Witchcraft In Coraline (SPOILERS, duh)
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INTRODUCTION:
Today we’ll be discussing the movie Coraline, typically when I make posts they cover more educational/information packed topics & that is their purpose. But, when I watched Coraline recently I noticed so many things that shouted witchcraft to me, I couldn’t find anything analyzing the movie from this perspective, so here we are! Enjoy! 🖤
THE BEGINNING:
In the beginning of the movie, the Beldam is crafting a doll, she takes the entire thing apart with her silvery metal hands & when she’s finished, it resembles the main character, Coraline. Later in the movie we find that the doll is evil, it’s a way for the Beldam to spy on Coraline and attempt to lure her into her trap. Do you know what works exactly like this in witchcraft? Poppets. Poppets are dolls that are used in curses, they resemble their victims as much as possible. They’re not typically used to spy on their victims I will admit, but this is still a doll that looks exactly like Coraline and is used to directly cause her misfortune. A Poppet.
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WHEN WE MEET CORALINE:
Next, we actually see Coraline. She pulls a branch off of a bush and closes her eyes, wondering around with it off into the woods. As soon as I saw this, I thought “Hm, dowsing rod?” but even when I see such things in entertainment they usually aren’t mentioned. Despite that, she directly refers to that branch as a dowsing rod. Dowsing is a form of divination used to find water, which is exactly what she does. Quite successfully at that. Furthermore, Wybie calls Coraline a water witch in this scene.
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MISS SPINK & MISS FORCIBLE:
In a later scene, Coraline goes down to visit Miss Spink and Miss Forcible at the request of her mother. Her mother says she should go tell them of her dreams. So she does, she’s invited into their home. When she sits down, they offer to “read her tea leaves.” Very witchy indeed.
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They also give Coraline a stone, it’s a triangular shaped stone with a hole in it. It’s not exactly a hag stone, but it sure reminds me of one. The ladies (Miss Spink & Forcible) then argue about if it’s for “bad things” or “lost things” then Coraline leaves.
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THE BELDAM:
Time for the grande finale! The Beldam!
GLAMOURS:
The Beldam changes her appearance twice throughout the film as her true intentions become apparent, it certainly seems like a spell is wearing off as Coraline’s perception of the Beldam changes.
The Beldam as the Other Mother! -
The Beldam as she transforms!
The Beldam’s final, horrendous form!
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Certainly seems like a glamour to me! It reminds me of the scene in The Craft (1996) where Sarah changes her hair to blonde. Except, scary…
SERVITORS:
A servitor is a spirit that is created from nothing by a practitioner of magick to complete tasks & serve the witch that created them. (I don’t work with servitors, so someone please correct me if that definition doesn’t reflect them properly.) You know what serves the Beldam? The other father & other Wybie, & the rats, while the other characters never fully die when we see the cat catch a mouse it dies, turns into a rat, & dust comes out of its corpse. Although these servitors seemed to have been formed in a different way than I traditionally see servitors created, they certainly have all the properties of a servitor.
Finally, the cherry on top:
In Conclusion:
I will forever think of this as a witch movie, I hope you enjoyed reading.
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Have a lovely day 🖤
