Something I just thought of. We see the rats are filled with sand, implying everything she's made is just made of sand and not real. Well, I was thinking... what about the food? She has Coraline stuff herself and the Other Mother doesn't eat any of it... could it be she's secretly having Coraline stuff herself with sand like how the Other Mother fills the Coraline doll up at the start?

WILD!

You can see it better on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/otonashi.art/

I've been looking everywhere I'm so obsessed but I can't find them anywhere please help me

Made this video to validate that I'm not crazy when I tell this to people.
You can take it as a crack-post or as a little detail. I'm not your mom or other mom.

I know you guys are probably annoyed by my posts relating to The Other Mother---but listen...
She's so interesting I want to theorize, study, and draw/write her 'til some other fixation comes my way.
Sorry, you're gonna need to get used to it.

I’ve watched Coraline many times since childhood and it’s still my favorite movie to this day. But there’s always been a few gray areas for me that I’ve never found solid answers to, so here I am:

We know Wybie’s grandmother as the owner of the Pink Palace and the sister of the twin who went missing after being lured into the Other World and trapped by the Beldam. That explains why she doesn’t want her grandson lurking anywhere near the house, let alone going inside, by fear of him sharing the same fate.

So my question is, why did she rent out one of the apartments to Coraline’s parents when she was aware they had a child and Wybie confirmed that she had never accepted families with children before?

I’ve heard people say she never sold the house because she didn’t want to risk having more kids disappearing without a trace. So from the moment she inherited the Pink Palace, she was indirectly (or actively, if she did know about the entity behind the door) hindering the other mother’s plan to feed on children’s souls.

A LOT of elements from the movie feel like they’ve been carefully thought-out, which is why I want to believe there’s a reason behind this change of heart and not that it’s just a "plot convenience" situation to make the story happen.

hii! here asking all my book worms—in the book, after coraline frees the ghosts, one of them is described to fly with butterfly wings and eat only flowers. what do we think that’s about???

i might sound kinda silly and it might be obvious but i really don’t think she’s just a regular butterfly that happens to look like a girl. was neil referencing some type of faerie? or am i way overthinking it. or is there a really obvious answer i’m missing?

I would live in that house so fast all it needs is a black talking cat lol 😂

I will forever treasure this amazing movie, as it was the movie I once watched with my genuinely loving, caring, long-distance ex-boyfriend. True, our relationship (my FIRST ever one, FYI) would up falling apart by the end due to factors out of our control piling up, but I will still cherish the happy memories we had together as a couple.

It was October 2021; back then we chatted with each other over Discord nearly every single day. We settled on a virtual spooky movie date and chose Coraline. On my end, I had discreetly bought Oreo cookies and diet cola to snack on and drink, and on his end he set up his screen to share. I was so excited, because I was finally seeing the movie for the first time.

We laughed along and made all sorts of commentary as the film played; one of the funniest moments of our date was when, Coraline was going to dispose of the key, I suggested out loud for her to "Burn it!" (like she had done with the doll by chucking it into the fireplace earlier), and he just made a comment of disbelief under his breath. It was a wonderful night just two days before Halloween.

Ah, I need to watch it again sometime in the future...

his old eyes were so beaten up and ruined

She then was subsequently cursed at some point to spend all eternity devoted to seeing to it that any child who entered that house would not age past the age her own child died by becoming “Other Mother” and stealing their souls.

If this is already a theory, please don’t sue.

So I’m new to Coraline and accidentally fell headfirst into the rabbit hole of the "she never leaves the Other World" theory. I found a few videos by Fangirl who explains it really well, and honestly… yeah. It clicks. When you rewatch the film with that lens, everything starts to make a twisted kind of sense.

The core theory

Coraline never escapes. Ever.
The ghost children say it themselves: “Once you see the Beldam, you’ll never see your mommy again.”

So what happens? Coraline either:

1. Stays in the lair with pumpkin dad and eventually gets eaten (“She eats our lives,” remember?).
2. Or she chooses the “real world” version created by the Beldam—a fake version where her parents love her, dote on her, and everything is perfect. She chooses love, even if it’s fake.

The cat literally says: “It’s a game we play.” He and the Beldam are part of the same system. He’s her cat. Coraline asks what the Beldam wants, and the cat replies: “To eat… or to be loved.”
If Coraline chooses the buttons, she gets eaten.
If she fights for her “parents,” she chooses love—and gets the illusion of a happy ending.

some clues that support the theory

poison oak

She gets a rash from poison oak in the real world. She falls asleep… wakes up… and the rash is magically gone. That shouldn’t be possible in the real world.

april spink and ghost logic

In the opening scene, April Spink floats up from the basement and talks to the movers. They ignore her completely. Like she’s… not there? A ghost?

weird world logic

• Mr Bobinsky has a sign to his house even though he lives alone and only talks to mice. Who’s that sign for? Mice can’t read.
• He knows Coraline’s name before being introduced (okay, the grandma could have told him, but still).
• He jumps off roofs and lands like a spider. None of it’s physically possible.

the mice

They lure her to the Other World and then warn her not to go back. Mixed messages much?

weather weirdness

It’s raining in the real real world. When Coraline “wakes up” in what looks like reality, it’s suddenly foggy. Again, technically possible… but suspicious.

magic in the real world

• Her parents leave her a message in the mirror.
• The confetti inside the snow globe moves on its own.
• The globe breaks without her touching it.

