How Coraline goes from Prey to Predator

The dragonfly motifs associated with Coraline are interesting, given that dragonflies are predatory insects. In the bug world, I'd say that a dragonfly would be a much larger threat than a spider. Most spiders are passive trappers that lie in wait for their prey to wander into their domains. Dragonflies, however, are keen-eyed hunters that actively patrol their surroundings in search for potential victims. They are incredibly nimble fliers, which allows them to outmaneuver most other insects, even those that are actively fleeing from them. It's a very fitting symbol for a character so adventurous, headstrong, and confrontational. I know from experience that a dragonfly can and will try to bite you if you manage to catch it. They are nonvenomous, but they bite hard enough to draw blood. They're little badasses and honestly deserve more recognition for the role they play in controlling pests like mosquitoes. 10/10 bug, highly recommend Also, the insects in the shower are silverfish! They're harmless, but they multiply fast and can eat stuff like paper and fabric if they can get to it. Some people think they're gross but I think they're kinda neat. 6.5/10 bug, recommended only for people who really like bugs

what sets coraline apart from the other kids was that she was willing to throw hands at any given point. She is the embodyment of disrespect your surroundings. She passes judgment very quickly on things and decides "yup, I hate this" and then DOES SOMETHING about it (the bugs in the shower, the snap dragons in the garden, etc). As soon as she gets a wif of something suspicious, she tries to bail. The other kids grew up in eras where kids were seen not heard, were proabably very isolated due to the underdevelopment of the surrounding areas and weren't very socilized with the violent/aggressive concepts kids today have, which wouldnt have made any of them as outgoing or in-your-face as Coraline is. The Beldam wasnt ready to take on a post-internet kid.

Fun fact: due to their wings and ability to fly backwards, dragonflies often can escape spider webs, and have even been known to hunt spiders

I like the idea that the reason why the Other Father and Wybie protected Coraline despite being made by the Beldam, is because when she made them, she created them to be like a father and friend to Coraline. Thus, causing them to rebel against the Beldum to protect her as such. And the reason why the other April, Miriam and Mr. B don't do the same is because they weren't made to care about her, they were made just to entertain her.

Fun fact : The other father also hid an important message in his song at the start, saying that Coraline is their "doll" and their "eyes will be all on coraline" so I think they all were concious from the start.

One thing about the Ghost Children compared to Coraline is that their situations probably weren’t as cut and dry as hers was. The Ghost Kids all lived during different eras, and could have faced a number of issues that would affect their decision to stay in the Other World. Being completely real for a second, Coraline is a very fortunate kid, at least compared to some; she seems lower middle class, her parents are a bit negligent but ultimately do love her, and she has a stable home. The movie demonstrates Coraline’s family during a period of great financial stress and in the aftermath of an accident that injured her mother (which is why she wears the neck brace and is so grouchy, because medication is expensive). Coraline’s life is far from perfect, but the problems she faces aside from the Other World are mostly the temporary stress of having your life upended. After she and her family adjust, she’ll probably get used to her surroundings and get into the motions of things again. The Ghost Kids could have been suffering an array of issues; war, poverty, food insecurity, racism, classism. Considering that Wybie’s grandmother is an elderly black woman, it’s likely that her and her sister faced racism from that era too. That might have been at least part of why her sister found the Other World so enticing; it was seemingly free of all of the strife and suffering from the real world. Coraline fought back so strongly because, at the end of the day, she was really just bored and wanted an adventure, but was tipped off once the initial excitement wore down. For the Ghost Kids, the Beldam may have seemed like a saving grace. Coraline had a home and family to fight for, but the Ghost Kids might not have. That makes the Beldam even more sinister. She wasn’t only targeting spoiled kids looking for some fun, but vulnerable children who wanted to escape, just like predators in real life.

I think you're misunderstanding the purpose of the Beldam's fingertapping; it's not out of impatience, but anticipation. The Beldam loves games, something that is emphasized in both the movie and book. While the two scenes of her tapping her fingers do mirror each other, what triggers it is specifically the prospect of playing a game being brought up. The Beldam offers to play a game with Coraline, and as soon as Coraline suggests hide and seek, the fingertapping stops and doesn't come back, even though Coraline continues to question and they never even get to the game. In the second scene, the fingertapping starts when the Beldam asks Coraline what game they will be playing, and stops as soon as Coraline says what they'll be playing; in this scene, if the fingertapping was one of impatience, you would expect the Beldam to do it when Coraline refuses to agree until she's given a clue. The Beldam enjoying games is important to her character, because it's her major weakness; the book explains it better as, when the cat catches one of the rats, it starts playing with it while the rat squeaks and screeches in pain. Coraline asks the cat to stop, saying that it's torturing the rat, and the cat obliges by breaking the rat's neck, making a snide remark that some people would consider how a cat plays with its prey to be merciful, since sometimes the prey does manage to get away, ending by asking Coraline how often she lets her food escape. The Beldam's obsession with games leads to her playing with her prey, and like the cat said, sometimes the prey manages to get away.

