I understood the tunnel looking different as the belldame no longer needing to make the tunnel enticing because the truth is out and with the parents being different at the end, I saw that as Coraline seeing life through a different lens and she now understands that it’s not all that bad
MEL NOTICES THE BROKEN GLOBE BUT NOT THE SHATTERED MIRROR?!?!?! she SHATTERED the glass mirror in the hallway. NONE OF HER PARENTS commented on that when they returned home, even though it is in DIRECT VISIBILTIY upon entry into the house.
Not sure if you covered this already, but the Beldam has a lot more reach than she makes Coraline believe. If the door is the only way she can go in and out of her world, how did the doll get into Gramma's basement? It's a completely different house and different location. And the door to the other world was locked at the time. It proves that the Beldam has some control over things in the real world and other ways to transfer things in and out of her world. That, or it proves someone is working with her. If we follow the Beldam's logic (what she wants Coraline to believe) there would be no way she could have changed the Little Ghost girl doll into the Coraline doll. But she did. I think it just proves further your theory that Coraline never left the other world when she fell asleep. The Beldam never needed the door to change things in the real world, or else how in the world could she have got the doll back, changed it, and then sent it back into the real world? A doll that she somewhat controls. Plus who is to say it can't stand up and walk around like the mice/rats? The Beldam made a HUGE show that the door was the 'only' way she could escape her own world (I think she purposely scratched the door too, when she had the hand exit it, to further convince Coraline that's how the hand got out (because we know Coraline is going to investigate it) and, therefore, the only way). The more I watch this movie the more I realize how old and smart the Beldam is and how much she understands the psychology of her prey.
You're right, there is a lot uncovered in the movie, and it's really hard to answer those questions if you try to stick to the confines of the film. I definitely think that Wybie is connected to the Beldam, but the doll also seems to be able to move on it's own. Not to mention, the hand came through to the "real world" and was working just fine, so there is definitely a lot more reach and power than the Beldam is letting on.
@@TheFangirlWatches Love your theories, btw! Did you notice that the real mom has a crooked nose (when we see her in the beginning when we know she is 100% the real mom) but the mom at the end has a straight nose like the Beldam? Am I looking into that too much?
@@TheFangirlWatchesThe book shows that the rats both serve the Beldam for these cases as well as having their own motivations. They DO show them coming into the real world as the performing mice so that may be the hint. The rats put it in Wyby's attic. Since he doesn't exist in the book this aspect was added but the rata could still reach there, especially if they were in their true otherworld rat form. Both the book and movie hint tat there are more than rats as well. The book goes farther, infering an almost cosmic horror aspect woth them chanting about how they perpetually exist at the feet of all beings in charge since the beginning as those aroudb them rise and fall in sucession. They mass as one and act as more a unified primal entity of fear. In the movie they are closer to real rats when not in disguise, like the cat, but still have supernatural properties beyond the Belldam's magic. They are intellegent, sentient and can even talk to her when pretending to be the neighbor. Sadly there is a bit of plotholery caused by the changes in the transition. In the book , she ABSOLTULTY does make it home fir this period. It was too slow and miserable a scene jn a movie that already gut punches you hard though. Colerine doesn't stay there alone for like a day for more like a week or two. She does things on her own. Tries to call the police to be discarded as a prank call. She eats gross moldy food as no one is there to shop. The old ladies are of no help because they were supposed to get a ride into town from the parents for an outing they were looking foreward to and upon hearing they are gone, became preoccupied with complaining and getting there themselevs. She basically has a genuine vulnerable moment to remind us she is actually a kid in an unfamiliar and sparsely populated area. One thing the movie does a little bit of a poor job in is that. It doesn't make her a Mary sue but it does take away a bit kf that earned child character credibility they had. She just acts mostly like an action hero pretty quick after a brief cry. In the book she is TERRIFIED of going bakc but after essentially living in a purgatory in our real world does she gather the strength. Since they removed this aspect and gave the Pink Palace an odd supernaturally isolating quality during, your ecplaination works great. I think the end of your hypothesis is a bit wrong though. I either see it as one of two explainations or even a combination of the both. One is that she went to a fake room the first time but made it back the second. The house was not actually empty and less time went by than she thought. They parents actually did just get home in a sort of end to Jumanji way. I find this a little less plausible. The other is that the Beldam IS behind it but Mel is not her nor are they in the other world. She had them trapped in the snow globe. We know he magic by some means can make it into the real world. We also know she is a master of manipulation/perspective. I think the hid Coralines parents in plain site. I also feel when the spell was unraveling it caused the others to do so as well. Thats why the parents were freed by the evidence disappeared. It was all part of her spell to keep them trapped in an impossible facade. They were stripped of their memory of it but still hazy as a result. That's why they act a little out of character. Think of it Luke you had a super vivid dream then wake up a form it a coupke hours before you normally do. The memory if the dream is slipping away fast like snow melting off your shoulders but you are still half asleep and emotionally charged to that of the dream's atmosphere. You are feeling tired, dazed but also mabey confused or spacious but don't have an explaination behind thsoe feelings so they are half expressed in your behavior. Also keep in mind Coroline and her mom had a fight before this. She forgot the imprisonment so she is hazy but her last connection to Coroline was feeling cross at her outbursts. She WOULD still have a bit of an authoritarian attitude at the nonsense. The beldam wouldn't bother by this point, especially if she is behind the door screaming and sending her needlehand out on its own. No, this is the real world. I even think perhaps what we say between was a mix. It was the real world but put into a sort of spell bubble. This is why everything seems lifeless. Why her parents enter the house out of the snowglobe. Why the globe is still there. The globe was the spell so what if that's what it was doing. Putting a "globe" around the house to isolate it but the parents that were inside still are only within the representative version. Once the globe shattered and the spell broke, the house was no longer locked in a time freeze and her parents could just step in again with that detached period gone from their minds. Keep in mind that gaslighting means they have intent to fool her but there is no evidence they can actually see or remember the magic. You are jumping to conclusions by detials that don't prove it and its still conflicted by a lot. We know the Beldam can't hide her eyes and has limited magic abilities. She can't weave all this on a whim when her prior spell just unraveled. She is salsa still trapped and we have that confirmed. The world is far too extensive and real. Whybe'ezists as a threat to her intent here..no, sorry. You really want to make it work otherwise result bias but there is too much disproving she isn't back.
The cat mentions in the movie that there are other entrances to the "other world" and that the witch tries to keep him away form entering but he always finds a way. The cat states that he enters whenever he pleases but never comments on where those other doors/windows are.
0:33 I think that the tunnel changing is due to the Beldam's mood and/or the appearance that the Beldam wants to portray. The first three times Coraline entered the tunnel the Beldam wanted Coraline to see the other world as a fun happy place. When Coraline was trying to escape by using the tunnel for the fourth and sixth times, the Beldam was angry and she was trying to scare Coraline. However, during the fifth time when Coraline was going back to save her parents, the Beldam wanted things to calm down a bit. When Coraline went through the tunnel, she wanted to calmly serve Coraline breakfast instead of scaring her away. Therefore, it makes sense why the Beldam would clean up the appearance of the tunnel when Coraline went to save her parents. Also, when Mel opens the door there is a split second where I could see a dirt tunnel before I saw the bricks.
I don’t listen to a lot of film theories, but this one was just excellent. In all honesty, I think this possibility makes the film even scarier. Because it’s not about fighting the evil Beldam and knowing you’re trapped in her claws that makes it super terrifying, it’s fleeing into one of her cages and thinking that’s where you’ll find home. There’s nothing more disturbing than a “peaceful” ending that has every trick and distortion poking out.
