Movie vs. Book

This post will probably be understood more if you have read and seen the movie, Coraline.

After hearing about how creepy the Coraline book was supposed to be, I couldn't resist buying it today. I read it in one go (a nice little read), and found some interesting differences between the movie and the book that I had to share.

First off, yes, the book is way weirder than the movie. And yet, at the same time it's also more subtle. This may be because it is a book, and I can pretty much read two lines at a time, so nothing is really too shocking for me.

I will point out some major differences first, then go onto smaller ones. First, one of the major things that jumped out at me with the first read-through, is that there is no Wybie and no little Coraline doll. I thought that was weird, but when I thought about it, it made sense. Coraline needed someone to talk to in the movie, and a neighbor kid made perfect sense. Second thing that jumped out at me was the color of the gloves in the store. Why would they change the color in the book (which was a Day-glo green), to a drab orange/mute color. I couldn't think of anything other than they couldn't get their hands on the material.

Now, in the movie, it is implied that the Other Mother makes the world. In the book, there is a line that intrigued me to no end.

The cat says:

"There's ways in and ways out of places like this that even she doesn't know about."

"Did she make this place, then?" asked Coraline.

"Made it, found it--what's the difference?" asked the cat. "Either way, she's had it a very long time."

I keep coming back to this interaction time and time again. It really is fascinating when you think about it. The cat says later on in the book that the Other Mother cannot actually create things. It can only skew them, mess with them, or change them. It cannot create. This leads me to believe that It found the place.

This brings us to the question of "how did It get there?" or even "how did the place get there?".

It's weird. But cool.