32 years ago, on Oct. 29, 1993, the iconic mixed-holiday movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” was released to the public. While Henry Selick directed the film itself, Tim Burton held responsibilities for original production and the overall story concept. In 1982, he wrote a satirical poem meant to be a parody of the popular poem “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas,” while he was animating Disney. Later, the poem and Burton’s original character Jack Skellington were adapted into a real stop-motion film.
The story takes place in a fictional town called Halloween Town. Jack Skellington, the beloved Pumpkin King, becomes bored with the same spooky routine of scaring people in the real world, leading him to stumble upon a door that leads to Christmas Town. Bewildered by the bright colors and cheerfulness, Jack forms a plan to take over Christmas by hiring Boogie’s Boys, a trio of trick-or-treaters acting as Oogie Boogie’s henchmen, to kidnap Santa Claus. However, the trio brings Santa to Oogie Boogie, Jack’s biggest rival, where Sally must rescue Santa from Boogie’s twisted games. While Jack is in the real world pretending to be Santa and scaring people, he is shot out of the sky by the military, where he then lands in a cemetery. He finds that this experience gives him new ideas for future Halloweens, as well as his love for the holiday back.
Throughout the 32 years that the movie has been out, there has been one question that cannot seem to be answered: What holiday does “The Nightmare Before Christmas” represent overall? More specifically, what time of year is most appropriate to binge this movie?
There are many holiday features in the film. For example, the main setting is Halloween, but for a good proportion of the movie, we focus on the aspects of Christmas, especially Santa Claus himself. Jack often ponders aspects of Christmas. He doesn’t understand the colors, music, and kindness while simultaneously attempting to become a “horror” version of Santa. His lack of understanding forces him to turn what Christmas really is into another Halloween tradition, while the people of Christmas Town desperately try to get their holiday back.
That being said and drawn to conclusion, what is the main point of the movie? Is it for the Pumpkin King to find his love for Halloween again, or is it for Santa and the people of Christmas to take back their holiday?