A great sequel to Coraline would be if we saw Coraline as an adult and she had moved away from the Pink Palace. She moved away because the relationship between her and her parents deteriorated with time as Coraline was sure something was off. The constant gaslighting and arguments would’ve got to Coraline, eventually leading her to move away and try to distance herself from her traumatic childhood and her parents who beg her to stay to no avail. From there we could see Coraline discovering something that evidences her being in the limbo pink palace world. She could find a box of pictures of her before she found the Other World. One of these pictures could show the squid toy with the ORIGINAL design, making Coraline say something like “Hm, that’s odd.” Then she could find the actual squid toy in the box and realise that it doesn’t match the picture. As the film goes on we could see her digging deeper into the strange world she is living in. We could see Coraline’s mental state decline as she loses her grip on reality. I can see it now. The trailer starts off with the scene where she is looking through the box. The music starts off quiet and mysterious, eventually becoming more intense until a dramatic thud hits and Coraline screams in the moment of silence “WHAT IS HAPPENING!” with an echo effect. We could see her going back to the Pink Palace and demanding answers from her parents. Her supposed mother (who would be an elderly woman at this time) could be seen rocking back and forth in her rocking chair with her head to the floor. Her hair may be long to conceal her head and add to the suspense. Maybe her mother could say with a slight demonic tone “Coraline! You came back for us!” to finally make it click with the audience that Coraline isn’t safe. The quote would be a callback to the original where the Other Mother poses as Mel to trick Coraline when she comes back to the Other World. Maybe we could see the conversation devolve more into Coraline’s self realisation, admitting “You… You tricked me this whole time!” I’m thinking maybe the film should really lean into the psychological horror aspect compared to the first film to symbolise how this isn’t a game anymore. It could end with Coraline running out of the house in tears of depression and frustration as she runs back to the well. The Other Mother may summon her minions in the form of supposed random strangers who look like random people but are actually the Beldam’s puppets. Coraline races to remove the boulder blocking the well. She opens the well, and falls back. She wakes up in a strange white void, realising the well is just another portal. Except, this one is different. It doesn’t just go to the Other World, but acts as the central hub for all the different versions of the Other Worlds (including the limbo pink palace). We could see the return of the ghost kids, who admit they did trick Coraline, but emphasise that they thought it was in her best interests to live in a comfortable fake world than risk more danger by trying to find the real world. They show Coraline the button key. Coraline again begins frantically crying and running around the void in frustration. The void has multiple tiny doors. Eventually she does find the original door. She clambers through, and sees her house. It is abandoned, dusty, and her parents are nowhere to be found. She breaks the boards boarding up the front door. Coraline wonders how much time has passed. She fears the worst and goes to the local graveyard, only to discover the grave of her dead parents. She sobs as she is angry that the Other Mother took her life away from her. As she sobs, we hear a familiar voice. “Coraline? Is that you?” Coraline turns to see Wybe (the REAL Wybe). The conversation could be a heartfelt closure to the film, showing that Coraline’s life has not been completely torn apart. She sobs in Wybe’s arms, as Wybe admits that as a kid the Beldam did try to blackmail him into giving up Coraline to her, but he refused. The anxiety caused him to act awkward around her. The final moments see Coraline admitting “I love you Wybe!” mixed in with sobbing from both of them. Wybe replies “I love you too Coraline!” The film ends with the camera panning up to the sky, this time with no cloud hands in sight. The film fades to black and the credits roll. Curtain.
That would be fantastic, but I think it would have to be in two part because it would takeat least 2-3 hours to make it not seem rushed. I can picture part one ending in Coraline confronting her The beldam and part two pick up from there and showing the escape and maybe an epilogue where Coraline and wybie are old and decide to tell their kids the story and the kids could be like "yeah, sure that all happened" (in an unbelieving tone, basically implying that she made it all up).
@@TheFangirlWatcheshonestly i would say its supposed to represent the swirly clouds from the deleted scene showing how coraline is *_spiraling_* into madness
The “ideal breakfast” theory could explain Coraline drinking a mango smoothie despite being allergic. Maybe she really wanted to know what mango tastes like.
one of the things i see under discussed is why coraline is still trapped, and cannot get home, despite the appearances, and despite seeming to get a good ending. obviously, there is a lot of focus on the worlds as physical locations, but i think they work better as states of mind, and states of power between the characters. there are many examples of this movies showing that physical space does not matter a lot. So i thin k as a starting point, it is better to not focus on the exact locations as fixed paths. the main theme of the belle dame's powers and limitations is the idea of a fair (ish) game, or contract. thematically, the belle dame makes a initial offer to her: everything coraline wants from her parents, with no stated strings. Coraline is happy to accept this, eating the food, playing in the garden, ect. when she goes to sleep, it is a bit ambiguous if she returns to the real world or not- she has never acually decided to go back, but has not surrendered to belle dame either, so she at this point is in a state of mental limbo- both the real world and belle dame have power over her, though not total. then the offer comes- coraline gets to stay in the world, but she giver her should to belle dame in return. However, staying in the world is less about physically staying in the world, and partially about keeping the world's promise to coraline: loving, attentive parents, happy, entertaining neighbors, being the center of the universe, or at least a very important part of it. basically the wishyist wish fulfillment. In fact, if coraline did accept the offer, her soul would be very disappointed to find those implicit promises not being true, regardless of what exact wording the promises had, the context carries weight. more on this later. Coraline reject this deal, and returns home. because she has firmly rejected belle dames offer, she is able to see the world as it truly is, not as a mix of the real world and belle dame's influence. the most important detail is the bag of old groceries. First, they are old and moldy, indicating the time that has past since coraline has been fully in the real world. second- the bag is full, and not put away, meaning that as soon as the parents returned home, they left the bag there, and something else had their attention. the obvious course of action follows, and is almost what coraline assumes happened. her parents go looking for her, and knowing how obsessed she had been with the tiny door, they look there, and are capture by belle dame. however, the captured parents are not shown as having buttons on thier eyes, (other than the fake other father). Belle dame is still focused on capturing coraline, not the parents. coraline returns willingly to belle dame, and offers a game. coraline has to find 3 souls, and her parents, or coraline will have to sew buttons into her eyes. at this, she fails. she finds the 3 souls, and then runs out of time, before finding her parents. she confronts belle dame, and seemingly escapes, she seemingly returns to the real world. for the moment, ill skip over the battle with belle dames hand. this real world is almost identical thematically to the false one belle dame initially offered, with her parents happy and paying her attention, people using her real name, and while she is not at magical dream fantasy levels of wish fulfillment, she has the real world version of it. additionally, she had the wish fulfillment of a grand adventure, and defeating a evil creature, once and for all. now, by the rights of the game that coraline failed, coraline's soul should belong to belle dame. by the rights of belle dame's first offer to corlaine( which is literally still on the table), coraline could give up her soul and get her wishes fulfilled. now, the reason belle dam wants souls at all is that they fuel her power. though the souls are permanent, the power she gets from them is fading slowly, and she is dying. in a few cases, the power she has over souls is slipping so far as to allow souls and creatures under her creation to rebel aand harm bell dame. Why should this be the case, if a willingly given soul gives her power? Simply, because she broke her contract with those souls first. the three children, for example, were all promised a wish fulfillment dream world to stay in forever. once they gave over their souls, they were locked away and not cared for, just trapped there. thus, belle dame broke the contract with them, and the power she gained from it faded. in order to keep the power of a soul, she would have to keep her end of the deal as well. Thus, she gives coraline not only what coraline wants, but a real version of it. the main theme of the story and character arcs is to appreciate what you have, and enjoy the good in your world within the limits of reality, not to compare then to dreams and fantasies. on the one hand, you could simply apply this to coraline's apparent character arc, but i think it fits belle dame as well, viewed from a different perspective. coraline was told initially that she would have to give the souls back to the ghosts to restore them, but she does not do that at all. instead, it is the ghosts that come and find their souls, even though the door is locked shut, and the ghosts have never been able to escape the mirror before. the mirror cage itself must be capable of holding them in, as there were many times that belle dame could not have been constantly dragging them back into the cage every night. though this could have been broken when the house was being destroyed, i think it is possible that bell dame herself let them go on purpose. in doing so, she sent them to heaven, (it is heavily implied), which is as close to a wish fulfillment as a dead ghost can get. thus, her deal with the three children was fulfilled. however, she is still owed coralines soul, and does not have it. what does she have? coraline's parents, who willingly entered (to save coraline), and are now locked inside will belle dame. as we have seen, when someone enters her world, bell dame will make them an offer for their souls, and they can only truly leave by rejecting it. what would she offer to two parents desperately searching fo thier daughter? its not hard to imagine, and its not hard to believe that any parents would take a deal that lets their child live happily and safely. in fact, it may fit that they found the other ghost children, and made their release part of the deal as well. In addition, i can imagine adults adding a clause that ensures belle dame can never hurt coraline again. this is much in line with the finality to the destruction of her hand, along side the key. Thus, the parents sacrifice thier souls to save coraline. at this point, all the deals the belle dame has made are being honored, and she does not have to leave her world to find more food, as the souls she has are willingly given, and their contract is not broken, as long as coraline remains safe. the parents that remain in the real world do not have their souls, and are controlled by belle dame, and this sudden change of heart and memories is all designed to protect coraline as long as possible, to jeep the power of the deal intact, and bell dame fed and powerful as long as possible.
Yeah but why would Beldam's hand get all nervous if Coraline was ready to throw the key down the well when clearly the well was...Oh crap! I just realized something! I am now remembering a game I played in the 90s. "Super Mario 64" when Mario activates the ghost world from the music box out in the court yard. You got all of these rooms in the mansion and the only way to get into some rooms was to flip a switch or I think that's how it was. Maybe the Well was the real way home. I think it was the director that confirmed that the well was the Beldam's lair. Maybe going through the door was never the way because everything is "All over the place"
20:57 When I was a child I ate random things for breakfast and during my high school years I would eat salad for breakfast. Hot chocolate for breakfast is very relatable 😂
It’s stopmotion. Things like the radiator, the squid with the wrong ears, the ring of toadstools, and choosing references like a Van Gogh… They have to sculpt all of that. They have to move each of those pieces for hours and hours. They plan everything very carefully when they do a movie like this. Every single frame has been carefully deliberated and designed. That’s why stopmotion takes so long. They are incredibly meticulous about everything. Each piece is labeled and stored. Every single part of this movie is like an artist’s painting. If you watch some of the videos from the Coraline team, you’ll see how they store and label every single item. Putting other world items in Coraline’s real world - especially since they had just changed the set so much when Coraline fought the Beldam - is purposeful. They had to select very single thing in that room and put it there piece by piece. It’s not like a other movie sets where they are just flipping on a camera and recording. There is so much work that goes into these things- and usually a lot of love. They’re working with these props so much that someone would have noticed eventually that they had the wrong item. They would have redone the scene if that were the case - because Stopmotion takes so long that there isn’t really a rush to get it out. It’s truly an art form and artists are very intentional about these things. Even animation is easier than this since they used computers to simplify the process.. Films that have those kinds of continuity issues are not usually stopmotion.
