How do you do,
There is a reason scripture says "do not plow with an ox and an ass"[1]. The ox has strength while the donkey has speed; the ox will be guided to the right direction while the donkey is stubborn enough to not heed, unless some treat is held ahead; the ox is patient in work while the donkey will make much noise. In other words, they don't agree with each other and work will be unproductive without unity.
What does this have to do with the movie? It is to illustrate the point that the film has in the story: unless they are episodes in a characters life, one can't have a story with Hallowe'en and Christmas.
Hallowe'en and Christmas. In the old days, it was easy to tell which is which because they both have differing histories, yet were only the same in being set up by the Christian Church in the Medieval period in place of old Pagan holidays.
Christmas was set up as the celebration of the Birth of Christ, though the Holy Bible does not give us the exact date that Jesus was born. From clues, it can be assumed His actual birthday was in the spring, but the scientific research suggests Jesus to have been born in the month of June. We don't even have the year, being either 6 or 4 BC. It was settled to have the celebration happen on December 25 which was mere days after the Winter Solstice and coincided with the Roman festival of Saturnalia. This ancient festival was largely something like Marde Gras is today, with the festivities concluding with gift giving, consisting of presents made of wax. With the advent of Christianity in the Empire, this celebration fell by the wayside and the celebration of the Nativity took shape. Another ancient festival was that of Yuletide, a Northern European sort. This one involved decorating household with ferns and evergreens to keep a bit of spring during the winter while the god Odin would visit with presents. Today, these have passed on as the Christmas tree and visits from Santa Claus. The word Christmas come from the Anglo-Saxon "Christe Mass", meaning "Christ's Mass", and it was originally a season and not just a day. Beginning with the vigil on Christmas Eve, Christmas became a twelve day season that continued with additional feast days and ending with the Epiphany. In the Middle Ages, this season was also when people went into the Festival of Fools (like in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). In short it was something like Marde Gras. The modern celebration of Christmas is more recent, having its origins in the Puritanical societies of England and America, where carolers would sing carols for a treat and make mischief if not appeased, before the more family friendly picture from the Victorian Era.
Hallowe'en differs in lacking a Biblical account to origins. Instead, we have the ancient feast of Samhein (pronounced Sa-wain) in the British Isles. The Druids celebrated this feast as a new year with bonfires, guising, and divination, supposedly. After Christianity came, Samhain was also abandoned and the All Saints' Day was set up on the first of November, coinciding with the Pagan feast. Later, it was joined by All Souls' Day where it was to remember the departed who were in Purgatory. To balance this came All Hallows' Eve, which is roughly translated as "All Holy Eve", and the slurring of it lead to the word Hallowe'en. The Christian celebration of All Hallows' Eve included the baking of soul cakes for the All Hallowtide and making of lanterns in turnips to ward off spirits, but the celebration was also suppressed by the Puritans. Gradually, it made its way to America where guising became putting on costumes. Trick o' treating arose from the tradition of begging on this particular day (some of which was connected to Caroling in Christmas) which gave the threat of vandalism if nothing was given or the treats were unsatisfying (Charlie Brown could have put those rocks to use). In America, it use to be common for vandalism to happen on Halloween night until it was decided to appease the children with sweets (from lollipops to candy apples). There was also the fascination with ghosts that arose from the All Saints' and All Souls' days that became ghouls, the more spacious pumpkins replaced turnips as a Jack o' lantern, the bobbing for apples done in parties (coinciding with the apple harvest), and telling of ghost stories. Here too was the more familiar celebration a product of recent times.
So that is the general history of Hallowe'en and Christmas, two holidays with a mixture of Pagan and Christian elements from the old world, brought to the new, and realized in the 19th Century, and both have become commercialized. You can walk into stores at this time of the year and see their decorations out already and in more times than not you'll see Hallowe'en cards that feature white ghosts, orange pumpkins, green skin witches, and black cats, along with Hallowe'en themed candy. Costume stores also sell costumes that have a devilish side to it, though many targeted for adults are a little more erotic than macabre. The same with Christmas. If you took ten types of decorations, only one of them would feature Jesus, the Nativity setting, or anything Biblical basis while the rest are white snowmen (like Frosty), Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, a giant present, and so on. If there was one decoration that one could find now is anything related the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. For example, I recently went to a Hallowe'en themed store (since I don't put stock in the commercial side of Halloween, I won't dignify this store by saying its name; especially since someone could use this a product placement for them) and saw an animatronic Skeleton Jack who says phrases from the movie. Standing in a store with ghoulish animatrons and set ups that Dante, Poe, and Lovecraft, possibly Giger, could have imagined, it would be funny to see this tall skeleton wish you a Merry Christmas. But that leads me to the movie its self and to show how this movie is a good example of why one shouldn't yoke an ox with an ass.
