I've gotten so many comments from people who watch one or two of my Coraline theory videos and get Confused and I get it because I developed a lot of my theories throughout multiple videos so I've watched the movie again and catch something different, or I'd have a conversation with someone and realize I am not explaining things as well as I thought I was and Hey sometimes. [I've] even changed my mind and abandoned theories which really throws off someone who watches part one and then part five So having like 13 different Coraline videos in my channel Isn't helpful for people who come in and just watch a few. So I am here to offer up a core theory in one place now this video will not Include every theory that I've ever played [within] Coraline like the spider with universe connection This is just a place for my main ideas that all work together or at least kind of work together and as is always Implied and sometimes stated thank you to the theorizer for challenging me to rethink the issues with this movie that I had always Dismissed as plot holes now. I know a lot of theories out there. Just reiterate what The Theorizer Has already said but sadly I went to college for a degree in film studies So I actually spent good money on being trained how to pick out little details and film and write these Thesis papers on them which means I've had zero job prospects since graduating But it has been helpful in giving me a different perspective when viewing films for this channel I have been very jumbled up talking about Coraline Partly because I can't fully explain it in every video and partly because my thoughts have adapted as I've seen more clues Fingers [crossed] this video will help and make sense to everyone Upon entering the portal/tunnel to the other world the Beldam does not allow you to return home to the real world notice how Coraline teleports back to her real world bed after falling asleep in the other world room and Remember how that method of travelling didn't work later on that's because the first time we saw the bed teleportation Coraline did not go back to the real world instead she was placed on to another layer of the other world and Everything else coraline sees as the black cat alludes to is just a game of cat and mouse I know I lose a lot of people here because we keep seeing coraline using the tunnel to get to the other world So what is the point of that well the point is that it's all part of the illusion that the beldam craf? Yes, we see Coraline used the Tunnel multiple times But who's to say that it's the same tunnel going to the same location? In the book Coraline has a hallway like corridor instead And she notes that it seems to get longer after her first visit so is it entirely Insane to think that maybe this magical tunnel is leading through a different path now I think these visual [aids] were useful in part seven in my theory so think of the other world like the moving staircases in Harry Potter You might come down the stairs at one location but then be sent somewhere else if you try to use the same staircase later, and the kids on the staircase certainly aren't in control of how or when it moves. So I think that the portal to the other world does a similar thing and Once Coraline enters it the Tunnel is moved and Coraline is forever going to the pink palace limbo instead, or if you prefer to think of the other world like a house Coraline comes in from the outside ie the real world and enters the first floor [of] the other world Which is the Beldam's lair. The second floor is the limbo pink palace, and no, the floors of this metaphorical house are not a roof and four walls But more like two tortoises stacked on top of each other But here's the issue a house generally doesn't have exits on the second floor So once Coraline makes her escape from the Beldam's lair and throws away the key She actually trapped herself on the second floor of the other world So now even if Coraline should figure out that she's in the limbo pink palace She has no way to unlock the door to return to the Beldam's lair Which is where the exit to the actual real world is. So whichever of my bad graphics you prefer I believe that the Beldam keeps a [lair] in [which] every character present is in her direct control And then she keeps a secondary location to store trap humans Which is the pink palace limbo. The biggest criticism I've heard is [that] this is way too convoluted and yes, it does seem Unnecessarily complicated until you consider what the Beldam is actually living off of now We know that the Beldam does not live off of normal food even though she has access to it and cooks it for Coraline We know that the Beldam is not eating flesh because otherwise She'd just kill Coraline and anyone else as soon as they entered the other world. To figure out what the beldam eats [I] had to really think about the clues that are given to me, in the book Huck Finn, Jr. and the other ghost children make comments about how the Beldam ate up their lives and how doing so did not hurt them. They also Say that once they saw the Beldam they never saw their real mothers again which also supports my limbo pink palace theory The Beldam herself just keeps insisting that she only wants to love Coraline and despite the fact that the Beldam had many chances to do so she never actually tried to do any physical [harm] to Coraline that's because the Beldam feeds on Magic like the kind a Fairy would produce But how do you get fairies in the other world if it's a self-contained pocket universe? Here's something interesting in the Coraline graphic novel. It's very easy to pick out that Mrs. Lovat's sister is not among the ghost children, and a fairy is in her place instead, and the fairy says that she has been