@@rachelmr24 I work in stop motion. Despite the attention to detail and intention that goes into these productions, mistakes do still happen. You acknowldge how long these types of fiims take to make which is actually a reason *against* reshooting scenes if it can be helped. They still have deadlines to hit and reshooting footage is a timely and costly decision.
@@Alistuart Well, yeah, but in a show in like Coraline where there are tons of hidden details… Also, there’s a bunch of stuff that points towards something being wrong when Coraline returns and how she handles the situation. For example, there is a fairy ring around the well and evidence pointing towards the well going to the Other World. So throwing the key in there wouldn’t have actually helped. There’s tons of little details like this that people have questioned and the creators have stated that there is something up with the ending - telling everyone they hope we’ll figure it out. So a series of “continuity issues” where other world items keep showing up in the real world is actually kind of sus.
The doll is the watcher for the Beldame The squid is the watcher for the cat Mr slamming the door as he goes to another dimension- Mister- talks then doesn't talk, telling Coraline she is meat. The cat and the Beldame are playing with Coraline like cats with a mouse.
we do specifically see coraline take the doll with her when she sees the gloves that she wants…it seemed like an important detail, yet when she goes back to the other world she isn’t given the gloves…she IS given the gloves at the end by her ‘parents’ and her putting on only one glove could symbolize things never being quite right, like it feels wrong to just wear one glove or see her wearing one glove, so it’s not ~exactly~ correct
I was watching a video about the cat, and I came up with this theory, enjoy. What if the cat is a puppet? Before Coraline goes through the door the first time, it acts weird, but maybe its just a weird cat. But it doesn't "help" her until she goes through the door. The Beldam obviously know how to make real eyes. The Beldam would have used real eye on it to make Coraline think she had someone to trust and answer her questions. Coraline would never know the difference, because she couldn't talk to the cat before, therefore she could easily be deceived by the cat. If the beldam used Wybie, it wouldn't have worked, as Coraline would know something is off with him.
My theory is that Coraline never made it to the Pink Palace to begin with. She's been in Limbo ever since the wreck that put her mother in the neck brace.
And if you look close enough you can see that the rug in the living room is different too. In the real world it looks like a bug with wings but in the other world it looks like a spider
16:44 I heard this from another youtuber, but they noticed that she wears the star pattern each time she goes to the other world to give in the other mother. She only wears orange ONCE when going to the other world when shes going to confront the other mother [ not to mention orange and blue are complementary colors, Which means that they are opposite from each other on the color wheel.). So it could be a sign that coraline has gotten away from the other mother but not completely.
What if The Beldam isnt Limbo Mel? I do believe she programmed her to gaslight Coraline, but considering she was in the snow globe at the same time the Beldam was in the room and also since her hand got through the door. If she was Limbo Mel. Why couldn't she just get the key using her? She specifically used her actually hand
At least for me, it's less that I question it, and more that, the exact fact that there's so much conclusive evidence for it is kinda lame.. It halts all alternative speculation, and makes it hard to enjoy the movie for what it is. I'm still fascinated by the lengths this goes to which is why I keep watching these, but if you ask me if I like that this goes this deep, I don't think I do..
@spyro2002 I think the way to enjoy it despite it being pretty concrete at this point is to keep rewatching it and seeing if you can find anything that's not as conclusive. Especially because it sounds like the director wanted to keep it vague, and there are details that don't make 100% sense, like the radiator was the original size in one of the scenes later on. Before, I would have thought that was a mistake, but knowing that all the details are intentional, that makes me wonder why they would put that in the scene. I get what you mean though, just a suggestion of how to keep it interesting 😉
literally the ending alone is so much evidence…the garden still being a face, this time the beldam’s, and the kitty cat being able to magic portal himself to ~wherever he goes~
15:52 These things classically work with heat. After it's turned on the incandescent bulb creates enough heat to create an updraft that moves through fan blades that are part of the outer shell that's balanced on a pin point making it spin. It's not inconceivable that it took a while for it to heat up and start spinning.
Isnt it kind of funny when coraline asks for a mango milkshake, the three main colours of the milkshakes on the chandelier that we can see are of the colours pink, orange and green. And when we look at the button eye scene when other mother offers colours, she says pink(pink milkshake- pink represents compassion, nurturing and love), vermillion which is a type of orange-ish/red(vermillion represents prosperity, passion, danger and power) then chartreuse, a green colour(where green represent prosperity, freshness and rebirth. We also see these colours sprinkled throughout the movie, the green tights, the orange PJs, the vegetable colours, pumpkin being orange, the squash and pepper being green and the bleeding hearts are pink/red, the pink cake. These colours must represent the other mothers nature and motives.
What makes me agree with this while you did not mention it is the final scene where she's out gardening with the tulips. And then it goes to an overhead shot of the garden and the garden still looks like coraline.
13:41 this can be explained. The door was not only locked before Coraline moved here but also painted over, and the doll was at the (I don't know how to spell his name) Wybie's home in an old chest. So no little rat jumping mice could pass through and I imagine the journey to the Pink Palace would be a harsh one for a doll so it's easier to be taken there by the boy. And the Belle Dame needed the children to discover her world and believe it to be a wonderful paradise on their own so they need the key themselves so they can make the choice of coming back. And if she had the key during those times the kids probably wouldn't be able to open the door. Belle Dame needs them to be curious, she could unlock it from her side but it was not always nighttime that the children would want to go over there. Basically it was probably a way to make them more tempted to go of their own will and build more trust that this is just a paradise with nothing wrong.
I didn’t find the hot chocolate weird as I love chocolate’s and always had hot cocoa whenever I could including breakfast… I even would dip my buttered toast in it while drinking it 😂
14:15. In the books, the other mother's hand made it to the real world. Hence why there's still danger for Coraline. In the books, Coraline wraps the hand in layers and throws it down the well.
Here’s another thing. When coraline slept in her parent’s bed, she had her mother’s neck brace, but the mother entered the house already with it on. Unless she has two. Also as interesting as I find this, I think you have to remember that people make mistakes a might use the other world item instead of the correct one. And the movie to make is already very time consuming so I don’t think they’re going to take the time to make multiple different flashlights. Maybe the cat is trying to get her soul instead? Idk I think I need to look more into this theory.
the eyes are the windows to your soul~ thus the contract is written in thread, branded & sealed by the button. a symbol of her ownership & consumption, manipulation, & control over you also! the tapping of the eye, a reminder & ~encouragement~ towards making the big decision. if she can normalize it then she’s won. if anything, your theory about her making the angels also puts her in a more ‘reasonable’ light; given that she then would have fully explained the rules of the contract thru the ghosts, which i think is very good writing for an eldritch spider witch fairy haunted house story
The spiral on the ghost/angel girl's outfit is also repeated in a ring in her halo. Each of the three kids has a different design repeated in their halo.
The creator said she does make it out. They made it more suspenseful and scary for adults to assume the ending. Some say in the book she does. But the creator has said she makes it out. Or just google it.
For the van gough painting I believe he did starry night whilst also in a mental institution, so it make sense because Coraline is basically in her own prison but doesn’t know it
I'm curious what would have happened if the door got to Coraline because the door was locked, so it wouldn't be like the other mother could capture Coraline since the door was locked.
And also yk when wybie says if you look at the bottom of the well you see a sky full of stars ? And in the beginning the other mother creates the coraline doll, she releases it in a space full of stars. And also that same well has mushrooms surrounding it, i heard it is related to witch things and brings bad luck
a mushroom circle is called a faerie ring! it is said that if you step into one you could get stolen away into a different dimension. I think the well in the movie takes you into the other mother's dimension and she basically gave the key back to the other mother at the end when she threw it down the well 😭
For the dress design: In many forms of divination, the spiral represents life and rebirth, repetition, or repeating the same cycles again and again. The long line leading up to the spiral is almost shaped like a life line in palmistry, and starting from the waist and ending over the heart feels important. My reading on it: A life spent running (from the waist) aimlessly is ended prematurely, and now her likeness is used as a puppet to perpetuate the cycle, one that will continue to harm and emotionally destroy... Source: Divination has been my special interest since I was a kid, I just have a library of useless symbolism in my head now
6:41-6:45 which makes it scary….because when Coraline says “I missed you guys”….it’s basically her telling the Beldam “I missed you”……..With the Beldam basically coding “you missed me”….when saying “you missed us”.
I think the reason why she taps on her butt and I is because it's a reference to her always watching Coraline through buttons saying "I'm always watching"
15:14 It’s swirling like the yellow brick road but the kids are yellow and the swirl is dark. Maybe Coraline is on the red brick road, going away from her way back home?
Secondary meaning for the van Gogh painting part might be the lights in the painting represent hope in morning to get away from somewhere maybe symbolising the Coraline is still trapped in hopes to seek for a way out just a thought
I believe that she wasn't truly free until she threw the hand and rest of stuff into the well, cause the hand clouds release the moon meaning she has no control anymore, and the cat teleporting at the end into the other world is because it does still exist because Beldam is starving there, also i believe that the well is also a portal to the other world, maybe. Also the real world garden at the end has Beldam's face.