The movie is Tim Burton's take on the animated shows that were Holiday themed and aired on television as he was growing up, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Here Comes Peter Cottontail. All are alike in how they bring up a secular (except for The Little Drummer Boy) world in the holiday themed movie that is easily seen as a commercial for the candy and card companies. Yet, Burton apparently decided to make a little story that served as the basis for the movie after seeing Christmas decorations replace Hallowe'en ones in a store, plus the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas. So, he crafted a simple story of a skeleton named Jack who decided, one day, to bring Christmas to Hallowe'en by taking it over. What happens next is he has Santa Claus replaced by himself and makes his own sleigh and reindeer, and goes out to deliver presents, only to have it all blow up in his face. Santa comes to Jack and lets him know of his mistake and fixes everything up and everyone is back in his proper place. The movie, of course, expands on this.
First, the movie opens by bringing the viewer into a forest with a couple of trees. A narrator then claims the story takes places in a world with holiday themed countries, all of which are accessible through their themed doors. Of course, you see the familiar images of them that are often presented in cards: Valentine's has the shape of a heart, St. Patricks a shamrock, Easter an egg, Thanksgiving a turkey, and Christmas a Christmas tree. Then we see that Hallowe'en is represented by a Jack o'lantern (not the original turnip made but the American one with the pumpkin). One thing to note is despite showing holidays Americans are familiar with and using the American fruit that lanterns are carved from, we don't see a representation of Independence Day among the trees, or Mother's Day, Father's Day, or even Mardi Gras. All of these are just as commercialized as Hallowe'en and Christmas, but thankfully they kept Thanksgiving in the frame.
The idea of a land of Holiday themed countries sounds good, but it is never really explored. Not only that, the narrator says it took place long ago, but the film's climax has modern day cities. Yet, I can't figure out an excuse for that while having what looks like a quaint American town set up in the House of Hades. This last is Hallowe'en Town, a ghoulish, simple American town where ghosts and goblins live, the cemetery is the main feature, and trees are all dead. Most frequently, the town is shown at night, with a fog and a full moon, to add another Gothic element to the mix. Christmas Town is shown as the foil. It's presented as a winter wonderland, not too different from those decorations you might see in the stores, but downsized. Apparently, both towns live for their respected holidays as the movie opens with the denizens of Hallowe'en singing about All Hallows' Eve in the accurately titled song "This Is Hallowe'en". After the number, they declare it over and all praise Jack for orchestrating what he calls their "most horrible yet". Next, he goes to Christmas and sees that already are the elves making toys for Santa as the count down to Christmas Eve begins.
One thing I can't really believe in the opening narration is it is said the film takes place long ago in this Holiday World, yet when we see Jack's Christmas Eve flight we are suddenly in Modern America. That I can't think of any explanation that would work for everyone.
A couple of things are hard to digest in rewatches as a Catholic. For example, the movie is incredibly secular. Jack never comes upon a Creche while in Christmas Town, and the reason why it's called Christmas Town is never brought up. Nor is there anything of a religion in Hallowe'en or mention of soul cakes. At the same time, we have a cemetery in Hallowe'en Town with some tombstones being crosses, but no chapel next to it. There's not even a church there (and I'll add also that there doesn't seem to be anything related to Druidism or Wicca there either). Jack swears "by God" twice in one song, but that is the only time we hear of God. When Jack sings his lament, there is a line that makes no sense. It goes "I'm a master of fright, I'm a demon of light"[2] This bothers me lately as demons are not really associated with the light, but darkness. I know in Ancient Greece the demon had a different connotation, but the demon is largely seen as a harmful spirit that often bothers people. Even the word demon comes from Greek, Daimon, to mean "divide", which matches well to the statement "fighting our inner demons" as they divide us from goodness. They can be seen in allegories where demons take shape in addictions, in lust, in anger, and in mental defects. The lyric in the song, "Jack's Lament", changes this and implies he is a eudaimon, which means "good demon", a term that doesn't make sense to a Christian perspective. It's a Catch-22 that has come up: if an angel rebels against God it is a fallen angel (which Christianity also claims demons to be fallen angels), yet if a demon parted from the Devil and repented it's not really a demon.