trapped there for time Beyond reckoning; so a lot longer than recorded human history I would guess, which makes me firmly Believe that the Beldam is a supernatural creature and not a former human. If you've already seen my "what is the Beldam" videos, I have two of them, then you kind Of know where I'm at on this I never found a formal answer But I [leaned] towards the Beldam being fairy or half fairy or something of that nature. Also, take note at the Fairy ring around the well according to folklore that can be a portal to a fairy world underneath the Fairy ring; if we look at other pop culture references like the Spiderwick chronicles a fairy ring can be used to keep evil creatures in or out So there is either a land of the fairies at the bottom of the well Or the fairy ring is meant to keep the Beldam sealed in the other world so that she cannot abduct another Person or fairy. But back to eating magic, if you can't obtain anymore fairies, how do you survive? Well I theorize that Magic can be found in people who believe in themselves and in pure forms of love Like a child's love for their parent So if you can love the Beldam the way a child loves its mother then you are providing a source of magic for the Beldam to consume. Alternatively if you're too old or unwilling to form that sort of attachment to the Beldam, believing in yourself and having a large ego is also a form of Magic, and either of these things is if carefully cultivated, could give the Beldam a food source for decades at a time So similar to how a farmer would keep a cow to milk it every day the Beldam keeps the pink palace limbo zone as a type of refrigerator for her magical consumption needs. I mean isn't it odd that in such a small town all of the residents of the pink palace apartments are retired performers who have a lot of self-importance? That is not an accident, those are the hand-picked residents of the pink palace limbo in the other world. That's why the Beldam had elaborate theater and circus shows in the other world, because she had already crafted these wonders for Miss Spink, Miss Forcible and Mr. Bobinsky. That's how the Beldam lured them into the other world and yes, I've heard your complaints We do see the residents in the beginning of the film which is surely in the real world, but notice how not one person interacts with any of them? No one seems to notice that they're there as if they're in a parallel universe Hmm... And come on, you think a 300 pound old man like Mr. Bobinsky is doing squats on the roof and no one is noticing it? No way! Something supernatural is happening here, and I would guess but it's something similar to what we see at the end of the Silent Hill movie, where Rose and sheryl go home, but they're stuck in a parallel universe that looks exactly like the real world, and they can't see or interact with anyone else and viceversa. Now that all sounds like it contradicts my visual aids But it actually doesn't have to, it would actually take far less energy for the Beldam to trap residents in a parallel universe that cuts them off from the real world, so everything would look the same, but the residents of the pink palace limbo world are in a parallel universe that doesn't interact with the real. world That's why Coraline doesn't meet any of her neighbors until after she's gone [through] the portal. Because Coraline herself gets stuck in the limbo. So now she can see the other residents Also, let me wedge in a statement here It seems clear that the Beldam does have certain limitations on her powers. I believe that she can only create carbon copies of people who have already been to the other world before If that wasn't the case, then why didn't the Beldam recreate Coraline's friends from Michigan in the other world? Why only make Whybie as a playmate when he's the kid that Coraline can't stand? making Carbon copies of Coraline's real friends from back home would have been a strong push to get Coraline to willingly stay in the other world, and the Beldam definitely knew about those kids because she creates a talking picture of them in Coraline other room. So the only reason to not include actual copies of those friends for Coraline to physically interact with, is because the Beldam can't do it, those boys have never been to the other world so she can't recreate them. With that being the case, then I believe that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible moved into the pink palace in 1921, Mr. Bobinsky in 1936 and Mrs. Lovat's family in 1960 and that's what the candy jar dates represent, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible moved in after aging out of the traveling Burlesque Circuit and Mr. Bobinsky moved in as the circus was dying out in America and he was desperately trying to get a new excite sideshow attraction together. Mr. Bobinsky is from an old circus family, according to the book, so he has a lot of pride and family honour to uphold Which is why he won't give up on the mice circus idea, and the issues of those three characters would fit the residents respective Timelines of 1921 and 1936, as Burlesque shows were popular from the 1860s to the 1940s, and the Circus dried up around 1950 due to competition from movies and television. The other world was able to show these has-beens their glory days again. And they ended up trapped in the limbo pink palace because of their egos. I think that part of them are aware that they're still in the other world, but part of them does not want to question it and risk destroying the fantasy versions of themselves that they cherish so much. Based on Coraline's own interests of being sort of an explorer and an adventurer It's definitely safe to assume that the theatrical wonders that the Beldam shows off