Analysis #3: Marxism in Coraline

Warning! This post contains movie spoilers.

Coraline (2009) has been an Oscar-nominated, and one of the most remarkably made movies history has ever seen. Created in stop-motion, it is said that it took almost three weeks to create 8-seconds of footage. This horror-fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 movie of the same name, has been a tremendous influence for artists all around the world. Imagination, creativity, and genius warped into a single film has completely changed the definition of a "movie."

Under the magic and glam, Director Henry Selick may have been influenced by Karl Marx himself. Too far of a stretch? Let me prove it to you. 

The story of Coraline begins with a young girl, Coraline Jones, who moves from Pontiac, Michigan into the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon, an old house subdivided into three residences. While her parents frantically prepare a gardening catalog, Coraline begins to feel neglected and decides to explore the grounds. She then meets Wybie Lovat, the talkative and annoying grandson of the landlady. Wybie gives Coraline a doll that he had found in his grandmother's attic that looks just like her: blue hair, pink hair clip, yellow raincoat with matching yellow boots. Oddly enough, Coraline discovers a small door in her living room, small enough for Coraline to barely crawl through. Long story short, the small door leads to a magical place that looks exactly like Coraline's home, but better. Coraline meets her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" who look just like her real parents, but better. They pay attention to her, prepare delicious dinners and desserts for her to enjoy,  and decorate the garden with all her favorite flowers. She even meets the "Other Wybie" who does not talk at all. He listens and nods, just the way Coraline wants it. The other world is perfect. 

But it is all a trap. The Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in the other world forever, but for the price of her eyes. Coraline must sow buttons into her eyes to stay. Coraline immediately refuses and this angers the Other Mother. The Other Mother then reveals her true identity: an evil human-spider who controls the other world, planning to devour Coraline's life. 

In a Marxist perspective, The Other Mother represents the bourgeoisie as she forces all the creatures, the proletariat, of her world to work for her. For what price? Their lives. She does not grant them a luxurious life nor does she give them the leisure to do as they please. She provides them with just enough to survive. The other creatures, including the Other Father and the Other Wybie, work hard for the Other Mother by entertaining Coraline with magical events. Despite their hard work and labor, it is only the Other Mother who benefits from the labor by devouring the children she had lured in through the small door. Coraline represents the consumer, as she is only lured through the door because of the doll. The doll was created by the Other Mother and sent into Coraline's world on purpose. As Karl Marx writes that the product of labor "must satisfy a social want" (Marx 668), the doll has successfully fulfilled that requirement as it immediately sparked Coraline's interest. If the product were to have been a hammer, or a loaf of bread, the entire plot of the story would have been turned upside down. Why? Because it wouldn't have satisfied the consumer's want. A doll is a universal toy that would spark the interest of any girl of Coraline's age, which is exactly why the Other Mother had created a doll to lure Coraline through the little door. 

I have watched the film over a handful of times, and it wasn't until last week's group presentation on Marxism that I finally saw the correlation with Marx's theory of Capital.