Oh, that, and, entering the otherword, makes time move faster in the real world, from Coraline's perspective. I forget, exactly, how I figured it out, but, I think it has something to do with her being close to the end of summer, close enough for school to be an issue her parents worry about. "But wouldn't her parents notice Coraline missing for more than a night?" Yes, and no. Her parents are so unbelievable absorbed in their work, that it's something near neglectful. I mean, justified, you have to work to afford to live somewhere, eat, and etc. And, I will give them the doubt, none of the benefit, that, they would have take a week or more to ACTUALLY notice. But, that's the thing. Her parents are, REALLY neglectful.
Just want to say I am so sorry for that video CZworld made about you and two other Coraline theorists on his channel.. dude is bitter as hell and he's the one that has some serious issues. Anyway thank you for making these. Have a good day 💜
Beldam tapping her eye is telling Coraline that "You have already seen it" and not elaborating. I think it's a clever hint that doesn't give too much away.
I did not initially notice that, but the mother at the end of the movie does have improved features! I think her teeth are a little better looking too!
A spiral Mark can mean a few different things for Summit can mean hope and for others it can mean a development in spiritual identity as well as be used in necromancy just thought that was interesting
I watched the movie like 7 times this week and I have a few reasons why I would think she didn’t leave Coraline and the other mother didn’t agree that if Coraline won the game she’d go free, she never shook coralines hand The dead children tell her “the bell dam will never let you go” The ending the face in the garden In the beginning when her family talk about gardening they kinda all agree they don’t enjoy it but when she’s back in the “real world” her parents and everything is at peace, wouldn’t the beldam make a better world if she thought she was gunna lose the girl? Her parents don’t remember being in the snowglobe (maybe they r really not there what if these people are like when the cat first catches the dancing mice and it turns to a rat, Idk and they only crushed the hand of the beldam, I think that leaves a open way for her to come back My biggest one is when Coraline first visits the other world, and she eventually tells the other mother and the other father that she wants to go to bed. She goes to bed and they watch over her by her bedside and turn back into the dolls. I feel like in that moment, the bell damnchanges reality little bit more to make it seem like she went back home during the time I have more ideas but I have to write them down and watch the movie a few more times
I think I the eye tapping means when she comes home and sees Mel that it wasn’t her mother. Saying she won the eyes and got away but can still see her without the buttons. Could it be ?
the swirly shepherds cane is similar to caroline's drawing on the fridge when she's in the kitchen with her real mother. Also if the key is gone to the other mother through the well, couldn't coraline just jump through the portal to get to the beldam's domain? if she were to find out she's in limbo AND if she's still young enough for the Beldam to value her life. also if the beldam didnt want coraline to come to her domain, why was her robotic arm so adamant to bring her back there? was it simply a fear factor thing? and wouldnt it have been easier to carry coraline through the tunnel if it leads directly to her as opposed to dragging her alllll the way back to the house through the door? Just kinda sus
1 thing For and 1 thing against. The thing I have against *this* theory is that the squid head is actually completely normal, its not cat ears squiads actually do have Fins on the side of their head and they are actually present on that first shot of the toy its just that's a sideway view so they all look like one point, but they are there. Now, However the thing for the idea I noticed is, when you talked about the changed radiator and windows, the door on the side is also different from the side by side, sooo unless the animators used a different wall and couldn't keep everything exactly 100% 1 to 1 then yah something definitely funky going on at that end.
Honestly, this is my theory on the squid. I think the squid resembles like she did defeated the other mother so she can keep it as a souvenir. That’s my theory, but I’m not sure. Also my other theory is that belldam locked her parents up in the snow globe so when they look at each other, the parents, they won’t see anything because I think she erased their memory and Coraline is the only one who sees that snow on them I think their memory was gone when the snow globe was broken
I know commenting on here is too late but o have two things to say. 1. Do you think Caroline would be the Beldam’s favorite child out of all the other children? 2. About the food in the other world too, is the food fake? Like of course it’s made from the Beldam’s power but it’s made out of that soul dust right?
They had the octopus toy from the real world, the difference is that it was alive and talking in the fake world All the Stuff is mirrored but the vodo dolls
The only thing i can think of is for the sweet ghost girls outfit is that it looks similar to the clouds coraline sees, maybe symbolizing shes in the clouds. We also see other strange clouds like the other mothers hands moving across the moon.
I'm extraordinarily late to the party, but frankly speaking the freaky looking shepherds cane on the girls shirt really reminds me a lot of christian mythos in general, there's stories about shepherds guiding their sheep and connections between jesus and bringing people to salvation. So I think it's pretty clear what the misshapen/"corrupted" shepherds cane really means in the context of Coraline not having escaped the other world.
As I think you did Not know when coriline meets the ghost children you see that there is a bed in the room and there is a hole in it that represents how the ghost children dies and the beldam left them in the bed to molt and die
Why would hot chocolate for breakfast be wierd? It's cold, you don't NORMALLY give children coffee and coffee shops do sell hot coacoa as an alternative for people who don't drink it. I grew up with both. Never thought to try hot coacoa as a breakfast item, but the logic is there. Also, chocolate is the only flavor of Slim Fast I ever drink and that's also another breakfast item.
Don’t forget that when Coraline goes beyond the border of the other world, a new other world is made… and she crawled through the door of that other world instead of the previous one. Yet she was back in the real world? I think that the door and the real world where fake
One specific detail that caught my eyes is that the designs on ghost kids angle rings are different shapes and patterns ? Could it mean sth or having any symbolic values ?
I just finished recording the audio and the file was over an hour (of course, a lot gets trimmed out with retakes and dead air space, but usually they're about 30 minute recordings!).
Think the mom always been rude so her not caring about the cuts theory needs to be thrown out cause she didn’t care when Carolina almost fell in the well these people just can’t accept a damn happy ending. And why would her mom care about cob webs or dirt when she just seen her daughter
ok so there are a few things I want to note as my head is full of Coraline thoughts and theories, 1: the pattern on the sweet ghost girl's top looks like the swirling pattern in the sky when Coraline first goes to the otherworld 2 I really don't know why the beldam taps her button eye HOWEVER there is a spider called the white lady spider that taps on the ground to send messages to other spiders this is interesting if the other mother really thinks of Caroline as her child also I just realized that La Llorona is often called the white lady. 3 the beldam has a lot of artwork in her house but I really can't get past the little blonde boy with the ice cream, was that her actual kid? before Caroline gets back to the "real world" for the last time the little boy in blue is in a different picture frame that's shaped like a spider !!! .
I think it's interesting, adding that the only plush that's different is the squid. This is also I believe the only plush that has a red/orange button as an eye..... still watching ?
I understood the tunnel looking different as the belldame no longer needing to make the tunnel enticing because the truth is out and with the parents being different at the end, I saw that as Coraline seeing life through a different lens and she now understands that it’s not all that bad
In the book, the tunnel wasn’t enticing at all, meaning the beldam probably had no control over it at all.
The book is quite different from the movie. Wybie doesnt exist in the book and instead of the Ghost Children’s items being eyes, it’s their souls.
In the book the tunnel is described as being its own creature. So the Beldam didn’t have any control over it
The tapping on the button eye mimics a ticking clock. So all the Belle Dame could be silently saying. "Hurry along now. Time is ticking."
I love that this movie still has people theorizing about it today, I enjoy these videos so much. Keep them coming
MEL NOTICES THE BROKEN GLOBE BUT NOT THE SHATTERED MIRROR?!?!?! she SHATTERED the glass mirror in the hallway. NONE OF HER PARENTS commented on that when they returned home, even though it is in DIRECT VISIBILTIY upon entry into the house.
I KNOW RIGHT!?
Man i gotta rewatch this
Not sure if you covered this already, but the Beldam has a lot more reach than she makes Coraline believe. If the door is the only way she can go in and out of her world, how did the doll get into Gramma's basement? It's a completely different house and different location. And the door to the other world was locked at the time. It proves that the Beldam has some control over things in the real world and other ways to transfer things in and out of her world. That, or it proves someone is working with her. If we follow the Beldam's logic (what she wants Coraline to believe) there would be no way she could have changed the Little Ghost girl doll into the Coraline doll. But she did. I think it just proves further your theory that Coraline never left the other world when she fell asleep. The Beldam never needed the door to change things in the real world, or else how in the world could she have got the doll back, changed it, and then sent it back into the real world? A doll that she somewhat controls. Plus who is to say it can't stand up and walk around like the mice/rats? The Beldam made a HUGE show that the door was the 'only' way she could escape her own world (I think she purposely scratched the door too, when she had the hand exit it, to further convince Coraline that's how the hand got out (because we know Coraline is going to investigate it) and, therefore, the only way). The more I watch this movie the more I realize how old and smart the Beldam is and how much she understands the psychology of her prey.
You're right, there is a lot uncovered in the movie, and it's really hard to answer those questions if you try to stick to the confines of the film. I definitely think that Wybie is connected to the Beldam, but the doll also seems to be able to move on it's own. Not to mention, the hand came through to the "real world" and was working just fine, so there is definitely a lot more reach and power than the Beldam is letting on.
