Coraline is one of my favorite movies of all time, especially during the fall season. However, this movie brought a lot of fear to some in their childhood. Personally, I never understood how people were creeped out by Coraline. Even as a child, I found Coraline more whimsical than scary or creepy. But after learning of the contents of the book, I realized it could be so much creepier.
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The Laika Studios movie Coraline portrays a story of a young girl named Coraline. Coraline’s world was busy and boring after moving to the “Pink Palace,” and her parents had little to no interest in her, as they were too busy with their work. She had three crazy neighbors: the former actresses Ms. Spink and Ms. Forcible, and the crazy old man Mr. Bobinsky, who had a mouse circus. She met a boy named Wyborne who gave her a replicated doll of her. Eventually, she was led into a little door behind the wallpaper, where she was shown a world of wonders made by her “other mother.” There were three attractions: the |
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theater show, the mouse circus, and the garden, all made to impress her. Her other mother offered for Coraline to stay with them if she sewed buttons into her eyes. Coraline refused. Eventually, she had to play a game to win back her parents, who had been stolen by the other mother (also known as the Beldam), and the souls of three children tricked by the Beldam. She ended up winning the game and fleeing back to the real world, where she threw the key to the small door down a well to never open the door again.
The Corridor
The movie depicts the tunnel to the other world as a bright and blue tunnel, enticing and wondrous only to turn dusty and gray at the end, breaking the facade of the other world. However, in the book, it is made clear that the tunnel itself is very much alive and aware. It was repeatedly noted that the corridor was like something “very old and very slow.” Every time Coraline goes through the tunnel, it changes depending on the situation, but it is always dark. When heading back to the real world after her first trip, she heard whispering voices and distant winds, and she “became certain that there was something in the dark behind her: something very old and very slow.” When heading back to the other world, the “something” was keeping pace with her rather than trailing behind. Finally, in the escape from the other world,
“It was an uphill run, and it seemed to her that it went on for a longer distance than anything could possibly go. The wall she was touching felt warm and yielding now, and, she realized, it felt as if it were covered in a fine downy fur. It moved, as if it were taking a breath. She snatched her hand away from it./ Winds howled in the dark./ She was scared she would bump into something, and she put out her hand for the wall once more. This time what she touched felt hot and wet, as if she had put her hand in somebody’s mouth, and she pulled it back with a small wail.”
It was also mentioned on the way back that the corridor was something older than the other mother, and it knew Coraline was there.
The Rats
In the movie, there are cute jumping mice who serve as minions of the other mother and companions of Mr. Bobinsky. Scenes of the mice show that they are creations of the other mother, puppets made of what seems to be sand. But in the book, they are rats, living and breathing:
“Fifty little red eyes stared back at her.
‘Hello,’ said Coraline. ‘Are you the rats?’
They came out from under the bed, blinking their eyes in the light. They had short, soot-black fur, little red eyes, pink paws like tiny hands, and pink, hairless tails like long, smooth worms.”
Not only this, but in the book, they could talk: There are three distinct rat songs throughout the book, each of which are mysterious.
The movie depicts the tunnel to the other world as a bright and blue tunnel, enticing and wondrous only to turn dusty and gray at the end, breaking the facade of the other world. However, in the book, it is made clear that the tunnel itself is very much alive and aware. It was repeatedly noted that the corridor was like something “very old and very slow.” Every time Coraline goes through the tunnel, it changes depending on the situation, but it is always dark. When heading back to the real world after her first trip, she heard whispering voices and distant winds, and she “became certain that there was something in the dark behind her: something very old and very slow.” When heading back to the other world, the “something” was keeping pace with her rather than trailing behind. Finally, in the escape from the other world,
“It was an uphill run, and it seemed to her that it went on for a longer distance than anything could possibly go. The wall she was touching felt warm and yielding now, and, she realized, it felt as if it were covered in a fine downy fur. It moved, as if it were taking a breath. She snatched her hand away from it./ Winds howled in the dark./ She was scared she would bump into something, and she put out her hand for the wall once more. This time what she touched felt hot and wet, as if she had put her hand in somebody’s mouth, and she pulled it back with a small wail.”
It was also mentioned on the way back that the corridor was something older than the other mother, and it knew Coraline was there.
The Rats
In the movie, there are cute jumping mice who serve as minions of the other mother and companions of Mr. Bobinsky. Scenes of the mice show that they are creations of the other mother, puppets made of what seems to be sand. But in the book, they are rats, living and breathing:
“Fifty little red eyes stared back at her.
‘Hello,’ said Coraline. ‘Are you the rats?’
They came out from under the bed, blinking their eyes in the light. They had short, soot-black fur, little red eyes, pink paws like tiny hands, and pink, hairless tails like long, smooth worms.”
