Just like the seemingly flimsy structure of the web itself, the web-creator is much more powerful than appearances suggest. The characters, affixed to one thread or another, can only see either sticky threads to get tangled up in or deadly gaps of empty space to plummet through. Only the spider at the center of it all understands the connection between these disparate lines. Stories are patterns of interconnected strands that are seemingly disconnected when viewed up close. The worlds of Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings are, likewise, intricate webs. Anansi is a trickster who outwits those who would seemingly outmatch him otherwise.
In both American Gods and Anansi Boys, Gaiman borrows the folklore character of Anansi. As web-weavers, spiders seem to have a storytelling significance for Neil Gaiman, author of the original book Laika’s Coraline is adapted from. It is best to examine how both films approach the overarching, figurative use of sight or vision as well as their literal representation of eyes. If “eyes are the windows to the soul,” as the saying goes, then perhaps Laika requires better shutters. Eyes are repeatedly stolen, or at least under the threat of being stolen, in both Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. Eyes are perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the human body because they are often said to reveal hidden aspects of one’s true feelings and thoughts.
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