through but why not stay and make this your Haunt at home subscribe and Bell quick to this weird Channel today and never miss a creepy cool thing I promise we'll have fun forever and always okay back to the creepy buttons let's talk about dolls another thing that you either love or get Shivers from many with button eyes are creepy in their own right the way the light catches them just right to make them seem alive did it move is it closer than it was a bit ago there are so many old fairy tales and stories that have dolls coming alive either to help or to hurt and there are lots of modern stories that make these uncanny lifelike yet not maybe figures even more terrifying but getting back to buttons in the case of dolls and toys buttons take something that was not alive and give it a bit of Life buttons I windows to the soul throughout time and stories and rhyme the eyes were thought to be the windows to the soul and if a soul were to vacate a body for example a person were to Die the eye as they leave behind start to get weird lifeless eyes are unnerving in their own right but and warning here as I'm getting more realistic and graphic once a body dies muscles stop working and skin dries out and you get the picture coins or ceramic pieces or anything else really were used to ensure that the eyes remained shut after death hold the lids to hide the lifeless eyes and to keep the face looking peaceful in recent times eyelids were glued shut and today there's even a disc that sits under the eyelid but Atop The Eye that grabs the eyelid and holds it shut for viewings and such not a button per se but it sure functions as one in other rituals and body preparation the eyelids are sewn shut which brings us eerily back to Coraline and the other mother and sewing buttons on eyes yay maybe the other mother is really marking Coraline for death I mean we knew that she meant to drain the life out of her like she has done to the other children like a spider tying up her victims but this really brings that home did Coraline Scourge death or did she die is she actually living in the afterlife or limbo she did partake of the other mother's meals after all in a Persephone and Hades type Arrangement the husks of the drained children she set free might help to answer that on page 83 in the book names names said another voice all far away and lost the names are the first things to go after the breath has gone and the beating of the hearts that sounds like death to me in order to set the children free in the book Coraline is finding their secret hearts their souls in the movie their eyes interesting word choice and Concepts right in the book the worlds are parallel yet opposites and Coraline's potential straddling of the line between life and death makes an already eerie and chilling story that much more hair-raising another metaphorical takeaway yeah I know I said I wouldn't but here we are in order to willingly stay in the other world Coraline has to willingly sew her own eyes shut so and shut out the truth of things and only see what the other mother wants her to see through a button in this case she would be willingly giving up her will and her life essentially and marking that decision with the ritual of sewing her eyes closed not unlike a corpse in repose speaking of death in mythology Souls were transported from the world of the living across the river sticks to the underworld by the ferryman Charon the fee for bringing the body and soul to the proper place was coins which relatives or those mourning a person were sure to place in or on their dearly departed's mouth or around them somewhere this is known as charon's Obel and is considered sustenance for the journey referring to the roads of the afterlife or whatever the culture thought awaited them after death without these coins this Soul would be forced to wander in Rome endlessly Forever and Always and Eternity and would probably haunt and torment those Left Behind until they themselves died yay fun now ritually coins don't appear to be placed on eyes aside from the whole weighing down the eyelids thing but sometimes large ghost coins were super cool name and rather interesting concept actually basically rather than depart with actual money the living would place an impression of a coin or icon into a piece of metallic foil and would place that into the body's mouth or larger ones over their eyes this not a coin coin is dubbed ghost coin because it's there but not really there oh but now it's time to button this up sorry what are some of your thoughts how do you feel about buttons now and if you were to stay in the other world forever and always what button color would you choose I'd probably go for purple not that I'd go through with it but purple is a good color so far we've pulled all of our information from the movie books folklore and even contemporary funerary practices but there is something while someone glaringly different between the books and the movie that of course is YB why was he born what purpose does he serve and how would the story have been different were he not in the movie what if there was no YB no friendly face in a too sweet and sugary scary other world