Not only this, but in the book, they could talk: There are three distinct rat songs throughout the book, each of which are mysterious.
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“We are small but we are many We are many we are small We were here before you rose We will be here when you fall” |
“We have teeth and we have tails We have tails we have eyes We were here before you fell You will be here when we rise.” |
“We have eyes and we have nerveses We have tails we have teeth You’ll all get what you deserveses When we rise from underneath.” |
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The Other Mother and Her Creations The other mother and her creations are more perfect replicas of their real world counterparts in the movie. But in the book, there are imperfections about the other people that add to the creepiness factor overall. The other mother is described to look somewhat like Coraline’s mother, except she was taller and thinner, with paper white skin, and fingers that were sharp, too long, and never stopped moving. The other Mr.Bobinsky (Mr. Bobo or the creepy old man in the book) was always more chilling: “‘Hello Coraline,’ said the other old man upstairs. ‘I heard you were here. It is time for the rats to have their dinner. But you can come up with me, if you like, and watch them feed.’ There was something hungry in the old man’s button eyes that made Coraline feel uncomfortable. ‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m going outside to explore.’ The old man nodded, very slowly. Coraline could hear the rats whispering to each other, although she could not tell what they were saying.” |
The other people only got more creepy during Coraline’s game to win the souls and her parents: For example, during the game, the other mother sends Coraline to a trap in the empty flat of the pink palace. Instead of leading to a lost soul, the empty flat lead to a decaying other father:
“In that dim light, it took her several seconds to recognize it for what it was: the thing was pale and swollen like a grub, with thin, sticklike arms and feet. It had almost no features on its face, which had puffed and swollen like risen bread dough.The thing had two large black buttons where its eyes should have been….A mouth opened in the mouthless face, strands of pale stuff sticking to the lips, and a voice that no longer even faintly resembled her father’s whispered, ‘Coraline.’” And when talking about the other Miss. Spink and Miss. Forcible, it is said that they resembled “the younger versions of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, but twisted and squeezed together, like two lumps of wax that had melted and melded together into one ghastly thing.”
Dialogue
The language in the book is a lot more frightening than that of the movie, especially from the other mother. When talking with Coraline, there’s a lot of repetition of the phrase “forever and always” that comes from the other parents. This emphasizes the permanence of the fate Coraline would have if she chose to sew the buttons into her eyes. Also, when initiating the game, Coraline asks the other mother to swear on something, and the other mother says,
“‘I swear it,’ said the other mother. ‘I swear it on my own mother’s grave.’
‘Does she have a grave?’ asked Coraline.
‘Oh yes,’ said the other mother. ‘I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.’”
Also the decaying other father says this prior to attacking Coraline: “‘Run, child. Leave this place. She wants me to hurt you, to keep you here forever, so that you can never finish the game and she will win. She is pushing me so hard to hurt you. I cannot fight her.’”
“In that dim light, it took her several seconds to recognize it for what it was: the thing was pale and swollen like a grub, with thin, sticklike arms and feet. It had almost no features on its face, which had puffed and swollen like risen bread dough.The thing had two large black buttons where its eyes should have been….A mouth opened in the mouthless face, strands of pale stuff sticking to the lips, and a voice that no longer even faintly resembled her father’s whispered, ‘Coraline.’” And when talking about the other Miss. Spink and Miss. Forcible, it is said that they resembled “the younger versions of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, but twisted and squeezed together, like two lumps of wax that had melted and melded together into one ghastly thing.”
Dialogue
The language in the book is a lot more frightening than that of the movie, especially from the other mother. When talking with Coraline, there’s a lot of repetition of the phrase “forever and always” that comes from the other parents. This emphasizes the permanence of the fate Coraline would have if she chose to sew the buttons into her eyes. Also, when initiating the game, Coraline asks the other mother to swear on something, and the other mother says,
“‘I swear it,’ said the other mother. ‘I swear it on my own mother’s grave.’
‘Does she have a grave?’ asked Coraline.
‘Oh yes,’ said the other mother. ‘I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to crawl out, I put her back.’”
Also the decaying other father says this prior to attacking Coraline: “‘Run, child. Leave this place. She wants me to hurt you, to keep you here forever, so that you can never finish the game and she will win. She is pushing me so hard to hurt you. I cannot fight her.’”
The censorship of the movie, in comparison to the book, is not inherently bad. If anything, the movie makes the story more suitable for the audience it was intended for: children. The Coraline movie is a classic and I personally wouldn’t change it (other than the theater act). If the movie were creepier it would most likely be labeled as a horror movie. Would the movie benefit from extra creepiness, or is the whimsy part of Coraline’s charm?
Angel Cal
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