are remnants and not something custom tailored to Coraline's tastes, then, as I explain in my Coraline's timeline, the pioneer girl likely entered the other world around 1850 and Huck Finn Jr. around 1880 based on clues in their attire, speech and American literature references. Not to mention the ghost boy talks about having a governess in his real life and governess were only used through the world war 1 era and not really after. But that gives us roughly 15 to 30 years between human victims, meaning that there was likely another victim between 1960 and 2009 when the film was released. I'll circle back to this issue towards the end. As far as Miss Spink, Miss Forcible and Mr. Bobinsky though I believe that Coraline only interacts with them while in the limbo pink Palace Zone, this part of my theory makes a lot of sense if you think about how they hide the Seeing Stone. Why not throw it in a drawer? Why hide it in the bottom of a candy jar? Because Miss Spink knew that it was a very important item, and she was afraid that the Beldam or one of her rats might steal it. Yes, Miss Spink may have a hazy mind these days Maybe because of a hazy location that she's trapped in but even though she didn't know exactly what the Seeing Stone was Miss Spink remembered that it was important. All of these clues help to support the idea that Coraline never returns for the real world after going into the other world. True, Coraline and her family do go shopping in the real world, but the other father states in the book that "there isn't anywhere but here, this is all she made, the house, the grounds and the people in the house." Why does that matter? Because the other world as small as it is has a huge white space where the Beldam isn't creating anything Why do that if the world is so small and the Beldam is powerful enough to create other living beings? The Beldam knows that Coraline likes to explore, It's one of her defining personality traits that she repeatedly comments on in the book, and that we see through Coraline's actions in the film; so if the Beldam only creates to impress why leave about 1/3 of the other world blank? It's because the white space is there on purpose. It's a way to make Coraline believe that the Beldam's powers are very limited and a way to make Coraline think that she knows the difference between the real world and the other world. Think about, it if you saw a place that was very Off in every way you really wouldn't notice small errors or issues in a world made to look like your home, would you? So by making the other world and the Beldam have flaws it makes it easier to trap Coraline in the limbo pink palace. Coraline is never noted as having gone [to] town before her mother takes her shopping for school clothes So how would Coraline know what the shops look like? She wouldn't, which would give the Beldam creative licensing to make whatever she wanted, and that is how the Beldam knew that coraline was unhappy with her clothing even though the doll didn't go into town with her. Ok ok, I know most people start asking about the button eyes at this point, but just like there is no spoon. There are no buttons. Well at least there are no needed buttons When Coraline notices her parents are missing and she returns to the other world look at this perfect replica of Mrs. Jones that is just waiting for Coraline. Perfect right down to the eyes the Beldam is able to create human eyes. Which means the use of buttons is just another distraction. So that when Coraline sees normal eyes in the limbo pink palace she believes that she's in the real world. When Coraline parents are abducted It is implied that they will be trapped in the other world forever if Coraline doesn't come back there to rescue them. But how would that work? Coraline parents never agreed to sew buttons in their eyes, and I highly doubt that any rational adult would, no matter what the other world had to offer them So how could the Beldam steal Coraline parents forever? It's not possible if the button eyes are actually needed to stay in the other world long term. Then look at the doll, and how we're told that the button eyes are how the Beldam sees into the real world but, Where is the doll on the shopping Trip to report back to the Beldam that Coraline wants some cool new clothes? It's not there. Why? Because at that point Coraline is already trapped in the limbo pink palace and the Beldam can see everything that is going on no dolls needed. And side note, since we are told that the Beldam can see through the buttons, that means that everything the other father and other Wybie do is under the direct control of the Beldam. Coraline thinks that these people have free will because these characters help her or give her useful information but in reality It's a situation of the devil being in the details, and the Beldam attempting to make Coraline trust people that are actually just serving as spies for the Beldam. The book gives us more proof of this as the other father attacks Coraline at one point and says the other mother is making him do it, there is no free will and everything with button eyes is merely a puppet for the Beldam to use to her advantage, and it's a similar issue with the ghost children they were real people at one time and that's how the Beldam can recreate their likenesses. But now they're carbon copy forms are being used to make puppets that the Beldam controls. That's why the ghost children tell Coraline to run away from the other world, because it's so dangerous Then also ask her to linger around and free them too. It was all part of the [Cat-and-Mouse] game I mean honestly, with how meticulous the Beldam is shown to be, and how long she claims to have been waiting for Coraline, do you really