also kind of a major thing without YB things would have worked out entirely differently for Coraline in the other world if she even went there at all yeah yet he does not appear in the original book so why why be get comfy and cozy for today's creepy movie dive imagine a world without YB so sad but um we actually don't have much to imagine here because YB is not in the original Neil Gaiman book now this is kind of a book versus movie but only focusing on YB for the full General book first movie head on over to this video here and do buckle up today because we're getting granular I think there are many reasons why YB was created for the movie adaptation book Coraline's thoughts are in our head books can show and tell we as the reader can know what Coraline is thinking and feeling based on how the author describes what she sees and how she reacts to it she can can have an interior monologue and we are privy to it things happen to book Coraline to us we are there experiencing things through her eyes through the author's words things come alive and unfold before us only as we read each word they keep Pace with our reading going only as fast as our eyes move over the words There's No Escape Beyond going through it Page by Page movies are generally different unless there is narration they usually show and not tell of course that's the nature of a visual medium yes the movie Coraline shows it communicates Coraline's inner thoughts to the viewer by having her talking to YB the cats and others it also uses her Charming and exaggerated Expressions to great effect for this too otherwise we'd just be watching her Mumble and talk to herself if she even vocalized her thoughts at all before diving into why why be in super detail it's worth mentioning and summarizing the overwhelming feeling the book in order to set this comparison off right in the book Coraline is alone she is the only child in the flats there are no other children in the story only adults who can't get her name right don't pay her any minds or listen to her very real concern that her parents have gone missing seriously Home Alone after her two creepy experience with the other world Coraline understandably afraid calls the police to tell them her parents are missing the officer's response apart from dismissing her he tells her to make some hot chocolate what she is so lonely and afraid she makes pillow versions of her parents to help her deal with this isolation a detail which didn't make it into the movie Miss Pink too after hearing from Coraline about her parents missing says she and Miss forcible will also be gone to visit some family in the movie they are going to a play and needed Coraline's parents for a ride there but either way no concern given to Coraline's very real plights of missing parents hello but Coraline is very alone and that in and of itself makes the book that much scarier alone no help to be found no one to rely on no one to believe her all while trying to deal with the unknown danger of the other mother and eventually braving it to save her parents now here's where I'm getting super specific what YB adds to the movie and why why be in particular when there are plenty of other characters from the book that are also in the movie Miss Bank Miss forcible Mr Bobo the cat's Coraline's parents the husk children Etc all talk to Coraline and we certainly get a sense of her sass from her interactions with just them this is basically a YB appreciation Montage so let's go I think YB is necessary to show what a sweet saccharin idealistic World the movie other mother has created at first particularly other YB real YB tries to befriend Coraline but she's too awful to him and she really is and he doesn't really put up with her attitude I mean I can't say I would either otherwise on the other hand tries to break Coraline out of her delusions of the other world after a bit something the other mother punishes him for later by sewing his mouth into a creepy smile even if movie Coraline is at first oblivious to the obvious signs of trouble with the other world otherwise be acting out against the other mother's agenda is eventually enough to snap Coraline out of it but back to the beginning movie YB gives Coraline information she learns from other sources in the book for example early on he says the line about the well that's so deep if you fall down it you'll see A Sky Full of Stars even in the middle of the day also because he is the grandson of the Pink Palace landlady that his grandmother never rents out to people with children yeah we should be getting uneasy already he also sets the viewers up for the expectation of Adventure right away when he hints that with an unusual name like Coraline unusual things are bound to happen to Coraline Coraline is pretty much ignored by most adults in the movie and it's the same way in the book but we're first like I mentioned a bit ago with the police and the hot chocolate YB gives movie Coraline at least someone to talk with it's YB who gives Coraline the doll of herself in the movie Kicking things off in a way in the book it should be noted that there are no dolls aside from the pillow parents Coraline makes for herself