Jack's title as Pumpkin King, a self-proclaimed "demon of light", makes the character come off as Lucifer, yet he is meant be Everyman in a moral play. While he likes the fact that he can scare people away (hey, he's a walking, talking skeleton of a man, after all) he tires of the way things remain. His lament expresses this as he sees the same Hallowe'en doing the same old thing. So he walks out of the town on Hallowe'en Night and goes searching for something new. The next morning, he finds the forest with the trees and of all the doors to choose from, he picked Christmas. Jack is then transported to Christmas Town for his number "What's This?", which is about the least ghoulish song in the movie. In it, Jack sees all the traditions associated with Christmas, but like I said he doesn't come upon a Creche (Might have lead to a case of, "what's this? A woman near a manger / What's this? a sleeping baby is in there!" and noting the Three Kings and Shepherds, plus the Angel and a Star, then wonders why it's filling him with warm feelings). No, Jack only sees the town, the animals, the children, the trees, and the snow (he even takes a bite of a snow ball that almost resembles a marshmallow). He also believes that Santa Claus, calling him "Sandy Claws" like some children would, is the ruler of Christmas Town. So, like an explorer who went to a different country, he comes back with souvenirs and shows them to his friends, only none seem to understand in his eyes. Neither does he, for he begins to try to find a rational explanation for Christmas to the people whose sole purpose is to be frightful. Eventually, Jack abandons that and thinks that it should all be shared and that is when he gets a new idea.
So, the plot is that Jack is bring Christmas to Hallowe'en, or rather bring Hallowe'en to Christmas, however way you see it. His way of doing that is by taking it over in what could be seen as an adult as a coup de'tat. But the denizens of Hallowe'en hop aboard with it. During "Making Christmas" a group of vampires make a duck toy, a mad scientist brings up undead reindeer, and Sally, a ragdoll girl with a crush on Jack, makes him his suit. Sally has her own subplot that even the guy in Hollywood's War on God would have plenty to say about. She was created by a wheel chair bound scientist who exhibits a Frankenstein complex, complete with Igor, and comes off as overbearing. However, Sally doesn't simply want to be a "dutiful daughter" of his and tries to go out frequently and he doesn't want to. After the opening number, it's revealed she slipped deadly nightshade into his drink and ran off. She does it again to see the town meeting, and he grounds her upon recovery (personally, I don't know how it is he tolerates her or why he needs her when he has Igor). Eventually, she sneaks out the window and falls down, a la Lucifer from Heaven, and the Doctor forgets all about her as he makes a new creation. As opposed to winding up in her own Hell, Sally gains paradise in her rebellion by becoming the voice of reason in Jack's take over of Christmas and ultimately heroic (sort of). She becomes the voice of reason after seeing a vision of destruction. However, Jack doesn't heed her and has the trio of kids, the Boogie Boys (one of them is girl, though), kidnap Santa. The last part I always find amazing as Santa has a song that says "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake / He knows if you've been bad or good..."[3] which suggests him to be omnipresent (something I discussed in "St. Nick vs Santa Claus"), and yet he didn't know the Boogie Boys were coming. Wouldn't their names already be on the naughty list and Santa be waiting for them? (Speaking of names, they are named Lock, Shock, and Barrel, a parody of the phrase "lock, stock, and barrel"). At least, this instance brings him down to that of a man. Even Jack gets it when he discovers Santa doesn't have claws like he thought he did. Jack then takes over his holiday duties as gift giver and goes out on his sleigh ride (plus Zero, when the fog is thick enough to keep Jack from flying, like with Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer). Of course, Jack's gift giving results in chaos and the military mobilizes. Finally, Jack gets shot out of the sky and he finally learns his lesson that Christmas and Hallowe'en don't mix.
There comes a point in How the Grinch Stole Christmas where the Whos in Whoville find everything taken as the Grinch predicted, yet they stand out in the town square and sing joyfully anyway. This tells the Grinch that despite what he had done Christmas still came and realizes "maybe Christmas...doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."[4] We don't get that in A Nightmare Before Christmas. When Jack is shot down, Hallowe'en Town goes into mourning for their fallen king while in Christmas, Santa's absence leads to the authorities to cancel Christmas to the shock and grief of all. Even Jack hears it and repents of his ruining of the holiday. "Poor Jack" has him starting with this and saying he didn't intend it to happen this way, almost as if Tim Burton was speaking through him on how his works were intended to entertain and critics have made it something it wasn't. He then decides he knows who he really is and what he was meant for.