@@TheFangirlWatches Love your theories, btw! Did you notice that the real mom has a crooked nose (when we see her in the beginning when we know she is 100% the real mom) but the mom at the end has a straight nose like the Beldam? Am I looking into that too much?
@@Rachel-bf1nm no everything is intentional
@@TheFangirlWatchesThe book shows that the rats both serve the Beldam for these cases as well as having their own motivations. They DO show them coming into the real world as the performing mice so that may be the hint. The rats put it in Wyby's attic. Since he doesn't exist in the book this aspect was added but the rata could still reach there, especially if they were in their true otherworld rat form. Both the book and movie hint tat there are more than rats as well. The book goes farther, infering an almost cosmic horror aspect woth them chanting about how they perpetually exist at the feet of all beings in charge since the beginning as those aroudb them rise and fall in sucession. They mass as one and act as more a unified primal entity of fear. In the movie they are closer to real rats when not in disguise, like the cat, but still have supernatural properties beyond the Belldam's magic. They are intellegent, sentient and can even talk to her when pretending to be the neighbor. Sadly there is a bit of plotholery caused by the changes in the transition. In the book , she ABSOLTULTY does make it home fir this period. It was too slow and miserable a scene jn a movie that already gut punches you hard though. Colerine doesn't stay there alone for like a day for more like a week or two. She does things on her own. Tries to call the police to be discarded as a prank call. She eats gross moldy food as no one is there to shop. The old ladies are of no help because they were supposed to get a ride into town from the parents for an outing they were looking foreward to and upon hearing they are gone, became preoccupied with complaining and getting there themselevs. She basically has a genuine vulnerable moment to remind us she is actually a kid in an unfamiliar and sparsely populated area. One thing the movie does a little bit of a poor job in is that. It doesn't make her a Mary sue but it does take away a bit kf that earned child character credibility they had. She just acts mostly like an action hero pretty quick after a brief cry. In the book she is TERRIFIED of going bakc but after essentially living in a purgatory in our real world does she gather the strength. Since they removed this aspect and gave the Pink Palace an odd supernaturally isolating quality during, your ecplaination works great. I think the end of your hypothesis is a bit wrong though. I either see it as one of two explainations or even a combination of the both. One is that she went to a fake room the first time but made it back the second. The house was not actually empty and less time went by than she thought. They parents actually did just get home in a sort of end to Jumanji way. I find this a little less plausible. The other is that the Beldam IS behind it but Mel is not her nor are they in the other world. She had them trapped in the snow globe. We know he magic by some means can make it into the real world. We also know she is a master of manipulation/perspective. I think the hid Coralines parents in plain site. I also feel when the spell was unraveling it caused the others to do so as well. Thats why the parents were freed by the evidence disappeared. It was all part of her spell to keep them trapped in an impossible facade. They were stripped of their memory of it but still hazy as a result. That's why they act a little out of character. Think of it Luke you had a super vivid dream then wake up a form it a coupke hours before you normally do. The memory if the dream is slipping away fast like snow melting off your shoulders but you are still half asleep and emotionally charged to that of the dream's atmosphere. You are feeling tired, dazed but also mabey confused or spacious but don't have an explaination behind thsoe feelings so they are half expressed in your behavior. Also keep in mind Coroline and her mom had a fight before this. She forgot the imprisonment so she is hazy but her last connection to Coroline was feeling cross at her outbursts. She WOULD still have a bit of an authoritarian attitude at the nonsense. The beldam wouldn't bother by this point, especially if she is behind the door screaming and sending her needlehand out on its own. No, this is the real world. I even think perhaps what we say between was a mix. It was the real world but put into a sort of spell bubble. This is why everything seems lifeless. Why her parents enter the house out of the snowglobe. Why the globe is still there. The globe was the spell so what if that's what it was doing. Putting a "globe" around the house to isolate it but the parents that were inside still are only within the representative version. Once the globe shattered and the spell broke, the house was no longer locked in a time freeze and her parents could just step in again with that detached period gone from their minds. Keep in mind that gaslighting means they have intent to fool her but there is no evidence they can actually see or remember the magic. You are jumping to conclusions by detials that don't prove it and its still conflicted by a lot. We know the Beldam can't hide her eyes and has limited magic abilities. She can't weave all this on a whim when her prior spell just unraveled. She is salsa still trapped and we have that confirmed. The world is far too extensive and real. Whybe'ezists as a threat to her intent here..no, sorry. You really want to make it work otherwise result bias but there is too much disproving she isn't back.
The cat mentions in the movie that there are other entrances to the "other world" and that the witch tries to keep him away form entering but he always finds a way. The cat states that he enters whenever he pleases but never comments on where those other doors/windows are.
0:33 I think that the tunnel changing is due to the Beldam's mood and/or the appearance that the Beldam wants to portray.
The first three times Coraline entered the tunnel the Beldam wanted Coraline to see the other world as a fun happy place. When Coraline was trying to escape by using the tunnel for the fourth and sixth times, the Beldam was angry and she was trying to scare Coraline. However, during the fifth time when Coraline was going back to save her parents, the Beldam wanted things to calm down a bit. When Coraline went through the tunnel, she wanted to calmly serve Coraline breakfast instead of scaring her away. Therefore, it makes sense why the Beldam would clean up the appearance of the tunnel when Coraline went to save her parents.
Also, when Mel opens the door there is a split second where I could see a dirt tunnel before I saw the bricks.
I don’t listen to a lot of film theories, but this one was just excellent. In all honesty, I think this possibility makes the film even scarier. Because it’s not about fighting the evil Beldam and knowing you’re trapped in her claws that makes it super terrifying, it’s fleeing into one of her cages and thinking that’s where you’ll find home. There’s nothing more disturbing than a “peaceful” ending that has every trick and distortion poking out.
A great sequel to Coraline would be if we saw Coraline as an adult and she had moved away from the Pink Palace. She moved away because the relationship between her and her parents deteriorated with time as Coraline was sure something was off. The constant gaslighting and arguments would’ve got to Coraline, eventually leading her to move away and try to distance herself from her traumatic childhood and her parents who beg her to stay to no avail. From there we could see Coraline discovering something that evidences her being in the limbo pink palace world. She could find a box of pictures of her before she found the Other World. One of these pictures could show the squid toy with the ORIGINAL design, making Coraline say something like “Hm, that’s odd.” Then she could find the actual squid toy in the box and realise that it doesn’t match the picture. As the film goes on we could see her digging deeper into the strange world she is living in. We could see Coraline’s mental state decline as she loses her grip on reality. I can see it now. The trailer starts off with the scene where she is looking through the box. The music starts off quiet and mysterious, eventually becoming more intense until a dramatic thud hits and Coraline screams in the moment of silence “WHAT IS HAPPENING!” with an echo effect. We could see her going back to the Pink Palace and demanding answers from her parents. Her supposed mother (who would be an elderly woman at this time) could be seen rocking back and forth in her rocking chair with her head to the floor. Her hair may be long to conceal her head and add to the suspense. Maybe her mother could say with a slight demonic tone “Coraline! You came back for us!” to finally make it click with the audience that Coraline isn’t safe. The quote would be a callback to the original where the Other Mother poses as Mel to trick Coraline when she comes back to the Other World. Maybe we could see the conversation devolve more into Coraline’s self realisation, admitting “You… You tricked me this whole time!” I’m thinking maybe the film should really lean into the psychological horror aspect compared to the first film to symbolise how this isn’t a game anymore. It could end with Coraline running out of the house in tears of depression and frustration as she runs back to the well. The Other Mother may summon her minions in the form of supposed random strangers who look like random people but are actually the Beldam’s puppets. Coraline races to remove the boulder blocking the well. She opens the well, and falls back. She wakes up in a strange white void, realising the well is just another portal. Except, this one is different. It doesn’t just go to the Other World, but acts as the central hub for all the different versions of the Other Worlds (including the limbo pink palace). We could see the return of the ghost kids, who admit they did trick Coraline, but emphasise that they thought it was in her best interests to live in a comfortable fake world than risk more danger by trying to find the real world. They show Coraline the button key. Coraline again begins frantically crying and running around the void in frustration. The void has multiple tiny doors. Eventually she does find the original door. She clambers through, and sees her house. It is abandoned, dusty, and her parents are nowhere to be found. She breaks the boards boarding up the front door. Coraline wonders how much time has passed. She fears the worst and goes to the local graveyard, only to discover the grave of her dead parents. She sobs as she is angry that the Other Mother took her life away from her. As she sobs, we hear a familiar voice. “Coraline? Is that you?” Coraline turns to see Wybe (the REAL Wybe). The conversation could be a heartfelt closure to the film, showing that Coraline’s life has not been completely torn apart. She sobs in Wybe’s arms, as Wybe admits that as a kid the Beldam did try to blackmail him into giving up Coraline to her, but he refused. The anxiety caused him to act awkward around her. The final moments see Coraline admitting “I love you Wybe!” mixed in with sobbing from both of them. Wybe replies “I love you too Coraline!” The film ends with the camera panning up to the sky, this time with no cloud hands in sight. The film fades to black and the credits roll. Curtain.
