Why Nightmare Before Christmas Is Unforgettable
It’s that time of year. We pull up the soundtrack. The leaves roll in, and we draw happy skeletons for Inktober. We do it because the telltale music reminds us of finding our soul.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Tim Burton film about the king of Halloween getting tired of his role. While going for a walk with his ghost dog, Jack Skellington finds Christmas Town and decides to try out the holiday for himself. It obviously goes wrong, because Halloween ghouls and monsters don’t understand unbridled joy, but Jack regains his purpose and fixes things. It’s a beautiful musical, about how the darkest things aren’t necessarily the scariest ones.
Why Nightmare Before Christmas persists as the perfect story for the holiday.
Nighmare Before Christmas acknowledges that we want to be scared. The movie opens with the monsters telling us how they scare us, and that they are real. There is a time and place to jump and scream. It’s just that we don’t want to be scared all the time, or cause long-term trauma.
What’s more, Jack Skellington’s ennui is relatable to anyone who is creative. Him hosting Halloween becomes more of a job than a passion, and while he’s obviously good at it, the routine comes with a mundane sense of accomplishment. We want to get out of our ruts and find a way to assuage our fears about what happens to enjoy our job.
Jack only rediscovers himself when he tries something new — hijacking Christmas — and admits that while it went up in smoke, he realizes that he likes being the Pumpkin King. Being scary IS fun and he’s good at it. What’s more, Halloween is HIS holiday. Understanding that helps him come to terms with his ennui. He returns to Halloweentown to save Santa and Sally from Oogie Boogie.
He also came to appreciate the people, monsters and ghouls who adore him. Santa Claus forgives him for the hijacking, and later visits when Jack is a father with children, according to the extended soundtrack. Jack admits that he probably would do it all over again, knowing what he did, because he would find Sally and the joy in his life again.
Usually when a monster hijacks Christmas, they’re a Grinch trying to ruin the holiday. Jack genuinely wants to spread the joy that he has discovered. Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand what “joy” is at different times of the year. A kid may not want a shrunken head or a toy that is trying to attack them. He tries his best, but he knows the Halloween scares better.
Sally’s arc is also important. Sally is a ragdoll creation who is more or less the daughter of the local mad scientist. He restricts her freedom and treats her restlesness as a rebellious phase. Eventually, Sally gains the courage to leave her father’s house, and make her own way through the world. She also is the only one who realizes the holiday will go wrong. Jack has always treated her as a friend, but he soon sees that they can be more than that under a snowy, moonlit night.
The music is also sweet and rocking. Danny Elfman put his heart and soul into singing Jack, while apparently he was suffering a lot of stress during production. He knows exactly the problems that Jack is suffering. Meanwhile Catherine O’Hara, who was also the mother in Home Alone, adds so much pathose to Sally’s solo. We get a nice blend of Halloween scares and moonlit joys, and some jazz for Oogie Boogie.
I know what I’ll be enjoying this season. Let’s join the skeleton in the snow, as he explores colored lights and decorations.