Of course, the movie deviates from Burton's source material from this point. The Boogie Boys are heard plotting to kidnap Santa by the Boogie Man, known as Oogie Boogie. Santa is brought to Oogie Boogie who is gloats over him in his "Boogie Song". To me, Oogie Boogie was created to give the movie a villain, though not very active one, considering how he doesn't show up until half way into the movie, and with no formal introduction. He falls under the category of a trope, that is not in the TV trope website, I'd like to call Villain in a Coffin, or Vampire Villain for short. This type of villain is usually an exceptionally powerful character, practically able to destroy the world if he wanted to. Yet, this power has weakened his body greatly and is killing him, so he has to isolate himself in a chamber to prevent his demise, leaving minions and underlings to do his evil deeds. Oogie Boogie falls under this in many strokes: he spends his screen time under the house of the Boogie Boys, as though he were Satan in Hell (in Dante sense, the Boogie Boys are the three beasts the poet comes across in Inferno) and while being terrifying, he is fragile. He never fights Jack directly, mostly just avoiding him when they meet, and all it takes is Jack pulling a seam (revealing him to be nothing but a sand bag containing bugs) and he falls apart, literally. Yet, in his time, he threatens Santa with death, though it is delayed like a standard Bond villain would have it. Sally rescues him with her trick of coming apart and coming back together, but it wears off fast and she's captured. With her hands and leg off, she's vulnerable and this is something they were wise to keep from the movie. So, it's Jack who comes to the rescue to set things right. The rescue of Santa, and Sally, was added obviously to add more tension to the movie. At least, Santa is permitted to squash the remaining bug in the name of Christmas. However, I still wonder why the Boogie Boys are not given any punishments for their actions? For the most part, they are practically let off the hook and they never get a lump of coal.
Once everyone, and everything, is back in its proper place, there doesn't seem to be any ill will. Santa flies over Hallowe'en Town and gives them the gift of snowfall while Jack has gotten holiday usurpation out of his system. There is a nice moment in this kind of peace offering where Santa and Jack exchange their holiday greetings, showing Hallowe'en and Christmas have mended all bridges and they can be good friends while staying in their places. Of course, this moral is somewhat out the window with the snowfall in Hallowe'en Town and the denizens singing a reprise of "What's This?" while doing hockey and snow ball fights. Jack even finds Sally in the snow covered cemetery and reveals his feelings for her (despite the lack of any build up to it) which closes the film with the implication that Peace, Love, and Joy have a spot in Hallowe'en.
For the most part, there is little to no mention of the meaning of holidays. The prologue claims they come from a magical world with trees that have doors. The secular nature prevents someone from being like Linus and recite a passage from scripture when Jack wonders on Christmas. He laments on how no one in town understand it, yet he can't seem to get the meaning of it either. A few times, he seems to want to bring it up only to drop it for entertainment. The same with Hallowe'en where none of the town's denizens mention a founder or why they are what they are. Instead, it's a town where people talk of scaring everyone and everything, just like in Monsters Inc where the characters live to scare people. Even with the Disney and Touchstone logo, The Nightmare Before Christmas is still a commercial for card companies and candy companies. It wasn't really all that great when it first came out, but it has gained a cult following when it was aired on ABC Family, now called Freeform, along with another Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus. Both movies were about someone seeking out a meaning in holidays, which makes it ironic that the said television channel is using them as Hallowe'en themed commercials (more so with Nightmare as it is also considered a Christmas movie). Even for that, there are few good merits for the film to make it a classic that it is.
The movie does contain some artistic expressions in the scenes, especially in terms of color. Black, gray, red, and orange are common in Hallowe'en Town, mostly to denote the deathly looks of the town with a touch of Fall. Christmas Town is given white and blue for the winter, with tradition green and red, along with silver and gold. Both towns are shown frequently at night, as Hallowe'en night is the time for trick'o treating and Christmas is just after the Winter Solstice. The ghouls of Hallowe'en and the deathly atmosphere give it a feel of a ghost town in a literal sense. This in contrast to the elf inhabited Christmas Town, largely to show a contrast between life and death. As to the towns, Hallowe'en is filled with German expressionism while Christmas can be seen as being like Dr. Seuss.
The music is another thing that has lasted long. The opening number, "This is Hallowe'en", is memorable, though the flaw I find in it is it introduces to us characters by name who have almost nothing to do with the plot. The One Hiding Under Your Stairs gets a cameo, but we don't see The One Hiding Under Your Bed in body while the Clown With the Tear-Away Face is little more than an extra. Some who actually do things are not mentioned by name, such as the vampires, the werewolf, the harlequin demon, the glob man, and the witches. The Shadow of the Moon resembles Oogie Boogie, but nothing is used to explain that in the film. I will say one of the characters is made as a joke: the Mayor. The Mayor has a happy face with a manly voice for the most part, but it turns to a gloomy and depressed one with a whiny voice when the mood strikes him, a play on the phrase "two faced" (in fact, it goes on the idea of politicians being two faced). Jack has not one but four solo numbers in the movie. "Jack's Lament" and "Poor Jack" are effectively soliloquies as they permit the audience to hear Jack's thoughts in each case (the first of them establishes his character). "What's This?" and "What Does It Mean?" are his way of trying figure out Christmas. Sally also gets her number, "Sally's Song" where she speaks of not only her feelings but also her concern for Jack, having seen the vision of Christmas ending in disaster. Then the Boogie Boys sing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws", while Oogie Boogie sing "The Boogie Song", both of which fall into the category of Disney villain songs, though not included in some lists. One thing interesting is the song "Making Christmas", which is done to the tune of "Dies Irae". "Dies Irae" was a Gregorian chant, done mostly as a requiem in funerals. The title is Latin for "Day of Judgement" and it has been translated by many Classical composers, such as Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique and Verdi. In Danny Elfman, it becomes "Making Christmas", an irony that a Christmas song would be sung to a chant done in funerals (it'd be funnier if someone actually played it in a wedding as opposed to the "Ave Maria" or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"). Then again, who is to say this is a first. I mean, have you ever heard of "Happy X-Mass", "I Believe in Father Christmas", or "Christmas At Ground Zero"? Hardly jolly enough songs and yet they are considered Christmas songs.