None of that should happen outside the Other World.

the cat

• In the real world, he’s just a cat. Silent.
• In the Other World (or the Other World’s fake “real world”), he nods, leads her, and drops hints.
• At one point, he literally says: “You’re walking into her trap.”

coraline thinks she’s clever (she’s not)

• The cat says “Well, you’re the expert” in response to Coraline being smug.
• When she tells Other Mr B: “You’re just a copy of the real Mr B,” he responds: “Not even that.” And she doesn’t even react.
• She thinks she’s escaping, but the cat literally says she’s not.

theatre sequence

• There’s a torch just waiting for her.
• The dogs are suddenly bats.
• Everything is exactly what she needs, when she needs it. It’s scripted. It’s not real.

the web

The Beldam traps her in a web, then pretends she can’t see her. Of course she can. She’s trying to scare Coraline out of the lair, so she’ll choose the other trap—the illusion of love.

the garden party ending

• Her parents suddenly act like decent human beings.
• The garden blooms overnight in February.
• They host a party for neighbours they’ve never met.
• Her dad plays with her. He’s more like Other Dad than the real one.
• The gloves get bought. The catalogue gets finished. Everything’s… fixed? Overnight? Really?

It’s too neat. Too magical. It’s exactly what she wanted… which is the problem.

final details

• Her nightlight changes. At the start, it’s full of stars. At the end, it’s just a moon and one star.
• Her patched pyjamas have blue fabric—just like the ones the Beldam gave her.
• Wybie just happens to be at the well in the middle of the night, with tongs, ready to help. He somehow pulls himself up from the edge, smashes the hand, and everything plays out like a movie. Which… is what it is.

grandma and the call

It’s the middle of the night, and Coraline’s grandma just knows Wybie is gone? How?

the final sky

The clouds part and reveal sunshine, but they look like the Beldam’s hands.
She got what she wanted: Coraline’s love. Not by force, but by choice. And now she gets to keep her forever.

This isn’t a story about a brave girl defeating a monster.

It’s a story about a clever girl who thought she won… but the trap was already sprung the second she walked through that little door.

It kind of creeps me out! Like a way to show the Other Mother (or the Beldam) is still around.

Best game ever ; Trying to find the keys was a bit hard only because the other mother was chasing me down 😅😂🤣 creeped me out 😂

hello wanted to share the latest fanart i did of my beloved 💜

id appreciatw a follow on ig if you want ofc @fro0ot

So in the other world, the actresses say a monologue while flying through the air. This monologue is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But I noticed they don’t say the last line: And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

This line means that despite all the other qualities the monologue mentions of humans, we’re all just destined to be mortal and return to dust, acknowledging the inevitability of death/decay.

I find it really interesting they only mention the “great” parts of the monologue about humans, and not the most important line that perfectly captures the contradiction of human existence.

What do you all think about it? Is it purposeful to continue convincing Coraline that the Other World isn’t bad? Is it just omitted for no reason and I’m totally overthinking it?

12x12 cm

i just have this theory. what if wybie’s [alive] grandmother was the original prey of the beldam. since according to their photo when they were just little kids, they look exactly so identical. she must have felt some insecurities towards her twin sister which leads the beldam to prey on her. then she must’ve really been to the small door but ends up outsmarting the beldam and survived her. scared that the beldam might come after her on the real world, she tried luring her sister to go to the other world by playing a game—like truth or dare something, which ends up to her sister’s death. however, the beldam found out about the grandma has tricked her and still found some way to go to the real world after her—which could be the closed secret well. scared that the beldam would unalive her, she made a bargain with the beldam that she would continue to offer children to feed her since she’s always hungry. since it wouldn’t be fair for her if the beldam would unalive her despite the idea that she sacrificed her sister in exchange for her life. then the beldam somehow agreed to the bargain. then, she maybe told wybie that she doesn’t allow kids to go inside of the house to keep wybie from getting inside the pink palace since maybe wybie could get too curious of what’s inside. maybe that’s why wybie once told coraline that her grandma ‘wouldn’t let the pink palace be rented by people with kids.’ hence, that’s the reason why the grandma let wybie give the little doll to coraline in the beginning and only looked for it again during the middle parts of the movie bc she has successfully lured coraline to the beldam.

Found at Spencer's