think she would be so careless as to leave the ghost children lying around in the exact same spot she puts Coraline into? No way! Coraline was resisting the Beldam so the Beldam put Coraline behind the mirror so that she could conveniently meet sympathetic kids who needed her help. Coraline played right into the Beldam's trap. The entire event of the other world falling apart was just another ploy to make Coraline believe that the Beldam has limitations on her powers. Consider the fact that the other world begins to fall apart as soon as Coraline takes the object associated to the ghost children now we see later that the souls are not freed until the items are broken during Coraline stream, so why is the other world collapsing when the souls are still right there and able to power the other world? Plus the movie implies that Coraline ran out of time right outside Bobinsky's house, but then for some reason the timer on the moon stopped, the cat brought her the circus ball and then the timer started again, and the world began to collapse around them. But that can't be right because Coraline hadn't even found her parents at this point It doesn't make any sense, unless you realize that Coraline thinks she's saving the ghost kids, but really she's just being manipulated by the Beldam to have such a frightening adventure that Coraline will be too afraid to ever try to enter the other world again. Also, take note, who tells Coraline to get rid of the key saying otherwise she'll always be in danger? Those ghost children. Who are being puppeteered by the Beldam so that Coraline loses the only key that can free her from the limbo pink palace, because once Coraline throws away the key it goes down to Beldam's lair, the Beldam has the key and Coralline has effectively locked herself permanently in the limbo area. So the ghost children show up right as things are amping up to be their most dangerous and saving the ghost kids ensures that Coraline had a terrifying experience that would make her never open the door to the other world again. That same adventure also made Coraline believe that the other world had lost all of its power and that the Beldam was now gone. Yet the Beldam suddenly stops banging on the door for no real reason, why? It's not because the Beldam has lost It's because she's won and Coraline has permanently locked herself into the limbo pink palace area This is also how the Beldam hand is able to get into the real world, because it's not the real world It's the limbo pink palace Didn't you think it was odd that the Beldam [stopped] banging on the little door after the key went down the well? I mean, it's a magical robot hand I'm very confident that it could piece itself back together and climb back out of that well with the key and Going through this grand gesture, not only gets the Beldam her key back But it helps to ensure that Coraline thinks that she's won the battle and is safe in the real world, when she's actually in the Beldam's trap. To further support this idea, isn't it odd that the parents neighbors and everything else comes together so perfectly for Coraline? Wybie is waiting to rescue Coraline at just the right moment? despite having no clue when or where she'd be. Once Coraline believes that the Beldam has been defeated her parents become attentive and loving and the neighbors all finally leave their Apartments, and everyone is outside gardening. The exact activity that Coraline has been begging to do, this isn't just a happily ever after moment, this is a version of the other world that Coraline would never want to leave, isn't Mrs. Jones doing everything but the Beldam [promise] to do if Coraline stayed with her? Because the Beldam is posing as Mrs. Jones, human eyes and all so that she can trick Coraline into legitimately loving her so that the Beldam can feed all of that magical source. I know you're wondering why the ghost children aren't in the pink palace limbo too, right? Well, I'm not finalized on my thoughts of what happened to them, but I think I've got it narrowed down. I believe that your life can be extended in the other world But that does not mean that you are immortal, so the aging process is slowed down in the other world but they're still going to be a point in time, if you're a kid, that you're going to grow up and really not rely on your parents as much as you did; which means you're no longer a viable food source for the Beldam. So what happens to the ghost kids? I mean the Beldam couldn't risk letting those kids go home, otherwise there may be retaliation, like adults marching into the other world with pitchforks and torches Or they may bulldoze the pink palace to the ground which would prevent the Beldam from luring in new victims as easily. Now how or when the Beldam killed the ghost children as they age? I'm not really sure but I do still believe that the ghost children We see in the movie are carbon copy puppets that the Beldam controls and not the actual spiritual remains of those kids. By this stage someone has usually asked what about the black cat? Isn't he there to be Coraline's protector? Well, says who? It's a theory, but it's also equally plausible if not even more likely that the cat is the Beldam's familiar, her agent in the real world who ushered children into the other world, and that's where my version of the candy jar theory kicks in. Now I've had a few different scenarios for this but I do really like that The Theorizer caught the fact that both, the Lovat family and the cat are African-American, with the population of Ashland, Oregon being so sparse on this demographic I really think there's potential for the cat to be related to the Lovat, let's assume that Mrs. Lovat's family didn't move away when her sister