Hello and welcome to another Coraline animation!
Today, We’ve got TUNNEL VISION (heh) We’re looking into something that has captivated
and eluded me for over a decade and a half: The Passageway between the Real World and
the Other World.
And how it is even more dangerous than the insidious Other Mother...
Now, for this video, I’m using both the book and the movie as reference, (but mostly
the book!) and this is all just in good fun, so let’s have a ball exploring the cobwebby
inner corners of these overactive mental corridors!
The Ancient Corridor: The Greatest Threat Is Awakening
There are times in the book (and then later much later, when the movie came out) where
I thought the tunnel could be a reflection of the OM’s power, like SHE was the one
controlling it to lure Coraline into the Other World.
(It has the power to accordion in and out, become shorter when Coraline walks INTO the
Other world, and LONGER when she is trying to escape).
It appears as thought the Other Mother’s rats (*rats are always known in the book)
are able to scamper through it, unharmed, afterall, so it seems at first like it is
HER passageway.
And in the movie, it looks like it loses it’s beautiful glowy power as the Other Mother
loses her power of illusion too.
Where it was first bright and glowy (and the OM’s powers were in full control) it changes
over the movie to feel like a cluttered and cobweby attic space (as the OM loses control
over her illusions and appearance).
I also thought, “Hey, this tunnel could be a portal!
Or the deepest Well itself!”
However, all those theories go right out the window with one chilling line near the end
of the book, as Coraline is trying to escape through the tunnel a final time: 136.)
“She knew that if she fell in that corridor she might never get up again.
Whatever that corridor was was older by far than the other mother.
It was deep, and slow, and it knew that she was there...
Not “whatever was in that corridor” but “WHATEVER THAT CORRIDOR WAS.”
So, this tunnel, is a MORE DANGEROUS ENTITY than even the other mother.
My gut feeling is that she is afraid of it, too, or at least respects its more ancient
magic and might.
It is outside of her domain, which includes the entire Other World, but ends on the other
side of her own door.
(I think she seeks the key to escape as well.)
but Here’s my theory: The Other Mother is merely a parasite in the throat/belly/intestinal
tract (?) (trust me, its anatomy is confusing) of this larger being, catching what prey she
can as it falls into the more ancient monster’s digestive system.
Not UNLIKE a spider, spinning webs between trees, plants, and even in the ground, catching
what it can in the larger world…
And THAT spider theme is pretty prevalent in the movie, and even in the book too: the
OM spins Illusions and false promises, eventually once those illusions have faded, all the places
and “things” in the Other World that she created seem to have the sticky spider webbing
clung on and around them.
But just WHAT is this beast?
Honestly, it could be many different things, or all the things wrapped up in one new thing!
But what we do know: This thing is ALIVE.
And it is SENTIENT.
And it is HUN GRY.
I’ve covered the book’s description of this shapeshifting corridor before, and from
that we know that, whatever it is, this tunnel is a most ancient entity.
I’m going to take all of these attributes now and see just what exactly the tunnel could
be...
First off, let’s talk about the glowy-lure-you-in tunnel from the movie.
There are some predators that lure prey with this same technique.
I’m thinking angler fish of the deep sea, who in the dark waters, use their built-in-lights
to lure smaller prey into their death jaws.
Kinda like moths and mosquitoes drawn to those bug zappers too, come to think of it…
Anyway, so this Thing’s throat glows.
I’m calling it a throat because, well look at it.
Mouth throat portal region.
Ok.
So anyway, keep this glowing part on the back burner for later, because in the book there
is no glowing, but I thought it worth mentioning.
Our first encounter with the tunnel in the book is on page 26, where the door “opened
on to a dark hallway...There was a cold, musty smell coming through the open doorway: it
smelled like something very old and very slow.”
Ok, so there is no light source, no heat source (is this thing cold-blooded?), and besides
potential decay, nothing has been here in ages- hence the musty smell.
I usually associate that with basements or underground/cavern type places.
This thing is ancient, and slow to move or awaken.
Creatures that come to mind: tortoises, snakes, dinosaurs (why not?).
This description holds, when Coraline leaves the Other World for the first time, she senses
something that is not the Other mother in the corridor with her.
On page 47: “Coraline took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness, where strange
voices whispered and distant winds howled.
She became certain that there was something in the dark behind her: something very old
and very slow.”
