8 More Things You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘Coraline’: Easter Eggs

In addition to my original article “9 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘Coraline’,” here are eight more things that you probably looked over while watching this movie. For warning, some of them are a bit grim.

(Spoiler alert as well.)

1) The Dollar given to the moving guys at the beginning of the movie.

As aforementioned, the movers in the first scene depict the brothers, Joe and Jerome Ranft, who were famous for their animation work with Pixar. Once they were done with their work, Coralines mother hands them a dollar as a tip, with the famous picture of George Washington missing.

Who is this mysterious man on the dollar bill? It is none other than Henry Selick himself, director of Coraline, as well as The Nightmare Before Christmas, and James and the Giant Peach.

2) The Beetles

As we know, in one of the most creepy scenes of Coraline, where the other mother shows her true form, the furniture turns into different beetles as well as other creepy-crawly insects. She is also eating Coco Beetles from Zanzibar. It appears that beetles are the other mothers thing, because they show up in multiple other scenes. Firstly, in the very first scene where they turn an old doll into Coraline, you can see beetles on the side of the sewing machine that the other mother uses to sew the dolls yellow jacket.

Additionally, the wallpaper in the room where the little door is, you can see faint imagery of beetles scouring the walls in both the real world, and again in the other world.

Lastly, the windows in the same room make out an outline of a beetle, as well as the front door. This is not found in any other room in the house.

3) The Well

This Easter egg goes along with #8 from my previous article, “the importance of the well.” As stated before, Wybie tells Coraline that “Supposed to be so deep, that if you fell to the bottom and look up, you'll see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day.” We also deducted that it was a secret passage to the other world. Going along with this theory, in the other world, it is always nighttime. Additionally, there is always a sky full of stars, despite it always being foggy during the day in the real world. The sweater the other mother made for her also has stars all over it.

4) Reoccurring ‘firsts’

In both the real world, and the other world, Coraline goes to visit her dad in his office, Ms. Spink and Forcible, and Mr. Bobinsky. All of these happened twice, and Coraline enters the vicinities in the same way. First, when she goes to visit her father in his office, she places her hand in the middle of the door and pushes it open.

When she goes to visit Ms. Spink and Forcible, there is a curtain opened up to the “stage,” or destination of her visit.

Lastly, when she goes to visit Mr. B in the real world, she falls into the door while trying to deliver his packages. In the other world, her and Wybie fall in to the door to go and visit his famous jumping mouse circus.

5) Ms. Spink and Forcible

I have often wondered why Spink and Forcible live together, other than being road-show partners. They seem to have known each other for a long time, and currently share a life together. Well, it has been confirmed by writer Neil Gaiman, on Tumblr, that these ladies are in fact a couple.

6) The ring Coraline found in Spink and Forcible's ‘Wonder’

In the game that Coraline plays with the other mother in attempts to leave the other world, and save the lost children’s souls, she has to find the souls in each of the “wonders” that were made just for her. These being the garden, Spink and Forcible's show, and Mr. B’s circus.

For Spink and Forcible, she collects a ring, that the other Spink was wearing the whole time, even during their special performance for Coraline.

All of these lost souls were, in fact, ”hidden in plain sight."

7) The other father

In all of the interactions Coraline has with the other father, there is one thing that is always brought up- food. In the first scene, Coraline tells the other father that food is ready and he says “who’s starving, raise your hand?”

In the next scene, where they sit down to have a meal, the in the other father’s prayer, he thanks the other mothers food, then loads up his plate and then procedes to eat very fast, holding his corn and a spoon at the same time, where the other mother has nothing on her plate.

The next time Coraline sees her other father, they are in the garden that the other mother made for her, she tells him that she said the other mother sent her to tell him about “dinner- breakfast- food-,” and the next scene cuts to them sitting in the kitchen eating where he states “I love dinner breakfast food, and again, proceeds to load his plate with waffles, whereas the other mother has an empty plate again, feeding the flowers instead.

When Coraline is asked to stay forever, while walking to the dining room, the other father says they could sing and play games “and mother can cook your favorite meals.” Then they introduce the buttons, where Coraline decides to go to bed instead. Right after this, the other father asks “before dinner?”

All of these instances added up, it seems like the other father is sensitive to food of any kind, whereas the other mother does not need it at all. All this to say, the other father does not eat unless the other mother cooks for Coraline, and she does not eat because she feasts on the children themselves.

8) The other world

This one seems pretty obvious, but the juxtaposition and creativity behind it is very impressive. In the real world, the rooms are barren, and the colors are dull, which to the audience, is not very welcoming.

In the other world, the rooms are colorful, large, and full of life. This was done to make the other world seem more welcoming to Coraline, as well as us. Thus, even while the audience watches the movie for the first time, they want Coraline to stay in this other world.

I don't know about you, but I find this movie fascinating. Other than the fact that this is stop-motion, and it took thousands of hours and props to shoot, it just has so much thought put into it, even down to the smallest details.

If you haven’t read my previous article, 9 Things You Probably Didn't Know About 'Coraline', you can for some other reads on the movie Coraline.

And of course, make sure to watch Coraline.