disappeared as many parents would not believe and he talked about magical world [the] family probably stayed put and hoped that their missing daughter would find them, Mrs. Lovat's father held on to this hope so strongly that he eventually purchased the pink palace apartments so that they would always have the home available if their missing child came back. That would explain why Mrs. Lovat never sold the building, even though she was supposed to be deathly afraid of it, so if Mrs. Lovat stayed nearby, and she was about ten in 1960 when her sister vanished, then it would be in the 1970s, that Mrs. Lovat got married and had kids, and that is likely when Mrs. Lovat moved out and into her current house down the road and yes, we do know [that] Mrs. Lovat lives somewhere close to the pink palace because she can call for Wybie, he can hear her but we see at the end of the movie that Mrs. Lovat is not very mobile anymore, and can't get around very easily so she has to be close. As time passed Mrs. Lovat's father died and left her the pink palace in his will Mrs. Lovat would never allow her son to go there as a child and she never allowed families with children to move in, but then something happened somewhere in the 1990s Mrs. Lovat began feeling old herself and needed her twenty-something year old son to act as the landlord to the pink palace apartments. Since he was an adult with a family [of] his own now, Mrs. Lovat assumed that he was safe from the Beldam, then one day Mrs. Lovat' son found his way into the other world, where through a series of odd and theorizing events he was turned into the black cat, I suspect due to Mrs. Lovat making a deal with the Beldam. Now remember that the Beldam doesn't need button eyes on her creations She's perfectly able to make normal eyes of she so desires [too]. So looking like a normal raggedy old cat Mrs. Lovat' son Wybie's father is now forced to be the Beldam familiar and serviced her foothold in the real world. Yes, we are told repeatedly that the Beldam is trying to keep the cat out of the other world, but isn't it odd that we never see those attempts with our own eyes? And that the characters who say that are the cat and the other father, both of them are under the Beldam's control. This is another case of misdirection so that Coraline thinks a cat who has normal eyes, kills [rat] [spies], attacks the Beldam and helps Coraline in general is on her side. Controlling someone with real eyes is a very useful tool in tricking Coraline into a false sense of security and trust. Not to mention another way to make Coraline think that she knows which places are real and which are fake. I know I know the cat helped Coraline save Mrs. Lovat's twin sister, but if the ghost children aren't real then this is just another part of the ruse It's also the most crucial part because it makes Coraline trust in the cat even more and it's the last piece that dissolves the other world and makes Coraline believe that she's destroyed the place. It's the same basic idea when the cat catches that mouse and crunches him killed him and it turns into the rat, he's doing it right in front of Coraline to show Coraline "Hey You can trust me", and it's really that false sense of security that dooms her. If the cat and the Beldam were enemies then why didn't the Beldam just kill the cat after Coraline threw him at her? We're supposed to believe that the Beldam kills children but won't kill a cat she supposedly hates? Yes, the cat scratches her eyes off, but I've already established that she doesn't need them, and can morph on new eyes at any given minute. Scratching off the eyes sets the stage for a narrow escape to make Coraline all the more afraid of the other world, so that she never tries to go through the door again, and remains trapped in the limbo pink palace and yes, I believe that Mrs. Lovat is involved for the simple fact that the key to the other world was inside of the apartment. Mrs. Lovat could have melted that key or thrown it into a river even left it in a safety deposit box at the Bank or buried at hundreds of miles away, give the key to a distant relative for safekeeping, mail it to a stranger, something to get it out of the Ashland area. Instead Mrs. Lovat was offering Coraline up as a sacrificial lamb, and that is why Coraline's family was allowed to move in, even though families with children have never been allowed to do that before. Mrs. Lovat was helping her son, and probably afraid that Wybie curious nature would turn Him into a target for the Beldam, and she did what she had to to keep her own family safe. So that is my core Coraline theory crammed into a 22-page nutshell. It doesn't have every detail I found but this should be a good place to dive in if you're new and don't want to commit to several hours of watching all of the Coraline theories on my channel. And I know there are some of you out there who will say well this was all a dream or this was all a fantasy of Coraline? And in some cases you might be correct, except for the fact that Coraline has the poison oak on her hand which is healed in the other world, so we see a real-world problem that is only treated in the other world, and it goes away, so that means the other world is really there. If you've made it this far drop me a comment and let me know. If you have a chance to watch Coraline again, watch it with my theories in mind and tell me how well you think this theory works out. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed enough to like, subscribe and share this video. I've also got a lot [of] other videos on my channel that you are fully encouraged to go check out plus you can find me on Facebook at SayHaloGoodbye, which is my gamertag or Twitter at the underscore Fanily.