If there is one good thing to close off, it's that Tim Burton has not given this movie any sequels, which is a good enough defiance to commercializing of holidays.
For additional information on Hallowe'en and Christmas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas
Notes.
1. Deuteronomy 2:10
2. "Jack's Lament" The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton. Danny Elfman. 1993.
3. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". Coots and Gillespie. 1934.
4. Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Random House. 1957.
Hallowe'en and Christmas. In the old days, it was easy to tell which is which because they both have differing histories, yet were only the same in being set up by the Christian Church in the Medieval period in place of old Pagan holidays.
Christmas was set up as the celebration of the Birth of Christ, though the Holy Bible does not give us the exact date that Jesus was born. From clues, it can be assumed His actual birthday was in the spring, but the scientific research suggests Jesus to have been born in the month of June. We don't even have the year, being either 6 or 4 BC. It was settled to have the celebration happen on December 25 which was mere days after the Winter Solstice and coincided with the Roman festival of Saturnalia. This ancient festival was largely something like Marde Gras is today, with the festivities concluding with gift giving, consisting of presents made of wax. With the advent of Christianity in the Empire, this celebration fell by the wayside and the celebration of the Nativity took shape. Another ancient festival was that of Yuletide, a Northern European sort. This one involved decorating household with ferns and evergreens to keep a bit of spring during the winter while the god Odin would visit with presents. Today, these have passed on as the Christmas tree and visits from Santa Claus. The word Christmas come from the Anglo-Saxon "Christe Mass", meaning "Christ's Mass", and it was originally a season and not just a day. Beginning with the vigil on Christmas Eve, Christmas became a twelve day season that continued with additional feast days and ending with the Epiphany. In the Middle Ages, this season was also when people went into the Festival of Fools (like in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). In short it was something like Marde Gras. The modern celebration of Christmas is more recent, having its origins in the Puritanical societies of England and America, where carolers would sing carols for a treat and make mischief if not appeased, before the more family friendly picture from the Victorian Era.
Hallowe'en differs in lacking a Biblical account to origins. Instead, we have the ancient feast of Samhein (pronounced Sa-wain) in the British Isles. The Druids celebrated this feast as a new year with bonfires, guising, and divination, supposedly. After Christianity came, Samhain was also abandoned and the All Saints' Day was set up on the first of November, coinciding with the Pagan feast. Later, it was joined by All Souls' Day where it was to remember the departed who were in Purgatory. To balance this came All Hallows' Eve, which is roughly translated as "All Holy Eve", and the slurring of it lead to the word Hallowe'en. The Christian celebration of All Hallows' Eve included the baking of soul cakes for the All Hallowtide and making of lanterns in turnips to ward off spirits, but the celebration was also suppressed by the Puritans. Gradually, it made its way to America where guising became putting on costumes. Trick o' treating arose from the tradition of begging on this particular day (some of which was connected to Caroling in Christmas) which gave the threat of vandalism if nothing was given or the treats were unsatisfying (Charlie Brown could have put those rocks to use). In America, it use to be common for vandalism to happen on Halloween night until it was decided to appease the children with sweets (from lollipops to candy apples). There was also the fascination with ghosts that arose from the All Saints' and All Souls' days that became ghouls, the more spacious pumpkins replaced turnips as a Jack o' lantern, the bobbing for apples done in parties (coinciding with the apple harvest), and telling of ghost stories. Here too was the more familiar celebration a product of recent times.
So that is the general history of Hallowe'en and Christmas, two holidays with a mixture of Pagan and Christian elements from the old world, brought to the new, and realized in the 19th Century, and both have become commercialized. You can walk into stores at this time of the year and see their decorations out already and in more times than not you'll see Hallowe'en cards that feature white ghosts, orange pumpkins, green skin witches, and black cats, along with Hallowe'en themed candy. Costume stores also sell costumes that have a devilish side to it, though many targeted for adults are a little more erotic than macabre. The same with Christmas. If you took ten types of decorations, only one of them would feature Jesus, the Nativity setting, or anything Biblical basis while the rest are white snowmen (like Frosty), Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, a giant present, and so on. If there was one decoration that one could find now is anything related the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. For example, I recently went to a Hallowe'en themed store (since I don't put stock in the commercial side of Halloween, I won't dignify this store by saying its name; especially since someone could use this a product placement for them) and saw an animatronic Skeleton Jack who says phrases from the movie. Standing in a store with ghoulish animatrons and set ups that Dante, Poe, and Lovecraft, possibly Giger, could have imagined, it would be funny to see this tall skeleton wish you a Merry Christmas. But that leads me to the movie its self and to show how this movie is a good example of why one shouldn't yoke an ox with an ass.