We’ve now added distant WIND to this mysterious equation.
A far-off pair of lungs, if you will.
This thing is slowly awakening - its breathing is now faintly noticeable by Coraline.
I think those strange voices are either the OM’s rats scuttling to and fro or, more
interestingly, this ancient beast’s victims from past feedings… the ones the OM couldn’t
intercept.
Next time we’re in the tunnel, Coraline is going back in for her rescue mission (58,
59): “A cold wind blew through the passageway.”
59: “She took her first step down the dark corridor.
She could smell dust and damp and mustiness.”
“She heard something moving in the darkness - beside her or to one side of her, she could
not tell.
It seemed as if it was keeping pace with her, whatever it was.”
Let’s dissect this.
The WIND is no longer faint, but very much present.
Whatever was sleeping is now even more awake and is breathing more heavily.
In addition to musty dusty smells, we now have dampness added to the mix, which means
liquid must be involved somehow, either leaking in like a wet basement , or else this monster
could be an underwater creature… or an underworldly creature.
That presence that keeps pace with her could be one of the Other Mother’s rats, or it
could be the expanding and contracting of muscles, like how a snake pushes food down
the length of it’s body… step by step.
Or it could be something else entirely...
On that same trip in the passage, Coraline notices that the tunnel is shorter than ever
before (Pages 59-60): “Coraline was going to say something, like ‘sorry’ or ‘wasn’t
it a lot shorter walk last time?’ when the candle went out as suddenly as if it had been
snuffed by someone’s hand.
There was a scrabbling and a pattering…
She put out one had… and felt something wispy, like a spider’s web, brush her hands
and her face.”
Ok.
It could be that that scrabbling and pattering is an OM rat, or something more shadow impish
like the hands on the cover… something that could snuff out a candle (it’s not blown
out like a wind would have.
Magics?!).
Also, now we first encounter the spider web stuff that is now all over the Other World
in the book.
Maybe it’s that Coraline is seeing through the OM’s illusions, and that the OM is losing
power, or we finally see the metaphorical spider web on our way to something more perilous.
Here too, we see that the tunnel can seemingly shrink in distance, like a spring loading,
or a neck compressing.
My logical mind is still on snakes, turtles, dinos, etc.
Cool.
But then…..
A wrench.
A COSMIC wrench.
SO MUCH of the tunnel transformation happens when Coraline and co. are making their final
escape to the real world through the corridor.
(Page 133) “It was colder in the corridor, like stepping down into a cellar on a warm
day.”
Ok cool, it’s still well, cool, in here.
And REALLY WINDY (I mean, “breathy”) now too: Coraline struggles to shut the Other
Door but “pulling it closed was like trying to close a door against a high wind.
And then she felt something from the other side starting to pull against her.”
That “something from the other side” is the OM I believe, but where we at first had
“far away wind,” then “right here and present” wind, we now have “High Wind”
fighting Coraline.
It is worth mentioning for counter-points that the OM has the power of sand-shard wind,
which she uses once after Coraline finds a soul, but I think this wind is different from
her sand-glass-wind (there were no wailing voices in that wind, just pure, localized
malice).
This Thing is WAKING UP. errr okaaaay….
Greeeaat.
Wait.
What’s this?!
In just two pages, this thing has ALTERED ITS FORM!
(On 135) When escaping, “Coraline turned her back on the door and began to run, as
fast as was practical, though the dark corridor, running her hand along the wall…
It was an uphill run, and it seemed to her that it went on for a longer distance than
anything could possibly go.”
Ok, so where the jaunt INTO was “shorter than before,” it’s now longer than ever.
Like a body or neck stretching out to ensure she stays trapped.
It also rotates up, like it is lifting its head in waking, or to keep her in its belly
system.
OH!
It’s not “cool” in here anymore, either btw! (still p. 135) “The wall she was touching
felt warm and yielding now, and, she realized, it felt as if it were covered in a fine downy
fur.
It moved, as if it were taking a breath.”
She snatches her hand away from it, more “Winds howled in the dark.” and she again reaches
out to the wall for stability: “This time what she touched felt hot and wet, as if she
had put her hand in somebody’s mouth.”
There is a WHOLE LOT going on here.
Temperature change from cold to warm.
Windy breathing.