That would be fantastic, but I think it would have to be in two part because it would takeat least 2-3 hours to make it not seem rushed. I can picture part one ending in Coraline confronting her The beldam and part two pick up from there and showing the escape and maybe an epilogue where Coraline and wybie are old and decide to tell their kids the story and the kids could be like "yeah, sure that all happened" (in an unbelieving tone, basically implying that she made it all up).
Great sequel could definitely see it
*insert take my money meme* DUDE YOU'RE GOOD...take up writing a novel even a screenplay if u haven't already...that's your calling 🩷🩷🩷
Wouldn't the picture of the squid also be false? How would that have stayed with her?
No
To me the design on the dress looks like a curled cat tail. The black cat is somewhat connected to that family through Wybie.
Oooooh that is a really good observation!
@@TheFangirlWatcheshonestly i would say its supposed to represent the swirly clouds from the deleted scene showing how coraline is *_spiraling_* into madness
The “ideal breakfast” theory could explain Coraline drinking a mango smoothie despite being allergic. Maybe she really wanted to know what mango tastes like.
What? She isn't allergic to mango in the movie
one of the things i see under discussed is why coraline is still trapped, and cannot get home, despite the appearances, and despite seeming to get a good ending.
obviously, there is a lot of focus on the worlds as physical locations, but i think they work better as states of mind, and states of power between the characters.
there are many examples of this movies showing that physical space does not matter a lot. So i thin k as a starting point, it is better to not focus on the exact locations as fixed paths.
the main theme of the belle dame's powers and limitations is the idea of a fair (ish) game, or contract.
thematically, the belle dame makes a initial offer to her: everything coraline wants from her parents, with no stated strings. Coraline is happy to accept this, eating the food, playing in the garden, ect. when she goes to sleep, it is a bit ambiguous if she returns to the real world or not- she has never acually decided to go back, but has not surrendered to belle dame either, so she at this point is in a state of mental limbo- both the real world and belle dame have power over her, though not total.
then the offer comes- coraline gets to stay in the world, but she giver her should to belle dame in return. However, staying in the world is less about physically staying in the world, and partially about keeping the world's promise to coraline: loving, attentive parents, happy, entertaining neighbors, being the center of the universe, or at least a very important part of it. basically the wishyist wish fulfillment. In fact, if coraline did accept the offer, her soul would be very disappointed to find those implicit promises not being true, regardless of what exact wording the promises had, the context carries weight. more on this later.
Coraline reject this deal, and returns home. because she has firmly rejected belle dames offer, she is able to see the world as it truly is, not as a mix of the real world and belle dame's influence.
the most important detail is the bag of old groceries. First, they are old and moldy, indicating the time that has past since coraline has been fully in the real world. second- the bag is full, and not put away, meaning that as soon as the parents returned home, they left the bag there, and something else had their attention.
the obvious course of action follows, and is almost what coraline assumes happened. her parents go looking for her, and knowing how obsessed she had been with the tiny door, they look there, and are capture by belle dame. however, the captured parents are not shown as having buttons on thier eyes, (other than the fake other father). Belle dame is still focused on capturing coraline, not the parents.
coraline returns willingly to belle dame, and offers a game. coraline has to find 3 souls, and her parents, or coraline will have to sew buttons into her eyes. at this, she fails. she finds the 3 souls, and then runs out of time, before finding her parents. she confronts belle dame, and seemingly escapes, she seemingly returns to the real world. for the moment, ill skip over the battle with belle dames hand.
this real world is almost identical thematically to the false one belle dame initially offered, with her parents happy and paying her attention, people using her real name, and while she is not at magical dream fantasy levels of wish fulfillment, she has the real world version of it. additionally, she had the wish fulfillment of a grand adventure, and defeating a evil creature, once and for all.
now, by the rights of the game that coraline failed, coraline's soul should belong to belle dame. by the rights of belle dame's first offer to corlaine( which is literally still on the table), coraline could give up her soul and get her wishes fulfilled.
now, the reason belle dam wants souls at all is that they fuel her power. though the souls are permanent, the power she gets from them is fading slowly, and she is dying. in a few cases, the power she has over souls is slipping so far as to allow souls and creatures under her creation to rebel aand harm bell dame. Why should this be the case, if a willingly given soul gives her power? Simply, because she broke her contract with those souls first.
the three children, for example, were all promised a wish fulfillment dream world to stay in forever. once they gave over their souls, they were locked away and not cared for, just trapped there. thus, belle dame broke the contract with them, and the power she gained from it faded. in order to keep the power of a soul, she would have to keep her end of the deal as well.
Thus, she gives coraline not only what coraline wants, but a real version of it.
the main theme of the story and character arcs is to appreciate what you have, and enjoy the good in your world within the limits of reality, not to compare then to dreams and fantasies.
on the one hand, you could simply apply this to coraline's apparent character arc, but i think it fits belle dame as well, viewed from a different perspective.
coraline was told initially that she would have to give the souls back to the ghosts to restore them, but she does not do that at all. instead, it is the ghosts that come and find their souls, even though the door is locked shut, and the ghosts have never been able to escape the mirror before. the mirror cage itself must be capable of holding them in, as there were many times that belle dame could not have been constantly dragging them back into the cage every night. though this could have been broken when the house was being destroyed, i think it is possible that bell dame herself let them go on purpose. in doing so, she sent them to heaven, (it is heavily implied), which is as close to a wish fulfillment as a dead ghost can get. thus, her deal with the three children was fulfilled.
however, she is still owed coralines soul, and does not have it. what does she have? coraline's parents, who willingly entered (to save coraline), and are now locked inside will belle dame. as we have seen, when someone enters her world, bell dame will make them an offer for their souls, and they can only truly leave by rejecting it. what would she offer to two parents desperately searching fo thier daughter? its not hard to imagine, and its not hard to believe that any parents would take a deal that lets their child live happily and safely. in fact, it may fit that they found the other ghost children, and made their release part of the deal as well. In addition, i can imagine adults adding a clause that ensures belle dame can never hurt coraline again. this is much in line with the finality to the destruction of her hand, along side the key.
Thus, the parents sacrifice thier souls to save coraline. at this point, all the deals the belle dame has made are being honored, and she does not have to leave her world to find more food, as the souls she has are willingly given, and their contract is not broken, as long as coraline remains safe.
the parents that remain in the real world do not have their souls, and are controlled by belle dame, and this sudden change of heart and memories is all designed to protect coraline as long as possible, to jeep the power of the deal intact, and bell dame fed and powerful as long as possible.
The spiral on the little girls dress is the same as in the deleted scene where Coraline draws a spiral on a paper
I was going to comment this!!
I thought the spiral was a reference to the stary night scene we saw just before. But that idea is even better!
Yeah but why would Beldam's hand get all nervous if Coraline was ready to throw the key down the well when clearly the well was...Oh crap! I just realized something! I am now remembering a game I played in the 90s. "Super Mario 64" when Mario activates the ghost world from the music box out in the court yard. You got all of these rooms in the mansion and the only way to get into some rooms was to flip a switch or I think that's how it was. Maybe the Well was the real way home. I think it was the director that confirmed that the well was the Beldam's lair. Maybe going through the door was never the way because everything is "All over the place"
20:57 When I was a child I ate random things for breakfast and during my high school years I would eat salad for breakfast. Hot chocolate for breakfast is very relatable 😂
When she fell asleep in the other world and woke up in her “normal” bedroom, she was still trapped in the other…
Could the clothes we see in the tunnel possibly belong to the blue boy from the painting implying he was a victim of the bedlam
Bro, fr cuz we see a little boat
I think that is 100% the intent
It’s more than likely a continuity issue, which happens in a lot of films
Yeah they may say everything is intentional but there's still mistakes. Nothing can be a hundred percent intentional.
It’s stopmotion. Things like the radiator, the squid with the wrong ears, the ring of toadstools, and choosing references like a Van Gogh… They have to sculpt all of that. They have to move each of those pieces for hours and hours. They plan everything very carefully when they do a movie like this. Every single frame has been carefully deliberated and designed. That’s why stopmotion takes so long. They are incredibly meticulous about everything. Each piece is labeled and stored. Every single part of this movie is like an artist’s painting. If you watch some of the videos from the Coraline team, you’ll see how they store and label every single item. Putting other world items in Coraline’s real world - especially since they had just changed the set so much when Coraline fought the Beldam - is purposeful. They had to select very single thing in that room and put it there piece by piece.
It’s not like a other movie sets where they are just flipping on a camera and recording. There is so much work that goes into these things- and usually a lot of love. They’re working with these props so much that someone would have noticed eventually that they had the wrong item. They would have redone the scene if that were the case - because Stopmotion takes so long that there isn’t really a rush to get it out. It’s truly an art form and artists are very intentional about these things. Even animation is easier than this since they used computers to simplify the process..
Films that have those kinds of continuity issues are not usually stopmotion.
@@rachelmr24 I work in stop motion. Despite the attention to detail and intention that goes into these productions, mistakes do still happen. You acknowldge how long these types of fiims take to make which is actually a reason *against* reshooting scenes if it can be helped. They still have deadlines to hit and reshooting footage is a timely and costly decision.
@@Alistuart Well, yeah, but in a show in like Coraline where there are tons of hidden details…
Also, there’s a bunch of stuff that points towards something being wrong when Coraline returns and how she handles the situation. For example, there is a fairy ring around the well and evidence pointing towards the well going to the Other World. So throwing the key in there wouldn’t have actually helped. There’s tons of little details like this that people have questioned and the creators have stated that there is something up with the ending - telling everyone they hope we’ll figure it out.