The movie is Tim Burton's take on the animated shows that were Holiday themed and aired on television as he was growing up, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Here Comes Peter Cottontail. All are alike in how they bring up a secular (except for The Little Drummer Boy) world in the holiday themed movie that is easily seen as a commercial for the candy and card companies. Yet, Burton apparently decided to make a little story that served as the basis for the movie after seeing Christmas decorations replace Hallowe'en ones in a store, plus the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas. So, he crafted a simple story of a skeleton named Jack who decided, one day, to bring Christmas to Hallowe'en by taking it over. What happens next is he has Santa Claus replaced by himself and makes his own sleigh and reindeer, and goes out to deliver presents, only to have it all blow up in his face. Santa comes to Jack and lets him know of his mistake and fixes everything up and everyone is back in his proper place. The movie, of course, expands on this.
First, the movie opens by bringing the viewer into a forest with a couple of trees. A narrator then claims the story takes places in a world with holiday themed countries, all of which are accessible through their themed doors. Of course, you see the familiar images of them that are often presented in cards: Valentine's has the shape of a heart, St. Patricks a shamrock, Easter an egg, Thanksgiving a turkey, and Christmas a Christmas tree. Then we see that Hallowe'en is represented by a Jack o'lantern (not the original turnip made but the American one with the pumpkin). One thing to note is despite showing holidays Americans are familiar with and using the American fruit that lanterns are carved from, we don't see a representation of Independence Day among the trees, or Mother's Day, Father's Day, or even Mardi Gras. All of these are just as commercialized as Hallowe'en and Christmas, but thankfully they kept Thanksgiving in the frame.
The idea of a land of Holiday themed countries sounds good, but it is never really explored. Not only that, the narrator says it took place long ago, but the film's climax has modern day cities. Yet, I can't figure out an excuse for that while having what looks like a quaint American town set up in the House of Hades. This last is Hallowe'en Town, a ghoulish, simple American town where ghosts and goblins live, the cemetery is the main feature, and trees are all dead. Most frequently, the town is shown at night, with a fog and a full moon, to add another Gothic element to the mix. Christmas Town is shown as the foil. It's presented as a winter wonderland, not too different from those decorations you might see in the stores, but downsized. Apparently, both towns live for their respected holidays as the movie opens with the denizens of Hallowe'en singing about All Hallows' Eve in the accurately titled song "This Is Hallowe'en". After the number, they declare it over and all praise Jack for orchestrating what he calls their "most horrible yet". Next, he goes to Christmas and sees that already are the elves making toys for Santa as the count down to Christmas Eve begins.
One thing I can't really believe in the opening narration is it is said the film takes place long ago in this Holiday World, yet when we see Jack's Christmas Eve flight we are suddenly in Modern America. That I can't think of any explanation that would work for everyone.
A couple of things are hard to digest in rewatches as a Catholic. For example, the movie is incredibly secular. Jack never comes upon a Creche while in Christmas Town, and the reason why it's called Christmas Town is never brought up. Nor is there anything of a religion in Hallowe'en or mention of soul cakes. At the same time, we have a cemetery in Hallowe'en Town with some tombstones being crosses, but no chapel next to it. There's not even a church there (and I'll add also that there doesn't seem to be anything related to Druidism or Wicca there either). Jack swears "by God" twice in one song, but that is the only time we hear of God. When Jack sings his lament, there is a line that makes no sense. It goes "I'm a master of fright, I'm a demon of light"[2] This bothers me lately as demons are not really associated with the light, but darkness. I know in Ancient Greece the demon had a different connotation, but the demon is largely seen as a harmful spirit that often bothers people. Even the word demon comes from Greek, Daimon, to mean "divide", which matches well to the statement "fighting our inner demons" as they divide us from goodness. They can be seen in allegories where demons take shape in addictions, in lust, in anger, and in mental defects. The lyric in the song, "Jack's Lament", changes this and implies he is a eudaimon, which means "good demon", a term that doesn't make sense to a Christian perspective. It's a Catch-22 that has come up: if an angel rebels against God it is a fallen angel (which Christianity also claims demons to be fallen angels), yet if a demon parted from the Devil and repented it's not really a demon.
