Why Coraline Should NOT Trust the Cat

What is the cat in Coraline? Maybe the most confusing and dangerous entity in Coraline, and NOT bound by the door on EITHER end of the Corridor, this portal-hopping, nameless, mysterious, and “comforting” being that seems to know everything that goes on in both the Real and Other worlds. Are they predator, or prey? There is absolutely more to this cat -cosmic horror corridor-level stuff - and we’re going to find it! So, let's dive right in to this Coraline cat theory!

Helpful Coraline Cat Theory Timestamps:
0:00 - The Cat Theory Intro
2:17 - Cats Don’t Have Names
4:01 - Telepathic?
6:18 - More Than They Appear
7:12 - The Other Mother’s Familiar and a Predator
9:06 - Portal Master
9:51 - Nightmare Before Christmas Cat Theory
11:25 - Shape Shifting
13:15 - What the Cat Fears
15:33 - Mist Ties it All Together

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Editing: abitfrank and Kristen

Book - "Coraline," 2002, Written by Neil Gaiman, Illustrations by Dave McKean
Graphic Novel - "Coraline," 2008, Adapted and Illustrated by P. Craig Russel
"The Morrigan," 2019, by Courtney Weber

#coraline #othermother #coralinetheory #coralinecat #abitfrank #coralinejones #animation

[kikisartjourney]

I feel he's not malicious, but still of some magic type. Cats through many cultures are tied to spiritual and magical things. Cats are also just generally playful and get bored easily. So, while I feel he is trying to help coriline and protect her, he's doing it in a way to entertain himself a bit. But things get a bit more crazy than he expected at first, hence the fear he shows at points.

[skellymom]

The writer of Coraline, Neil Gaiman, is a fan of cats and seems to write them into his many stories as good, protective characters, or beings that possess some type of supernatural powers. I think the cat in this story is no different.

[misspinkpunkykat]

Reminds me of a story I heard as a child. In it, cats have 3 names. The name their person calls them, the name other cats call them and the name they give themselves.

[psychosislove]

This makes me think of the phrase, "Cats can walk through walls." Also, this cat reminds me a lot of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. They both are cryptic, seem to know everything and more, are mischievous, and very sneaky. This was a good analysis. I love your Coraline videos.

[ngelofluv]

i think the cat and the other mother are equals of sorts, they are both creatures that infiltrate these different 'realms' playing 'cat and mouse'. the other mother attempts to steal the souls of children she lures to her web and the cat untangles her progress by helping the children to escape (whether they succeed or fail has nothing to do with the cat, he helps every child the same). sometimes the other mother wins, the other time she loses, she tries to keep him out bc he ruins everything she does -- the cat does this out of boredom (all a game to him) and the other mother/ the beldam wants to take children for her own selfish hunger. there are higher, ancient being that both the beldam and the cat are afraid of/respectful of (the corridor, the realm itself etc) and they both leave them be as they are afraid - perhaps their powers are greater bc they're older/ancient? (like as old as time itself)

[Stinger]

I feel like the cat is some kind of true neutral planeswalker type deal who's been around on adventures for a while and decided to help out Coraline while also having a bit of fun

[randomwhovian]

Him saying he’s not the “other” anything could also be him using Coralline’s vernacular to make it clear that he’s NOT like the other mother.

[ohdeer-sabrina]

As much as I like the shapeshifting idea, I think the cat looks bigger on the empty space when Coraline first sees him to notify the viewer that it's literally a BLANK space, so notions of perspective are a but wonky. But I might be wrong

[TidalShadow]

The beldame is prey to the cat. The way the cat acts always implies this, but by the time of Coraline, the beldame has become too powerful for the cat to eat her. That's why the cat wants Coraline's help. He doesn't play with Coraline, because she is not prey, but he plays with the beldame because she is. The beldame and cat both fear the corridor because it is a more dangerous predator than either of them.