So a series of “continuity issues” where other world items keep showing up in the real world is actually kind of sus.
@@rachelmr24 yeah I understand what you mean
The doll is the watcher for the Beldame
The squid is the watcher for the cat
Mr slamming the door as he goes to another dimension- Mister- talks then doesn't talk, telling Coraline she is meat.
The cat and the Beldame are playing with Coraline like cats with a mouse.
we do specifically see coraline take the doll with her when she sees the gloves that she wants…it seemed like an important detail, yet when she goes back to the other world she isn’t given the gloves…she IS given the gloves at the end by her ‘parents’ and her putting on only one glove could symbolize things never being quite right, like it feels wrong to just wear one glove or see her wearing one glove, so it’s not ~exactly~ correct
I was watching a video about the cat, and I came up with this theory, enjoy.
What if the cat is a puppet? Before Coraline goes through the door the first time, it acts weird, but maybe its just a weird cat. But it doesn't "help" her until she goes through the door. The Beldam obviously know how to make real eyes. The Beldam would have used real eye on it to make Coraline think she had someone to trust and answer her questions. Coraline would never know the difference, because she couldn't talk to the cat before, therefore she could easily be deceived by the cat. If the beldam used Wybie, it wouldn't have worked, as Coraline would know something is off with him.
Maybe the flamingo tree thing is like a moon-dial for the Other Mother? Helping her keep track of time? Or Coraline?
My theory is that Coraline never made it to the Pink Palace to begin with. She's been in Limbo ever since the wreck that put her mother in the neck brace.
That reminds me of Little Misfortune
And if you look close enough you can see that the rug in the living room is different too. In the real world it looks like a bug with wings but in the other world it looks like a spider
16:44 I heard this from another youtuber, but they noticed that she wears the star pattern each time she goes to the other world to give in the other mother. She only wears orange ONCE when going to the other world when shes going to confront the other mother [ not to mention orange and blue are complementary colors, Which means that they are opposite from each other on the color wheel.). So it could be a sign that coraline has gotten away from the other mother but not completely.
i feel like the tapping of the eye later refers to time running out just like the button covering the moon in the other world
What if The Beldam isnt Limbo Mel? I do believe she programmed her to gaslight Coraline, but considering she was in the snow globe at the same time the Beldam was in the room and also since her hand got through the door. If she was Limbo Mel. Why couldn't she just get the key using her? She specifically used her actually hand
Idk how anyone could continue to question the limbo pink palace theory. I feel like there is so much evidence for it!
At least for me, it's less that I question it, and more that, the exact fact that there's so much conclusive evidence for it is kinda lame.. It halts all alternative speculation, and makes it hard to enjoy the movie for what it is. I'm still fascinated by the lengths this goes to which is why I keep watching these, but if you ask me if I like that this goes this deep, I don't think I do..
@spyro2002 I think the way to enjoy it despite it being pretty concrete at this point is to keep rewatching it and seeing if you can find anything that's not as conclusive. Especially because it sounds like the director wanted to keep it vague, and there are details that don't make 100% sense, like the radiator was the original size in one of the scenes later on. Before, I would have thought that was a mistake, but knowing that all the details are intentional, that makes me wonder why they would put that in the scene. I get what you mean though, just a suggestion of how to keep it interesting 😉
literally the ending alone is so much evidence…the garden still being a face, this time the beldam’s, and the kitty cat being able to magic portal himself to ~wherever he goes~
15:52 These things classically work with heat. After it's turned on the incandescent bulb creates enough heat to create an updraft that moves through fan blades that are part of the outer shell that's balanced on a pin point making it spin. It's not inconceivable that it took a while for it to heat up and start spinning.
I may be late in saying this, but the fact the Beldam only uses flat buttons so she can saw x's into the eyes is so overkill, it's hilarious.
Isnt it kind of funny when coraline asks for a mango milkshake, the three main colours of the milkshakes on the chandelier that we can see are of the colours pink, orange and green. And when we look at the button eye scene when other mother offers colours, she says pink(pink milkshake- pink represents compassion, nurturing and love), vermillion which is a type of orange-ish/red(vermillion represents prosperity, passion, danger and power) then chartreuse, a green colour(where green represent prosperity, freshness and rebirth. We also see these colours sprinkled throughout the movie, the green tights, the orange PJs, the vegetable colours, pumpkin being orange, the squash and pepper being green and the bleeding hearts are pink/red, the pink cake. These colours must represent the other mothers nature and motives.
What makes me agree with this while you did not mention it is the final scene where she's out gardening with the tulips. And then it goes to an overhead shot of the garden and the garden still looks like coraline.
13:41 this can be explained. The door was not only locked before Coraline moved here but also painted over, and the doll was at the (I don't know how to spell his name) Wybie's home in an old chest. So no little rat jumping mice could pass through and I imagine the journey to the Pink Palace would be a harsh one for a doll so it's easier to be taken there by the boy. And the Belle Dame needed the children to discover her world and believe it to be a wonderful paradise on their own so they need the key themselves so they can make the choice of coming back. And if she had the key during those times the kids probably wouldn't be able to open the door. Belle Dame needs them to be curious, she could unlock it from her side but it was not always nighttime that the children would want to go over there. Basically it was probably a way to make them more tempted to go of their own will and build more trust that this is just a paradise with nothing wrong.
I didn’t find the hot chocolate weird as I love chocolate’s and always had hot cocoa whenever I could including breakfast… I even would dip my buttered toast in it while drinking it 😂
Haha, I used to do that 2!
14:15. In the books, the other mother's hand made it to the real world. Hence why there's still danger for Coraline. In the books, Coraline wraps the hand in layers and throws it down the well.
Here’s another thing. When coraline slept in her parent’s bed, she had her mother’s neck brace, but the mother entered the house already with it on. Unless she has two. Also as interesting as I find this, I think you have to remember that people make mistakes a might use the other world item instead of the correct one. And the movie to make is already very time consuming so I don’t think they’re going to take the time to make multiple different flashlights. Maybe the cat is trying to get her soul instead? Idk I think I need to look more into this theory.
the eyes are the windows to your soul~ thus the contract is written in thread, branded & sealed by the button. a symbol of her ownership & consumption, manipulation, & control over you
also! the tapping of the eye, a reminder & ~encouragement~ towards making the big decision. if she can normalize it then she’s won. if anything, your theory about her making the angels also puts her in a more ‘reasonable’ light; given that she then would have fully explained the rules of the contract thru the ghosts, which i think is very good writing for an eldritch spider witch fairy haunted house story
The spiral on the ghost/angel girl's outfit is also repeated in a ring in her halo. Each of the three kids has a different design repeated in their halo.
The tapping on the button eye to me from first thought was the sound of the snow globe.
The creator said she does make it out. They made it more suspenseful and scary for adults to assume the ending. Some say in the book she does. But the creator has said she makes it out. Or just google it.
For the van gough painting I believe he did starry night whilst also in a mental institution, so it make sense because Coraline is basically in her own prison but doesn’t know it
I'm curious what would have happened if the door got to Coraline because the door was locked, so it wouldn't be like the other mother could capture Coraline since the door was locked.
The Beldam is in disguise as Mel because she can shape shift into Mel that's what we see at the end of the movie
And also yk when wybie says if you look at the bottom of the well you see a sky full of stars ? And in the beginning the other mother creates the coraline doll, she releases it in a space full of stars. And also that same well has mushrooms surrounding it, i heard it is related to witch things and brings bad luck
a mushroom circle is called a faerie ring! it is said that if you step into one you could get stolen away into a different dimension. I think the well in the movie takes you into the other mother's dimension and she basically gave the key back to the other mother at the end when she threw it down the well 😭
Say it with me "Continuity errors"........
Henry (the producer) said that EVERYTHING in the film is but there intentionally
It's the radiator that convinces me
For the dress design: In many forms of divination, the spiral represents life and rebirth, repetition, or repeating the same cycles again and again. The long line leading up to the spiral is almost shaped like a life line in palmistry, and starting from the waist and ending over the heart feels important. My reading on it: A life spent running (from the waist) aimlessly is ended prematurely, and now her likeness is used as a puppet to perpetuate the cycle, one that will continue to harm and emotionally destroy...
Source: Divination has been my special interest since I was a kid, I just have a library of useless symbolism in my head now
In the book the tunnel is mentioned as its own entity with its own age.
What about the bug photo frame at 10:25?? So creepy!
6:41-6:45 which makes it scary….because when Coraline says “I missed you guys”….it’s basically her telling the Beldam “I missed you”……..With the Beldam basically coding “you missed me”….when saying “you missed us”.
I think the reason why she taps on her butt and I is because it's a reference to her always watching Coraline through buttons saying "I'm always watching"
15:14 It’s swirling like the yellow brick road but the kids are yellow and the swirl is dark.
Maybe Coraline is on the red brick road, going away from her way back home?