also interesting to consider that in the book Coraline's final defeat of the Beldam is a very purposful trap. She realises the Beldam will want the key and her hand got through, so she takes the key and a picnic blanket to the well, sets the key on the blanket and pretends to have a tea party, so when the hand comes for the key it ends up falling in. I think it's interesting how by the end Coraline isn't just reacting to the Beldam attacking, she's set a trap of her own

Other people have pointed out Coraline isn't Other Mother's usual prey (young meek children), but I think it's fascinating WHY Other Mother had to go after Coraline. Wybie's grandmother watches him like a hawk and she's refused to rent to any families with children. She's had the Bedlam starving and cut off for ~50 years. We're shown the Bedlam's powers are weakening (small world, Other Father decaying) and she says she'll die if Coraline leaves her. Her normal tactics (lure, flatter, then bully) don't work on Coraline because she's a naturally headstrong and suspicious child. Desperate predators sometimes get killed attacking large prey and that's exactly what happened here. Wybie's gran got revenge for her sister, even though it took her entire life to do it and her idiot grandson almost screwed it up.

I never really connected Other Miriam's siren song act to a warning before, but now I can't unsee it, especially after remembering that it was Miriam in the real world who accurately read Coraline's tea leaves as a dangerous hand. It might not have been intentional, but having Other Miriam subtly trying to warn Coraline through an act while her real world counterpart explicitly said that she's in danger is pretty interesting to think about

Fun fact: There was a big hint that something unfortunate was going to happen to Coraline early in the movie. At the beginning, when she went to look into the well, the reason why Wybie stepped back was because there was a ring of mushrooms around it; also known as a Fairy Ring. Finding one can lead to good luck but as soon as you step into it, according to some folklores, the consequences can range from minor to very severe and even deadly. That's another thing you'd expect her to know as a gardening lover's child but I digress. It was another early on omen of her fate in the movie.

I watched a video essay a while back about how Yellow is horror movie shorthand for Victim, because its a color that stands out and makes you look at it regardless of the drab tone of the surroundings, and blood shows best on it. Something worth checking out, regarding the Georgie and Coraline yellow rain jacket thing

I feel like one of the reasons Coraline goes through this prey to predator is because she is established in who she is and has a very strong resolve to say the least. Yes she does change so that she does appreciate what she does have already. But she's headstrong, takes no bull not even from her parents, and has a voice. Remember what the ghost children said...: "We let her sew the buttons in our eyes." Coraline fought because she didn't give up. She had what the other children didn't which was a very strong sense of who she is as a female protagonist. Also lets look at this socially...compared to Coraline, the three dead children probably did not have an easy life. If we take in that each of the candy jars in Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's predates either the year of each missing child or the decade they were in...we can say that they had it bad. Coraline didn't have it as bad. Also Coraline challenges Authority when it seems flawed and sus: Example: "You and Dad get paid to write about plants and you hate gardening." "You are not my mother..." The other kids didnt have that willpower or rather lived in society's where the child listens to adults and to never question them. Thats why I feel Coraline made that shift from prey to predator.

Coraline is the weird (and full of courage) kind of girl, that instead of running away in fear from the centipedes, she decides to crush as many as she can with her bare hands

I once read a theory that said Other Father and Other Wybie are different from the Other neighbours because the two were made to be Coraline’s friends while the rest were solely for entertainment, and it makes sense to me. The Beldam proves to be impatient and not one to waste more effort than she can coast on. She would give her toys such simple orders and wind them up.

1:11 there’s also six from little nightmares. The difference being that the monsters are more animalistic and six becomes the monster that feeds on other monsters, while George becomes prey that’s feasted on and Coraline is the prey that survives leaving the predator to starve.

I never noticed this but the lightning strike in the window is the same shape of the tea leaves in the fortune reading scene. Both are hands reaching out to grab her

8:40 with the siren imagery, sirens actually, supposedly, sung about what their victim desired. That could be anything from returning home, seeing someone long dead, or even finding that perfect loaf of garlic bread. The Other Mother lured Coraline in by indulging her with everything she wanted and desired, trying to pull her in so that when the time came to strike, Coraline would have nowhere to go.

My theory regarding the other Father and other Wybie, and why they would help Coraline-- The Beldam created them to love Coraline. And they did. So they helped and protected her as best they could.

I would also say that another advantage Coraline has is her age, which i think goes along with your theory of her being independent and free thinking. The children before Coraline all seem much younger than her which would make them more susceptible to manipulation. Wybie's grandmother hadnt let people with children rent out the pink palace for decades. So when Coraline came, the Beldam was desperate for food and tried her same old tactics. But they inevitable failed because of her inpatients and innability to adapt