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The other Father

In my opinion, the other father is the most interesting character in the Coraline world. He is presented differently in both the book and the film. For this reason, I have decided to break this post down into two parts, information from the book, and information from the film, As well as pooling it all together at the end.

In both the book and the film the other father is a creation of the other mother. Being put together in the film and moulded from something in the book. We will now dive into the details of what you need to know about the other father.

The film: In the film the other father is constantly controlled. The first time we meet him, while presenting exactly like Coralines real father, he is sat behind a piano. He then says "this piano plays me". Gloves and metal arms spring from the piano and begin to use the Fathers arms to play a song about Coraline. That's the first time we meet him and even then we can see he is being controlled.

Throughout the film we see hints of this, but the next big event is when things in the other world begin to fall apart. He seems lethargic and all around odd. However he then says that he mustn't talk when mother is away. Then as he goes onto try and explain what happened to Wybie, the piano grabs him and makes him stop.

Once everything has fallen apart the other fathers appearance changes. His normally slim body becomes round, and as we pay closer attention to him we can see that he has been made of vegetables, his body a pumpkin.

During the chase scene we hear him apologising and saying "Mother is making me." This is the all conclusive line that makes us able to come to the only conclusion that he may have his own consciousness but the extent of his actions aren't his and are in fact the other mothers.

The book: Much like the film the other father starts out pretty similarly, with those few key signs that he isn't really an individual, and rather just an extension of the beldam.

During the search of the house, that Coraline is backed into to find the missing ghost eyes, she comes across her other father in a hidden room. He is now a blob of nothingness with buttons where his eyes should have been, as well as being described as to smell like mouldy bread.

During the fight its made pretty clear to the reader that this isn't the other fathers intentions. He doesn't want to hurt Coraline but it seems he hasn't got any choice in what he is doing.

There is so much more information to pull from both the book an d the film but these are the main pieces of evidence anyone would need to know when looking at the other fathers ability to make his own choices, which makes up a big part of who, and what the other father actually is. In a different post we will look more into how the beldam controls her creations.

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The Other Mother

The origin of the Other Mother is never specifically stated in either the book or the film. It seems she has been luring children into the other world for many years. The little boy ghost uses phrases such as “art thou” which is old English, he also doesn’t remember his gender, saying he was often dressed in skirts. This could refer to the trend of breeches, which were skirt like garments that little boys often worse in the 1500s to 1800s, Due to his language and clothing we can guess he’s from the 1700s. He seems to be the other mothers first victim which could suggest this being her origin point. By the time she begins her pursuit of Coraline she has collected three souls all of which were residents of the pink palace/flat building. This suggests that she is tied to the flats. 

She is based on a mythical creature known as the beldam, which she is called by the ghost children. The Beldam is a spirit in an ugly and old woman's body. Sometimes she has the ability to change her shape. The Beldam started to hate foolish people increasingly because they have destroyed what she was trying to defend. Beldams are often known to lure children into their dens where they consume their souls in order to keep her alive. 

In Coraline’s case she is a copy of her mother, only better, she lacks the injury her real mother received from a car accident, she has a straight nose where her mothers is crooked and she is attentive and loving towards Coraline and the other father. However, once Coraline begins to disobey her and prefer her world over the other, the other mother began to grow taller and thinner. Her skin faded to a whiter colour and fingers grew long and spindly, like that of spiders. (We will be covering the bug theory very soon) Towards the end of the film during the final fight, the other mother took her true from as a spider, her arms and hands being made from needles. 

The beldam creates the other world as well as the other life forms in that world. However, saying that she creates all of that, isn't necessarily true. It is more subtle in the film but the book explains this concept in a little more detail. The other mother cannot create, she can only manipulate what she has. In the film this is shown with the doll, which is changed from the previous child to Coraline, when the black cat kills a circus mouse which morphs in its original form as a rat, and the other father who is made from pumpkins and other vegetables. In the book it is explained, which can be subtly seen in the film. The other mother uses sand to bring that which she manipulates to life. This sand is literally the life of the creatures in the other world. 

She manipulates the other world to be appealing to the child she is attempting to capture, using the dolls she creates to find out what the child wants most. The ghost child says, “She spied on our lives through the little doll's eyes”. She is an incredibly smart and manipulative character. And makes the perfect villain for a character like Coraline. 

Let me know what you think about the other mother! 

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Introduction

Hi there and welcome!

So this is about everything Coraline. I also have some other blogs which cover Little nightmares and Night in the woods. 

I figured the best thing to do here would be to lay down the basics before diving into the more in depth theories. Coraline is an absolute classic movie. While having some key differences from the novella it was based off of it manages to keep the same charm of Neil Gaimans original piece. During the course of exploring theories and ideas we will dive into both the book and the film as they are both hugely important to understanding both the worlds of Coraline. 

To begin with here we will touch on a few of the key characters. 

The main protagonist is Coraline. She is a young girl who prides herself on her adventurous nature.  (book and film)

Then we have her parents who are neglectful workaholics, they’ve just moved their family meaning Coraline has been moved away from her friends and is starting a new school.  (book and film)

One of the two friends Coraline seems to make at this new house is called Wybie. He is around Coralines age and lives with his grandma who is the Landlady of the Pink Palace. (only film)

The other friend would be the wise black cat, who, like Coraline has the ability to move between this world and the other world. In this world he is silent but still understands and interacts with Coraline. In the other world, however, he has the ability to talk. (film and book)

Then there is the other mother, or the beldam who we will discuss more in the next post. She is the main antagonist who rules the other world. 

On top of her we have the other father and all the other characters the other mother has created. We will also look more into that in other posts. 

If you like anything Coraline, I would recommend giving me a follow!