to feel less lonely in the movie after her talk with Miss Pink and Miss forcible Coraline's encounter with YB in the Mist provides not only some comic relief from the growing threat of danger but really gives Coraline a chance to say aloud you're just like my parents you don't listen to me either we are supposed to infer that she feels very alone and misunderstood in saying that she could stand to be a lot nicer to him though seriously without YB Coraline couldn't just declare this aloud in the movie YB also says his grandmother has never let him enter the Pink Palace because it's dangerous or something if we didn't know Coraline was in for some trouble by this point we certainly do now he tells about his grandmother's twin sister who is also not in the book who disappeared yes we should be very much on our guard even if movie Coraline isn't other YB makes the other world fun at least at first Coraline has a friend to share the other world experiences with either YB first appears after the second meal the dinner breakfast food meal just after other mother says Coraline and her quote friends have been invited to Mr bobinsky's mouth circus upstairs Coraline is not the world about having YB in this perfect other world at this point but the other mother has fixed him to be silent gross here otherwise purpose seems to be to lower Coraline's guard to make the other world still more appealing they definitely have a great time at Mr bubble's amazing and cute mouth circus after all this lowering Coraline's guard bit is unique to the movie and how developed it is where the other world seems a paradise in the book Coraline is already convinced that the other world is not the place for her and she does want to leave let's take a look at the book's wibulous creepy version of the circus shall we in the book The Rat circus takes place in Coraline's other bedroom of girls in pink after the other mothers suggests Coraline go play with the rats from upstairs Super Fun Time who's Scurry about and seeing one of their creepy chittering chants until other Mr Bobo comes to collect them um on play dates in the movie even in yb's absence he's still helping to give us tidbits of unsettling information via the cat before moving Coraline enters the theater the cat says that he and other YB talk in their way about how unlike a mother the other mother is listen up movie Coraline ah the theater another place that's way creepier in the book naturally but in the movie other YB is there to ease it a bit saving her a seat and even throwing her a rose he appears to be thrilled to be there that is until the other mother asks Coraline how this show was and he starts to get frowny and unsure through this he shows the viewer that we should be feeling uneasy and unsure even if movie Coraline is still enamored with the other world when movia the mother creepily threatens otherwise to smile darnia smile or else we're absolutely supposed to be threatened by her as well here otherwise uneasiness and hesitation contrast greatly with movie Coraline's infatuation with the magical other world he is necessary to show that not always as it seems get it seems sorry and that we the viewer should be on our guard so should Coraline but she probably wouldn't listen at this point in the book well earlier truth be told Coraline is feeling exactly what movie other YB is trying to show unsure on her guard in very much creeped out we know this because we are told this and experience everything with her through her the book theater show way less alluring and of course creepy as all get out no why be no skin change no fun stage happenings no sparkles and so on it's no way instead book Coraline is tied to a spinner and has knives thrown at her fun why on Earth wouldn't she want to stay forever and always in this other world they do give her chocolate as a volunteer prize though anyway it's also all talking dogs in the audience tons of talking dogs who inform her that this show never ever ends it goes on forever and always again really selling the stay here forever pitch no no the books ratchet and theater shows are just flat out creepy that's how they were written and that's what we readers are here for I mean one look at this cover and you know it's not going to be a cakewalk the movie makes these events like everything at least seem fun at first not only because they are really colorful and Whimsical but also because other YB is there with Coraline a friend or at least a nice familiar-ish face in this too happy place someone to share the experience with and if things go sideways someone to make an escape with in the book Coraline has to get herself out of sticky situations or wait them out like in the mere prison she has to sleep in the dark cupboard behind the mirror only to be retrieved and carried out by a suspiciously more invigorated other mother the following morning in the movie other YB saves Coraline from this mere prison other YB also helps her Escape through the tunnel although he cannot come with her so he's an active force on her side in the other world someone to rely on which absolutely makes his empty jacket that much more of a gut punch but I'm getting ahead