 | |
| Alias: | Miriam Forcible |
|---|---|
| Relationship Status: | Unmarried, but with a live-in romantic partner |
| Age: | 70 |
| Gender: | Female |
| Status: | Alive |
| Voiced by: | Jennifer Saunders (movie). |
| Kath Soucie (video game). | |
| Appearances: | Movie. |
| Books. | |
| Birthday: | Video game.
May 10th |
April Spink is a retired, Shakespeare parody, burlesque dancer who shares the basement apartment of The Pink Palace Apartments with her lover Miriam Forcible. Out of the two, she is the more practical one and may possess some knowledge of magic and mystical entities.
Plot Appearance[]
Movie[]
Miss Spink seems to be the kinder and smarter one between her and Miss Forcible. She is the one who determines that Coraline is in danger and is quick to warn her about it. She is also constantly at odds with Miriam, often arguing with her when Miriam tries to say she is wrong about something. Sometimes Spink is right, such as with her prediction about Coraline's future, and sometimes she may be incorrect, such as with the magic stone she gave to Coraline, which clearly shows where the lost ghost eyes are hidden, but fails to inform her of the danger around the eyes. However, she generally seems to be the more realistic and practical one when compared to Miriam.
Spink may also have some possession of magical knowledge or powers, as she can use tea leaves to predict the future and gave a stone-like object to Coraline, which she uses in the game against the Other Mother.
In the movie, Coraline first meets Miss Spink in her basement apartment with Miss Forcible. Spink has Coraline drink tea, which she uses to predict Coraline's future with the tea leaves. While reading, Spink becomes concerned, stating that Coraline is in danger as the tea leaves show a hand, which Spink interprets as a bad sign. However, Miss Forcible is quick to disagree with her, leaving Coraline confused.
Later, after the Other Mother steals Coraline's parents, Coraline goes to Miss Spink and Forcible for help while Spink is sewing an angel costume for one of her ill dogs, Angus. Miss Forcible pulls out a bowl of taffy labeled 1921, which Spink proceeds to crumble into dust, with a small stone-like object sitting in the dust. Spink states that it is "good for bad things," which Forcible counters, saying it is "good for lost things." Coraline leaves while the two continue to argue.
[In fact the object is a hagstone, a rock with a a natural weathered hole in the center, that is said to possess several magical properties including protection against witches and the ability to cut through illusions. So both women were correct.]
At the end of the movie, Coraline passes Spink and Forcible lemonade during the Jones' garden party, where Spink reveals that her ill dog, Angus, is doing much better.
- An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (filmography)
When Coraline searches for the three ghost children's eyes, other Spink and Forcible are turned into a grotesque green and pink taffy monster with their entangled bodies resembling marshmallow twists and with hair like ribbon candy (Also not officially known as the dogs are turned into bat-like creatures with red bloodshot eyes.) The pair are inside a large waxpaper wrapper and hold a ghost child's eye in the form of a pearl ring. When Coraline attempts to remove it from them, they emerge and screech at her to "Give it back" "Please" "Stop" repeatedly. Coraline defeats them by making the bats swoop down in after her, ducking so they miss and hit the whining twosome instead. They promptly turn into grotesque statues with hideous faces. The Taffy Monsters are based off the taffy that Miss Forcible gives Coraline.
Books[]
- An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (books)
- Ms Spink is nearly exactly the same in the book as in the movie, however, there is not as much contrast between her and Ms Forcible as they only argue once, as opposed to in the movie where they argue often.
- Other Miriam and April are circus entertainers in a "neverending show" watched by an audience full of Scottie dogs. When Coraline watches them at the theatre , instead of being thrown into the air and almost being dropped by an unsteady Miss Forcible, she is called up on stage and a balloon is put on top of her head. A blindfolded Miriam then throws a knife at Coraline's head and pops a balloon. The scene would likely appear underwhelming if animated, thus the filmmakers left it out.
Video Game[]
- An excerpt from the main article: Coraline (video game)
Coraline visits Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, where Miss Spink thanks Coraline for the apples she picked for them. She then asks Coraline to play Go Fish with them, which Coraline agrees. Coraline wins the game, and Miss Spink then tells Coraline about the missing well. Coraline later meets Miss Spink in the other world in which she asks Coraline to complete a music sequence to be a star, they then watch the show and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible ask Coraline to complete more sequences to make the show better.
Other Spink[]
Other Miss Spink (Left) and Other Miss Forcible (Right)
Spink's other world counterpart is identical to her, but with button eyes. Later in a performance, she strips away her old skin and turns into her younger self with red-hair and a pear-shaped figure, seen previously on posters in their basement apartment.
When the Beldam's strength wanes, other Spink becomes a green taffy-like monstrosity, twisted with Forcible's own pink taffy-like body, with their entangled bodies resembling marshmallow twists and with hair like ribbon candy, ironic due to her fondness of the candy known as "Old Taffy."
Trivia[]
- Miss Spink produces a stone with a hole in it from a bowl of taffy for Coraline. This stone may be an adder stone, which is believed to be used to see faeries.
- She is capable of divination, having used tea leaves to foresee that Coraline was both in danger and that a severed hand would come into play.
- Her birthday is on May 10th.
- Neil Gaiman has confirmed in his tumblr that she and Miss Forcible are same-sex lovers. Although she is implied to be bisexual, as she is seen ogling the moving men helping the Joneses in the opening. Seeing as she is referred to as "Miss", she and Miss Forcible are not married, though they are life partners.
- It should be noted that the original book (set in England) came out in 2002, but same-sex marriage was not made legal in England until March 29, 2014, meaning that during the time period the original story takes place in, Miss Forcible and Miss Spink could not have gotten married even if they wanted to.
- The same is true for the movie version, which instead takes place in Ashland, Oregon, as the state of Oregon didn't legalize gay marriage until May 19, 2014 but the movie only came out in 2009.