Symbolism in Coraline

Coraline is a dark fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman in 2002. Seven years later, Laika Studios and Henry Selick brought this haunting tale to life on the big screen in 2009. It was a critical and commercial success, with people – especially children – being scared of the imagery and the chilling storyline. To this day, Coraline still gets under people’s skin. But what makes this film so unique is its use of motifs. Many of the Easter eggs and hidden meanings reveal more about the Other World and the Beldam. In this article, we will unpick the motifs found in the book and the film.

Buttons

The button is the most prominent motif in Coraline. The shiny fabric buttons still haunt moviegoers and readers to this day. Although they’re disconcerting, the buttons are significant to many of the themes in Coraline. Buttons can signify uniformity since the buttons are identical. Buttons relate to clothing since they can represent restriction, which links to the ghost children’s trapped souls. Everyone in the Other World has button eyes, which makes the buttons a uniform, signifying the Beldam’s control over her creations.

Eyes

Eye motifs appear frequently in Coraline. The children’s eyes hold their souls, and the Beldam needs to cut their eyes out in order to consume their souls. In a sense, the loss of their eyes can symbolise castration, since eyes can signify dominance. In films, eyes can relate to intimacy, especially in sex scenes. When the Beldam captures the children, she takes their eyes and replaces them with buttons. In this sense, the plucking of the eyes may signify the opening of oneself to another. Then she buttons up the empty sockets, leaving the children trapped, empty shells. But why are the souls in the eyes? Eyes are windows to the soul. The eyes are expressive and reveal someone’s emotions. Without their eyes, the children become soulless, forgotten spirits.

The Key

Coraline uses a small black key to get in and out of the Other World. The key signifies secrecy; the door is hidden away from the public eye, behind some old wallpaper. The key can also signify the loss of security, since Coraline leaves her comfort zone and enters a new world out of newfound curiosity. But the Other World becomes a dangerous place, despite its whimsical ambience, because the Beldam’s true nature eventually surfaces near the end of the narrative. Due to the impotent barrier, the key opens the Pandora’s box and releases the Beldam’s carnage and malice. However, the key signifies Coraline’s control at the end of the narrative; she uses the key to lock the door, trapping the Beldam in the Other World.

The Snow Globe

The Beldam abducts Coraline’s real parents and keeps them in a snow globe during the climax. The snow globe symbolises restriction and imprisonment, since the parents are confined inside it. It can also represent the Other World, since it is a pocket universe that only the Beldam can control. The Other World is an enclosed space; when Coraline tries to run away, the Beldam seals off the Other World’s exits.

Food

Food is a key motif found in many children’s books. From the picnics in Enid Blyton’s stories to the extravagant feasts in Harry Potter, food is what provides characters comfort, especially in stressful situations. In Coraline, food is used against the young heroine. During her first night in the Other World, the Beldam cooks comfort food, from roast chicken and mashed potatoes to a giant celebration cake. The dining room chandelier even doubles as a milkshake dispenser! A psychoanalyst has argued that shared eating presents an idyllic picture of a family. This means that the Beldam makes the meals as a means of presenting them as the perfect family. Also, she cooks Coraline’s favourite food as a way of keeping her in the Other World.

Starry Night

Near the end of the film, Coraline encounters the ghost children in a dream. In the dream, the backdrop is of Starry Night, a famous oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. This painting consists of swirling clouds, shining stars and an odd combination of colours and thick brushstrokes. According to art historians, Van Gogh painted Starry Night during his stay at Arles mental hospital, after cutting off his ear. The landscape in the painting is based on his view from his window and was drawn in such a whimsical way to show how he may have desired freedom. But the symbolism is significant to the ghosts in Coraline; Art scholars argue that it’s supposed to represent isolation. The ghosts live in isolation after getting their souls snatched from them. In the book and the film, Coraline has to retrieve their souls in order to free them.

But what about the cypress tree in the painting? In classical antiquity, cypresses symbolise mourning and death because they fail to regenerate when cut back too severely. The tree could symbolise the ghosts who lost their lives to the Beldam. But this painting is not all about isolation, death and insanity. There may be some Biblical allusions in the painting. Many art historians believe that the eleven stars link to a verse in Genesis 37:9. “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, ‘Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.'” The eleven stars are a direct reference to 37:9 because Joseph has eleven brothers. Like Van Gogh, Joseph was a dreamer, which made him an outcast in the company of his brothers. Van Gogh may have identified with Joseph; while Van Gogh spent the remainder of his life in Arles asylum, Joseph underwent years of imprisonment and isolation in the Bible. But how does the Bible correlate with the ghosts in Coraline? Like Joseph, the ghosts experience years of imprisonment. They’re dreamers, waiting for someone to come and save them from their prison.

The Tunnel

Coraline travels through a tunnel to get to the Other World. At first, the tunnel takes the form of a luminescent play tunnel. This form is intentional since it’s supposed to entice her into entering the portal. Little does she know it ends up being a trap. During Coraline’s showdown with the Beldam, the book mentions the tunnel for the final time. The narrative voice describes the tunnel as dark, with damp, fleshy walls. The tunnel is now the gullet that takes Coraline to the belly of the beast. Its oesophageal appearance reflects the Beldam’s intentions of consuming Coraline’s soul.

The Well

The well is the tunnel’s dichotomy. Coraline uses the key to open the door to the Other World but throws the key down the well at the end of the book and film. The conflict ends at the well, a tunnel used to obtain water. In dreams, wells can symbolise how you can access the deepest area of the unconscious. According to Dreamsleep.net, the earth signifies the unconscious while the water signifies feelings. This may signify how the Beldam uses Coraline’s desires to her advantage.

Dolls

The Coraline doll only appears in the film. It is identical to the eponymous heroine, making it appear like a voodoo doll. It could signify the Beldam’s controlling, manipulative nature, and how she views people as objects that she can use until they outlive their usefulness. For example, she views the children as food sources instead of people. The doll could be a way of allowing the Beldam to get closer to Coraline. According to fan theories, the Beldam uses the doll’s button eyes to view Coraline’s world. This is the reason why Coraline finds the clothes she wants in the Other World.

Sewing

In her final form, the Beldam has long spidery appendages and a scrawny body. But what makes her appearance so unique is her needle-like limbs. She uses her needly fingers to stitch up the Coraline doll, making her a seamstress. This adds to her manipulative tendencies throughout the film (and the book too, of course); the Other World is a web of lies. Her sewing abilities can explain how she created the spider’s web near the climax.

Sand

Sand plays an important role in Coraline. Many of the Beldam’s creations are filled with sand, from the Coraline doll to the Other Bobinsky’s mice. Sand can symbolise how something exists briefly and how time passes. Humans and animals have only one insignificant life, in comparison to the ancient Beldam who has lived for generations. The sandcastle could link to how the Beldam can quickly recreate the world she sees through the doll’s button eyes. Since sand can be used to make things, this links with the Beldam’s controlling nature. She creates the whole world to suit the needs of her victim, until the illusion deteriorates when she reveals her true form. It shows how the Other World can be rebuilt to match the needs of the Beldam’s victims.

Beldam

Finally, we have the Beldam. Her name holds many connotations. In Old French, ‘bel’ means ‘beautiful’, like the word ‘belle’, while ‘dam’ means ‘woman’. Combined together, this can mean ‘beautiful grandmother’, alluding to the Beldam’s youthful appearance and old age. However, a beldam can also mean a frightening, ugly old woman. Other nouns associated with the word beldam include witch, crone and hag. These words closely link with the Beldam because she needs magic to survive in the Other World.