Jack's title as Pumpkin King, a self-proclaimed "demon of light", makes the character come off as Lucifer, yet he is meant be Everyman in a moral play. While he likes the fact that he can scare people away (hey, he's a walking, talking skeleton of a man, after all) he tires of the way things remain. His lament expresses this as he sees the same Hallowe'en doing the same old thing. So he walks out of the town on Hallowe'en Night and goes searching for something new. The next morning, he finds the forest with the trees and of all the doors to choose from, he picked Christmas. Jack is then transported to Christmas Town for his number "What's This?", which is about the least ghoulish song in the movie. In it, Jack sees all the traditions associated with Christmas, but like I said he doesn't come upon a Creche (Might have lead to a case of, "what's this? A woman near a manger / What's this? a sleeping baby is in there!" and noting the Three Kings and Shepherds, plus the Angel and a Star, then wonders why it's filling him with warm feelings). No, Jack only sees the town, the animals, the children, the trees, and the snow (he even takes a bite of a snow ball that almost resembles a marshmallow). He also believes that Santa Claus, calling him "Sandy Claws" like some children would, is the ruler of Christmas Town. So, like an explorer who went to a different country, he comes back with souvenirs and shows them to his friends, only none seem to understand in his eyes. Neither does he, for he begins to try to find a rational explanation for Christmas to the people whose sole purpose is to be frightful. Eventually, Jack abandons that and thinks that it should all be shared and that is when he gets a new idea.
So, the plot is that Jack is bring Christmas to Hallowe'en, or rather bring Hallowe'en to Christmas, however way you see it. His way of doing that is by taking it over in what could be seen as an adult as a coup de'tat. But the denizens of Hallowe'en hop aboard with it. During "Making Christmas" a group of vampires make a duck toy, a mad scientist brings up undead reindeer, and Sally, a ragdoll girl with a crush on Jack, makes him his suit. Sally has her own subplot that even the guy in Hollywood's War on God would have plenty to say about. She was created by a wheel chair bound scientist who exhibits a Frankenstein complex, complete with Igor, and comes off as overbearing. However, Sally doesn't simply want to be a "dutiful daughter" of his and tries to go out frequently and he doesn't want to. After the opening number, it's revealed she slipped deadly nightshade into his drink and ran off. She does it again to see the town meeting, and he grounds her upon recovery (personally, I don't know how it is he tolerates her or why he needs her when he has Igor). Eventually, she sneaks out the window and falls down, a la Lucifer from Heaven, and the Doctor forgets all about her as he makes a new creation. As opposed to winding up in her own Hell, Sally gains paradise in her rebellion by becoming the voice of reason in Jack's take over of Christmas and ultimately heroic (sort of). She becomes the voice of reason after seeing a vision of destruction. However, Jack doesn't heed her and has the trio of kids, the Boogie Boys (one of them is girl, though), kidnap Santa. The last part I always find amazing as Santa has a song that says "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake / He knows if you've been bad or good..."[3] which suggests him to be omnipresent (something I discussed in "St. Nick vs Santa Claus"), and yet he didn't know the Boogie Boys were coming. Wouldn't their names already be on the naughty list and Santa be waiting for them? (Speaking of names, they are named Lock, Shock, and Barrel, a parody of the phrase "lock, stock, and barrel"). At least, this instance brings him down to that of a man. Even Jack gets it when he discovers Santa doesn't have claws like he thought he did. Jack then takes over his holiday duties as gift giver and goes out on his sleigh ride (plus Zero, when the fog is thick enough to keep Jack from flying, like with Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer). Of course, Jack's gift giving results in chaos and the military mobilizes. Finally, Jack gets shot out of the sky and he finally learns his lesson that Christmas and Hallowe'en don't mix.
There comes a point in How the Grinch Stole Christmas where the Whos in Whoville find everything taken as the Grinch predicted, yet they stand out in the town square and sing joyfully anyway. This tells the Grinch that despite what he had done Christmas still came and realizes "maybe Christmas...doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."[4] We don't get that in A Nightmare Before Christmas. When Jack is shot down, Hallowe'en Town goes into mourning for their fallen king while in Christmas, Santa's absence leads to the authorities to cancel Christmas to the shock and grief of all. Even Jack hears it and repents of his ruining of the holiday. "Poor Jack" has him starting with this and saying he didn't intend it to happen this way, almost as if Tim Burton was speaking through him on how his works were intended to entertain and critics have made it something it wasn't. He then decides he knows who he really is and what he was meant for.
