What do keys symbolize in Coraline?

In this way, the key seems to represent the other world: old and ugly. Usually when we think of keys, we think of unlocking something or opening something up. Coraline certainly does this when she finds the other world. But if keys can unlock, they can also lock you in.
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What are the symbols in Coraline?

Perhaps the most iconic symbol from Neil Gaiman's Coraline are the large, shiny black buttons which the other mother—and all the creatures she's created to populate her parallel world—wear instead of eyes.
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Why did they use buttons in Coraline?

Coraline can't tell if her other parents are watching her and she can't get any clues through their eyes as to what they're thinking. Because we see so much through people's eyes, these buttons hide the humanness of the people wearing them (if they're even human at all), preventing us from really knowing a person.
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Why did the other mother sew buttons?

It is said that the eyes are the window to ones soul. So by the Other Mother taking the childrens eyes and sewing buttons there instead is a way for her to keep their souls with her and therefore trapped in the other world.
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What does the rats symbolize in Coraline?

Shortly after moving into her new house, Coraline can hear them singing at night—their song is an ominous one, and its lyrics suggest that the rats are an eternal, immortal presence waiting for the “fall” of the real world, humanity, or both.
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30 Things You Missed in Coraline (2009)



Why is Coraline's hair blue?

In the movie Coraline, when Coraline is getting ready to go to bed after not finding her parents there's an old photo that shows her with natural brown hair. This probably means she at one point dyed it to her iconic blue hair.
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Why does the beldam want eyes?

The button eyes were the objects used by the beldam to tie one's soul to the other world.
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Is Coraline 2 coming out?

Due to Coraline's massive success in both the Academy and theatrical arena, it naturally made fans assume there would eventually be a sequel at some point. Unfortunately, it looks as though the likelihood of a sequel ever happening has been shut down by Gaiman.
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What does the cat disappearing at the end of Coraline mean?

He demonstrates the ability to appear and disappear on a whim, often to hide from danger or to help Coraline from danger.
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Why does wybie tilt his head?

In response to sounds around him Wybie tilts his head to the side, giving the impression that he is constantly in a state of being startled, since most people do not react with so much motion to common sounds.
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Why does Coraline's mom have a neck brace?

Mr. Bobinsky, an eccentric Russian man with a circus of dancing mice, has blue skin, the result of contamination from the Chernobyl disaster. Coraline's mother wears a neck brace for the duration of the film, the victim of an unseen car accident.
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Why does the other mother tap her fingers?

After Coraline had told her real mother it was the perfect time to go gardening in the rain (which she only said to have something to say), the other mother made her first mistake by suggesting to play in the rain. Coraline noticed her tapping her fingers on the table, which she had found rather awfully suspicious.
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Is the cat in Coraline the villain?

There is something far more ancient, evil and hungry out there than the Beldam. And Coraline doesn't even realize that she has been tricked and manipulated into believing that this being is her "friend" and just a regular "cat". The truth is, she's just the next conduit of nutrients to this demon and nothing else.
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Is the Beldam a human?

In the novel, the Beldam was implied to be a former human, who somehow became a demonic fae-like creature later on, presumably after death. She hints this to Coraline when she recounts how she buried her own mother alive in a grave as a child.
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Is Coraline about death?

Coraline is the story of a little girl who can't accept the death of her parents.
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Why is bobinsky blue in Coraline?

Mr. Bobinsky is a blue-skinned, extremely tall, Russian man; while not explained in the film, his blue skin is due to his constant time outside in the damp and cold weather.
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Is the Beldam still alive?

So, Coraline didn't make it out of the Rat Beast limbo world. But she was able to get away from the Other Mother. Without Coraline, the beldam died.
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What mental illness does Coraline have?

Coraline's behavior is consistent with a psychotic-dissociative cluster as evidenced by her experiencing an alternate universe as well as incorporating fixed beliefs. As these are critical parts of the plot, it is best to formulate Coraline's behavior along a psychotic-dissociative spectrum.
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What happened Coralines doll?

When Coraline asked him how it happened, the cat showed her the doll. It was remade to resemble her parents, as a message that the Other Mother stole them to taunt Coraline. Coraline was angry and burned the doll in the fireplace, destroying it.
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Where did the Beldam come from?

The Legend Of The Beldam, AKA 'Witch,' Dates Back To The 17th Century. The nightmare-inducing Other Mother in Coraline is based on a 17th-century horror mainstay in Eastern Europe named the Beldam - literally meaning ugly, old witch.
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Why did wybie's grandma have the doll?

Even when her twin sister went missing, Mrs. Lovat kept the doll that used to belong to her sister in a trunk, perhaps for sentimental purposes. The doll, which used to look like her sister, was altered by the Beldam to look like Coraline, as seen in the beginning of the film.
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