Coraline: The Other Mother's Weird Origins

Check out my Coraline Other Mother ASMR on my second channel! https://youtu.be/T7Rk_EkBc0g

In Italian, the word „Beldam" was translated as "Megera" and in German as "Vettel". Both words are, like the modern usage of "Beldam", used as insults against older, uglier or unpleasant women.

Apparently there's evidence for being attracted to eyes that look large, which is the sort of effect belladonna eyedrops would cause. (you have no idea how happy I was to see this referenced because I got to finally share something I learned in an intro to psychology course)

I remember years ago, someone made a comparison with a Chinese mythical creature that was a half-spider, half-woman. She would lure children away to eat them. I think Coraline's Beldam may have gotten inspiration from multiple sources with similarities.

Belladonna is still used in pharmacology. Combined with phenobarbitol, it's pretty effective at relieving gastrointestinal spasms. I had never heard of such a thing until my doctor gave me a scrip for a stomach problem. I think it's the gothest medicine I have ever been prescribed.

There's a bit in the movie Coraline that litterally NOBODY talks about!! The third time Coraline goes to the Other Mothers house, when she's crawing through the door there's a shot of the whole room. If you look at the third/biggest window you can see a figure walking past the window. This figure looks like Coraline in the clothes the Other Mother gives her (the ones with the stars) But this "Coraline" walking past the window has button eyes honestly it scared the hell out of me and my cousin when we first saw it xD

My school recently had an original play of Coraline, written and directed by one of the drama teachers. There were a couple of adaptations used to allow the play to run smoother on stage with a limited budget, but one that wasn’t necessary but was interesting to me was the final birthday scene for Coraline, where it’s just her and her mother left onstage. Coraline comments on how much she loves her mom and how most kids don’t realize how lucky they are. During the part, Coraline is facing the audience, hugging her mother, while her mother is facing away from the audience. As the mother says her line, “no Coraline, they don’t, they really don’t” she turns around so that she is now facing the audience, though now she has the button eyes of the Beldam.

hi! i'm from romania, and muma pădurii (in translation-forest's old woman/grandma) is basically a spirit that can take a human form. it's told that she's omnipresent in forests and some parents scare their children by saying that if they don't do what they're supposed to do, muma pădurii will come and take them away (not good parenting, but that's besides the point). the similarities between her and the beldam are pretty remarkable. the way they take kids if they don't behave, the fact that they can change their appearance etc. i never heard of that girl of hers, but that's really interesting.

I can easily see Keats' poem being a massive inspiration for Gaiman. He is very educated and well read, often utilizing older literature for retelling. Just look at his novel, The Graveyard Book. The same goes to his usage and description of the Faire Folk. He doesn't always present them with kindness, but instead shows that they are a wild breed that can be both friend and foe.

Interestingly one sideffect of Belladonna you mentioned was blindness. The Beldam in the movie when revealing her spider web had no eyes, and relied on Coraline moving a web string to know where she was.

You should do something on all of the Studio Ghibli movies if you haven’t already! I’ve seen your video on Howl’s Moving Castle and that was really good! :)

I think the fact that you can't pinpoint her is what would make her scary. We humans fear the unknown

The funniest thing is that a lot of the accused “witches” back in the day were actually midwives, and blamed for children and women dying in childbirth (when it was really the mostly male church wanting to invade a primarily matriarchal space, but lacking the knowledge passed from mother to daughter, midwife to midwife.). So it makes sense that a witchy character’s title of beldam would be associated with a bewitching beautiful young woman who uses her wiles to manipulate people, and an old bitter crone who uses her knowledge to attain power or control, especially when the younger witch is associated with manipulating and luring men, and the older beldam is associated with luring and manipulating children. It covers the two main blames we associate with witches (that didn’t involve real world issues of the time like crops dying, women owning property or being unmarried, or political issues); manipulating men, and harming children. Just like midwives and their “feminine powers”; the young mother luring a well to do man with her charms and wild eyes to become pregnant and then for the two to be locked into wedlock, and therefore she gets the status and money from it, and the older woman using her knowledge of people’s desires and weaknesses and applying them, leaving her to revel in their pain when their child is replaced by a changeling.

The other mother is one of the scariest cartoon characters of all time. Please do a video on the cat and the three children

I think she goes after children specifically because they're much more naive and their wariness and fear is much easier to melt with the promise of fun.

i've got a question: when coraline gets into the other world, the other mother prepares food, right? But where does she get it? Is it even real or is it just an illusion like the other world? And if it isn't real food, what is coraline eating? (if you think about it, it's actually creepy) also i love your videos they are making my day better and creepier at the same time ;>

I've associated the word Beldam with a witch for at least 15 years, and I can't recall why. I've only read American Gods and Sandman, but at least in those, Gaiman bases the important folklore-ish characters on something specific that he's researched rather than a vague amalgamation of things he's been exposed to throughout his life. I always saw the Beldam as a sort of hag-like Hansel and Gretel thing, but that story with the knight seems just like the sort of thing Gaiman would use as inspiration.

One thing I will always remember is that when I first read the book 13ish years ago, I initially misread "Beldam" as "Bedlam". It added a subtle almost Lovecraftian feel to the character until I caught my mistake.

A fairy witch. Neil himself stated Coraline is one of the stories he wrote for his daughter in which little girls fought against evil witches. She hovewer also shows signs of being a fae creature. The stone coraline uses is an Adder stone which is also called a witch stone. As far as I know it can be used to see through magic which would fit both a witch and a fairy. Id go for a fairy witch.

Always figured sorta like a standard "Dream Demon", like Freddy K, Pennywise, Bill Cipher. When the villain can distort minds or reality they can get mad frightening.