Secondary meaning for the van Gogh painting part might be the lights in the painting represent hope in morning to get away from somewhere maybe symbolising the Coraline is still trapped in hopes to seek for a way out just a thought
I believe that she wasn't truly free until she threw the hand and rest of stuff into the well, cause the hand clouds release the moon meaning she has no control anymore, and the cat teleporting at the end into the other world is because it does still exist because Beldam is starving there, also i believe that the well is also a portal to the other world, maybe. Also the real world garden at the end has Beldam's face.
I wish there would be more creepy animated movies like Coraline T_T
The little outfit with the swirl the one ghost kid is wearing, kinda looks like the tunnel
Oh, that, and, entering the otherword, makes time move faster in the real world, from Coraline's perspective.
I forget, exactly, how I figured it out, but, I think it has something to do with her being close to the end of summer, close enough for school to be an issue her parents worry about.
"But wouldn't her parents notice Coraline missing for more than a night?" Yes, and no. Her parents are so unbelievable absorbed in their work, that it's something near neglectful. I mean, justified, you have to work to afford to live somewhere, eat, and etc. And, I will give them the doubt, none of the benefit, that, they would have take a week or more to ACTUALLY notice. But, that's the thing. Her parents are, REALLY neglectful.
Just want to say I am so sorry for that video CZworld made about you and two other Coraline theorists on his channel.. dude is bitter as hell and he's the one that has some serious issues. Anyway thank you for making these. Have a good day 💜
Beldam tapping her eye is telling Coraline that "You have already seen it" and not elaborating. I think it's a clever hint that doesn't give too much away.
Personally , I don't believe you because I don't wanna believe you I wanna pretend it that she is happy And safe with her real family
10:11, it appears the mothers nose is now straight. it's crooked in reality, which would mean that is the other mother with the moon behind her.
I did not initially notice that, but the mother at the end of the movie does have improved features! I think her teeth are a little better looking too!
A spiral Mark can mean a few different things for Summit can mean hope and for others it can mean a development in spiritual identity as well as be used in necromancy just thought that was interesting
I watched the movie like 7 times this week and I have a few reasons why I would think she didn’t leave
Coraline and the other mother didn’t agree that if Coraline won the game she’d go free, she never shook coralines hand
The dead children tell her “the bell dam will never let you go”
The ending the face in the garden
In the beginning when her family talk about gardening they kinda all agree they don’t enjoy it but when she’s back in the “real world” her parents and everything is at peace, wouldn’t the beldam make a better world if she thought she was gunna lose the girl?
Her parents don’t remember being in the snowglobe (maybe they r really not there what if these people are like when the cat first catches the dancing mice and it turns to a rat,
Idk and they only crushed the hand of the beldam, I think that leaves a open way for her to come back
My biggest one is when Coraline first visits the other world, and she eventually tells the other mother and the other father that she wants to go to bed. She goes to bed and they watch over her by her bedside and turn back into the dolls. I feel like in that moment, the bell damnchanges reality little bit more to make it seem like she went back home during the time
I have more ideas but I have to write them down and watch the movie a few more times
20:45 hot chocolate and waffles is literally my average breakfast wdym (this isn't even a joke)
Why are there a couple shovels in the living room? They have a tool shed, and it's locked
I think I the eye tapping means when she comes home and sees Mel that it wasn’t her mother. Saying she won the eyes and got away but can still see her without the buttons. Could it be ?
Maybe her tapping her button eyes was the hint for her parents. Then she disappeared and water was tapping…
Maybe her mom didn’t wanna tell her where she was cause she was getting the gloves? I’m not sure but I love your theory
I made it to the end. Or did I? Maybe I'm still trapped in it.
omg this is my favorite comment! 😂
I think the spiral shapes are in general a reference to hypnotism suggesting that Coraline is in a fantasy land, not the real world
the swirly shepherds cane is similar to caroline's drawing on the fridge when she's in the kitchen with her real mother. Also if the key is gone to the other mother through the well, couldn't coraline just jump through the portal to get to the beldam's domain? if she were to find out she's in limbo AND if she's still young enough for the Beldam to value her life.
also if the beldam didnt want coraline to come to her domain, why was her robotic arm so adamant to bring her back there? was it simply a fear factor thing? and wouldnt it have been easier to carry coraline through the tunnel if it leads directly to her as opposed to dragging her alllll the way back to the house through the door? Just kinda sus
lol I used to have hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin/ Nutella on toast for breakfast every morning at one point
Did you notice how everyone from the 'other world' have button eyes, while everyone from the 'real' world have regular eyes?
1 thing For and 1 thing against. The thing I have against *this* theory is that the squid head is actually completely normal, its not cat ears squiads actually do have Fins on the side of their head and they are actually present on that first shot of the toy its just that's a sideway view so they all look like one point, but they are there. Now, However the thing for the idea I noticed is, when you talked about the changed radiator and windows, the door on the side is also different from the side by side, sooo unless the animators used a different wall and couldn't keep everything exactly 100% 1 to 1 then yah something definitely funky going on at that end.
Emergency room stitches are funny. They come from emergency room jokes.
Honestly, this is my theory on the squid. I think the squid resembles like she did defeated the other mother so she can keep it as a souvenir. That’s my theory, but I’m not sure. Also my other theory is that belldam locked her parents up in the snow globe so when they look at each other, the parents, they won’t see anything because I think she erased their memory and Coraline is the only one who sees that snow on them I think their memory was gone when the snow globe was broken
I know many children who, instead of breakfast, just drink chocolate
I know commenting on here is too late but o have two things to say.
1. Do you think Caroline would be the Beldam’s favorite child out of all the other children?
2. About the food in the other world too, is the food fake? Like of course it’s made from the Beldam’s power but it’s made out of that soul dust right?
I think most of these are just animation inconsistencies, respectfully 😊
I just commented on the last video about the tunnel. And you called it out That’s awesome.
They had the octopus toy from the real world, the difference is that it was alive and talking in the fake world
All the Stuff is mirrored but the vodo dolls
The only thing i can think of is for the sweet ghost girls outfit is that it looks similar to the clouds coraline sees, maybe symbolizing shes in the clouds. We also see other strange clouds like the other mothers hands moving across the moon.
I'm extraordinarily late to the party, but frankly speaking the freaky looking shepherds cane on the girls shirt really reminds me a lot of christian mythos in general, there's stories about shepherds guiding their sheep and connections between jesus and bringing people to salvation.
So I think it's pretty clear what the misshapen/"corrupted" shepherds cane really means in the context of Coraline not having escaped the other world.
As I think you did Not know when coriline meets the ghost children you see that there is a bed in the room and there is a hole in it that represents how the ghost children dies and the beldam left them in the bed to molt and die
Cat ears on a squid you mean squid flaps the things they use to angle themselves in the water
Why would hot chocolate for breakfast be wierd? It's cold, you don't NORMALLY give children coffee and coffee shops do sell hot coacoa as an alternative for people who don't drink it. I grew up with both. Never thought to try hot coacoa as a breakfast item, but the logic is there. Also, chocolate is the only flavor of Slim Fast I ever drink and that's also another breakfast item.
Don’t forget that when Coraline goes beyond the border of the other world, a new other world is made… and she crawled through the door of that other world instead of the previous one. Yet she was back in the real world? I think that the door and the real world where fake
One specific detail that caught my eyes is that the designs on ghost kids angle rings are different shapes and patterns ? Could it mean sth or having any symbolic values ?
The spiral on the ghost girls dress reminds me of a curled cats tail
Made it to the end 😇🫶🏼
I'm looking forward to watching your analysis of the ending scene 🥹
I just finished recording the audio and the file was over an hour (of course, a lot gets trimmed out with retakes and dead air space, but usually they're about 30 minute recordings!).
@@TheFangirlWatches MKe different content tbh like bttf or some tiher films fur yiur audience are getting pretty sick from the content you made
@@Tooraiser Can you speak English next time, I dont understand Yapanese.
mango MILKSHAKE! Sorry I felt the need.
The spiral is possible y there because the director of coraline worked on nightmare before Christmas
Yes both movies had the same director, BUT that director has said that nothing in Coraline is an accident.
Think the mom always been rude so her not caring about the cuts theory needs to be thrown out cause she didn’t care when Carolina almost fell in the well these people just can’t accept a damn happy ending. And why would her mom care about cob webs or dirt when she just seen her daughter
Love your stuff ❤❤❤❤❤
Oh no
Coraline breakdown- second last scene 35 😢
coffee shops sell hot chocolate. It’s not really that weird
I don’t believe the theory, but it’s an interesting one. Kinda reminds me of the no end house creepy pasta
I love this theory ❤
ok so there are a few things I want to note as my head is full of Coraline thoughts and theories,
1: the pattern on the sweet ghost girl's top looks like the swirling pattern in the sky when Coraline first goes to the otherworld
2 I really don't know why the beldam taps her button eye HOWEVER there is a spider called the white lady spider that taps on the ground to send messages to other spiders this is interesting if the other mother really thinks of Caroline as her child also I just realized that La Llorona is often called the white lady.
3 the beldam has a lot of artwork in her house but I really can't get past the little blonde boy with the ice cream, was that her actual kid? before Caroline gets back to the "real world" for the last time the little boy in blue is in a different picture frame that's shaped like a spider !!!
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I think it's interesting, adding that the only plush that's different is the squid. This is also I believe the only plush that has a red/orange button as an eye..... still watching ?