of myself too bad Coraline's gratitude is short-lived in the next scene back in the real world wipei swings by to pick up the doll almost as soon as Coraline escapes from the other world only to be used as a means to show Coraline's anger at being left by her parents her fear of the other world and of the other mother and her General angst poor guy again the book can tell us this without harming an innocent neighbor but the movie has to show us still doesn't make her attitude and actions towards him right especially considering she was just so grateful to other ybn was so worried without her parents around YB is there to take the doll back that belonged to his grandmother's missing sister and then Coraline is furious with him for stealing the doll then she puts it all together and they both look for the doll in the house which by the way YB is not allowed in per his grandmother but Coraline doesn't really care for his boundaries and she's still mean to him why why we so doesn't need shoes thrown at him meanie she chases away the only person who understands her and could help her sorry I get upset at how cruel movie Coraline is to poor YB but yeah movie Coraline is in deep with the anger denial and fear at this point as we just saw with how she treats YB through YB Coraline finally sees just how terrible and how high the stakes are in the other world when otherwise clothes hang empty from other Mr bobinski's flagpole a terrifying fate to be sure this impresses on movie Coraline and us the movie Watchers the very serious and dangerous nature of the other world in a more visceral and close to the Heart Way than previously why we saved the day many times in the movie it's him who saves Coraline from the other mother's hand at the very end of the movie in an appearance almost mirroring his first appearance in the film and it's he who smashes the hand with The Rock still makes me uncomfortable that they put the creepy smashed hand with the key down the well but anyway YB is a hero and someone to say for the downfall of the other mother with because of course the adults have no clue what's going on per usual and finally if it weren't for YB none of Coraline's other World Adventures would have happened how they did if we're just talking about the movie itself without reference to the book it if there was no YB in the movie The Other Mother would not have been able to see and spy on Coraline very well because YB would never have given her the doll the Dalton appear on Coraline's doorstep it appeared at yb's grandmother's house it was her missing sister's doll that transformed all of a sudden to look like Coraline but we know how that change came to be it's the first scene in the movie The Doll flies into the window the other mother's needle hands alter the doll to look like Coraline and that doll flies out the window magic or um malice magic malice when YB sheepishly tries to take the doll back from Coraline we learn that his grandmother's sister's doll is missing and the grandmother is furious and I'm sure anxious that YB gave away her sister's doll to a new child she probably remembers what happened this doll of many faces is just one doll and it's not that the doll was left on the stoop by the other mother posing as YB via a note it actually was why be doing this and without the doll Coraline would not have discovered the little door when she did in the movie I mean she may have but in the movie It's the doll that guides her there so no YB no other mothers Came As We Know It And most importantly no slug photos gosh those are the coolest if it weren't for YB none of Coraline's other World Adventures would have happened how they did she would be safe and bored at her dreary house with her busy parents and odd neighbors and we'd miss out on all the awesomeness that is why be he is a heroic helping hand a hint that not all is right and someone to share the whole other mother vanquishing experience with yay Adventure Bond but what are some of your thoughts which YB do you prefer real other both let me know in the comments below well friends and fiends I hope you enjoyed watching these Coraline Theory animations they are so fun to do and take quite a lot of work and time and dedication to pull off so I wanted them to tell a complete story together in case you missed one along the way so far are there any other creepy stories you'd like me to cover in this excessive amount of detail do be sure to subscribe and keep your button eyes peeled for the next spooky video coming out of the cauldron quite soon goodbye [Music]

Channel: abitfrank

Views: 472,939

Keywords: abitfrank, Coraline, coraline the movie, henry selick, neil gaiman, coraline animation, coraline 2, coraline theory, laika, other mother, coraline movie, coraline book, coraline well, coraline corridor, coraline jones, coraline ending, coraline cat, coraline cat theory, coraline other mother, coraline mist theory, bug theory, coraline bug theory, coraline mist, coraline tunnel, corridor theory, coraline origins, messed up, coraline explained, coraline secrets

Id: gEv0LMn5S3I

Length: 123min 45sec (7425 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 14 2023