A texture change from downy fur to all of a sudden a mouth texture?!
Hold up.
Are we in a small intestine?
Are those fine downy furs really Villi and Microvilli?!
Dang, we really are in “the belly of the beast” and, thankfully, travelling upwards
towards a mouth entrance.
Gross still, sure, but closer to the exit of this digestive underworld!
Ugh anatomically this does not make sense… we’d have to pass through the stomach.
Ugh, scratch that, ok so let’s just say it’s actually fur.
Like, the cavern walls woke up and grew fur… and then shed that fur quickly to become a
mouth?!
Or are there MANY furry some-things pigeon-holed in the walls, some with mouths facing Coraline?
My earthly experiences very much exclude this sort of quick change, and let’s not forget
all those distant voices whispering from earlier descriptions.
It could be old victims, or else many many new mouths?
This whole thing reeks of ancient shapeshifting magics….
Dare I say,.. ELDRITCH magics?
What?
That’s quite a leap.
Is it though?
I cannot adequately rationalize the physicality of this tunnel beast at this point in the
book, I mean, here’s where I’m at trying to do that: what is ancient huge, slow to
move, quick to change form, and potentially glowy?
AN underground/UNDERWATER SERPENTINE ANGLER DINOSAUR!
Haha naw just kidding.
Even that can’t change form like we need it to with the fur and all, and it’s kinda
cute taboot!
But just doesn't have that ominous creepy factor that is so prevalent in the book.
I think it’s honestly some combination of these things, and my heart is telling me its
more spooky and under/otherworldly than physical.
My gut is on “cosmic maw” or something as sinister and huge.
It’s clearly alive, and very much a different (and I’ll daresay, more powerful) being
than the Other Mother.
So, we turn to Lovecraft.
Errr... if you are unfamiliar, that’s some horror brought into popularity by HP Lovecraft
back in the day.
It is rife with gargantuan impossible beings, tentacled cosmic entities, mammoth glowing
worms, terrifying tornadoes with maws and eyes and teeth, many of which live in waiting
on this planet we call home.Cthulhu, for example.
Anyway, back to our tunnel, it seems more behemoth.
More Monstrous.
More Lovecraftian than any creature in our (known) physical world.
It’s a liminal space between doors, and, once fully awake, I think will be exceptionally
difficult to contain.
Now I REALLY WISH Coraline hadn’t let that key fall into the well/tunnel throat… because
I think the key belongs to the Tunnel.
Or was made to contain the tunnel.
And now… the tunnel beast has the literal key to its own release.
There are two doors (that we know of), but only one key (again, that we know of), and
the OM covets it for herself.
This makes me think it is not hers to begin with, but something she needs to master something
greater.
To gain more power or to escape herself from the beast.
Or to level-up her own cosmic status from parasite to host...
YIKES.
Ok so let’s snap back from really cool cosmic terror to a more mundane explanation: The
tunnel could likely just be a literary device to let us know exactly how scared Coraline
is on her journeys to and fro.
When she needs to be brave and is steeling herself for a rescue mission, she arrives
sooner than she would have liked (the tunnel seemed “shorter than before”) or when
trying to escape, it was an uphill struggle, seemingly going on for much longer, because
of how emotionally exhausted and terrified she was at this point.
Etc.
But, sometimes it is way more fun to think of it as a behemoth ancient being!
Letting the imagination run wild and free.
Life is more fun with excessive mental imaginings, ...right?
So, just what is the most ancient tunnel?
Is it literary insight into our main character’s emotions?
Is it merely a passageway between worlds?
A portal?
Is it the deepest well itself, perhaps?
Or is it something much more sinister, more beastly and more ravenous - a creature that
time forgot?
Whatever it is, it is a far greater-scale threat than the Other Mother and her twisted
beldam magics… although I’m not sure I’d want to take either one of them on!
And so, our splunk into the cosmic horror that is the shapeshifting corridor in Coraline
is at a close.
Thanks for jumping in with me!
But what are some of your thoughts?
Do you have a favorite Eldritch entity yourself?
Let me know in the comments below!
Heya cool bookworms and movie nerds!
Nice to see you!
I hope you enjoyed this little adventure.
I am cooking up something new already, so do stay tuned so you can get it while it’s
hot!
Seriously though, thank you for watching, and I’ll see you soon in the next video.
Goodbye!