[Ghostykins]

I think for those of us who know and love cats this cat is pretty clearly just a perfect example of how humans have always associated cats with magic and power and mysticism. They seem to walk in worlds we can't comprehend while still existing in ours. They also aren't necessarily malicious, but a cat is going to do what a cat wants to do. It seems very much like a normal cat, I would just assume all cats in this world have this ability to see things us regular humans cannot.

[DJMaddzzz]

I always joke about cats being time lords because they always seem to disappear and reappear, and one of my cats finds hiding places that I can never find her in. I always joke about how they go to other dimensions and that’s why I can’t find them.

[thegayghost]

I have this theory that the Other Mother and the Cat are playing a game with each other, sort of. The Cat tries to keep the children away from the Other Mother, and she tries to lure them into her web

[hawkticus_history_corner]

I think that when the cat says that it's not spread out, it's referring to the fact that there can only be a single instance of itself. No copies, no duplicates, no clones, no other versions of itself in the multiverse, it is a single creature. And as such, its incredibly weird.

[chewiecheshire]

You could also connect it to the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. It is a mysterious talking cat in an other "fairy" world, that guides the protagonist, seems to antagonize the bloodthirsty matriarch of the world, and can dissapear at will. Admittedly the Cheshire cat doesn't appear nearly as often as this cat, so we can't know much about it. But they are both mischevious entities, that toy with all the other characters.

[PrincessBarky]

I've had cats my entire life, and I barely registered that there was anything odd about the Cat in Coraline, because cats are just Like That.
Like, there have been so many instances where I've been chilling with one of them, and they'll suddenly look me dead in the eye, and I can just feel that they are trying to speak. It is alarming how human they act and look sometimes.

[nothri]

I think the cat is just meant to be a cat. This isn't as dismissive as it sounds. Given what the cat says I think the story implies that cats in this world, similar to Lovecraft, are creatures that are clever and aloof enough to be aware of the supernatural and know tricks to avoid and exploit otherworldly spaces. Basically I'd suggest the cat knows how to enter the other world because it is a clever normal creature that has learned some things by poking into places humans don't go. That's my preferred interpretation of the story, anyway. I like the idea of cats just by virtue of being cats are being of secret esoteric knowledge that know how to go to places other people can't go. Also, the reason the cat can talk is just a quirk of the other world...or maybe the reason it can't talk is just a quirk of the normal world. It feels true of Neil Gaiman to set it up that way, he has a habit of injecting magic into the ordinary in his urban fantasy books.

[starlightsoiree]

One of my other favorite stories by Neil Gaiman features a little black cat that stands off with a demon/the devil at the edge of their family's property every night- I think ol' Neil is just fond of cats and their mysterious wiles from folklore. He's always portrayed black cats as guardian figures, if aloof ones!

[Akira_of_the_Fae]

My bf and i love the lore of this kind of stuff, our running theory is that cats are guardians of worlds, including the underworld. This specific cat was probably assigned to this portal because of the trouble caused in the faerie relm from the child being stolen from there. He cant directly interfere with the other mother, only a child can, which is why he helped coraline

[Silver_Sonic_]

"Why Coraline should not trust the cat."
Other Mother, is that you?

[countessspiritclaws]

I don’t think we’re ever supposed to understand the cat, at least not fully. We’re fed enough ominous lines to contribute to a sense of abstract horror, but we’re never given that final piece that we need for the puzzle to be complete. As frustrating as it may be, I think this fact is exactly why the cat is so unsettling but interesting. The cat plays on our fear of the unknown, and their obscurity is exactly what makes them appealing. If we could figure this creature out, the answer likely wouldn’t be as satisfying or engaging as the endless possibilities our brains have come up with. It could also be implied that this entity is beyond human comprehension, and they only tell us the bits and pieces about themself that we’ll understand. I get the sense that the vague things the cat says are sort of a ‘if you know, you know’ situation, but we don’t know, so we don’t pick up on the true meaning of their words.