Of course, the movie deviates from Burton's source material from this point. The Boogie Boys are heard plotting to kidnap Santa by the Boogie Man, known as Oogie Boogie. Santa is brought to Oogie Boogie who is gloats over him in his "Boogie Song". To me, Oogie Boogie was created to give the movie a villain, though not very active one, considering how he doesn't show up until half way into the movie, and with no formal introduction. He falls under the category of a trope, that is not in the TV trope website, I'd like to call Villain in a Coffin, or Vampire Villain for short. This type of villain is usually an exceptionally powerful character, practically able to destroy the world if he wanted to. Yet, this power has weakened his body greatly and is killing him, so he has to isolate himself in a chamber to prevent his demise, leaving minions and underlings to do his evil deeds. Oogie Boogie falls under this in many strokes: he spends his screen time under the house of the Boogie Boys, as though he were Satan in Hell (in Dante sense, the Boogie Boys are the three beasts the poet comes across in Inferno) and while being terrifying, he is fragile. He never fights Jack directly, mostly just avoiding him when they meet, and all it takes is Jack pulling a seam (revealing him to be nothing but a sand bag containing bugs) and he falls apart, literally. Yet, in his time, he threatens Santa with death, though it is delayed like a standard Bond villain would have it. Sally rescues him with her trick of coming apart and coming back together, but it wears off fast and she's captured. With her hands and leg off, she's vulnerable and this is something they were wise to keep from the movie. So, it's Jack who comes to the rescue to set things right. The rescue of Santa, and Sally, was added obviously to add more tension to the movie. At least, Santa is permitted to squash the remaining bug in the name of Christmas. However, I still wonder why the Boogie Boys are not given any punishments for their actions? For the most part, they are practically let off the hook and they never get a lump of coal.
Once everyone, and everything, is back in its proper place, there doesn't seem to be any ill will. Santa flies over Hallowe'en Town and gives them the gift of snowfall while Jack has gotten holiday usurpation out of his system. There is a nice moment in this kind of peace offering where Santa and Jack exchange their holiday greetings, showing Hallowe'en and Christmas have mended all bridges and they can be good friends while staying in their places. Of course, this moral is somewhat out the window with the snowfall in Hallowe'en Town and the denizens singing a reprise of "What's This?" while doing hockey and snow ball fights. Jack even finds Sally in the snow covered cemetery and reveals his feelings for her (despite the lack of any build up to it) which closes the film with the implication that Peace, Love, and Joy have a spot in Hallowe'en.
For the most part, there is little to no mention of the meaning of holidays. The prologue claims they come from a magical world with trees that have doors. The secular nature prevents someone from being like Linus and recite a passage from scripture when Jack wonders on Christmas. He laments on how no one in town understand it, yet he can't seem to get the meaning of it either. A few times, he seems to want to bring it up only to drop it for entertainment. The same with Hallowe'en where none of the town's denizens mention a founder or why they are what they are. Instead, it's a town where people talk of scaring everyone and everything, just like in Monsters Inc where the characters live to scare people. Even with the Disney and Touchstone logo, The Nightmare Before Christmas is still a commercial for card companies and candy companies. It wasn't really all that great when it first came out, but it has gained a cult following when it was aired on ABC Family, now called Freeform, along with another Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus. Both movies were about someone seeking out a meaning in holidays, which makes it ironic that the said television channel is using them as Hallowe'en themed commercials (more so with Nightmare as it is also considered a Christmas movie). Even for that, there are few good merits for the film to make it a classic that it is.
The movie does contain some artistic expressions in the scenes, especially in terms of color. Black, gray, red, and orange are common in Hallowe'en Town, mostly to denote the deathly looks of the town with a touch of Fall. Christmas Town is given white and blue for the winter, with tradition green and red, along with silver and gold. Both towns are shown frequently at night, as Hallowe'en night is the time for trick'o treating and Christmas is just after the Winter Solstice. The ghouls of Hallowe'en and the deathly atmosphere give it a feel of a ghost town in a literal sense. This in contrast to the elf inhabited Christmas Town, largely to show a contrast between life and death. As to the towns, Hallowe'en is filled with German expressionism while Christmas can be seen as being like Dr. Seuss.
The music is another thing that has lasted long. The opening number, "This is Hallowe'en", is memorable, though the flaw I find in it is it introduces to us characters by name who have almost nothing to do with the plot. The One Hiding Under Your Stairs gets a cameo, but we don't see The One Hiding Under Your Bed in body while the Clown With the Tear-Away Face is little more than an extra. Some who actually do things are not mentioned by name, such as the vampires, the werewolf, the harlequin demon, the glob man, and the witches. The Shadow of the Moon resembles Oogie Boogie, but nothing is used to explain that in the film. I will say one of the characters is made as a joke: the Mayor. The Mayor has a happy face with a manly voice for the most part, but it turns to a gloomy and depressed one with a whiny voice when the mood strikes him, a play on the phrase "two faced" (in fact, it goes on the idea of politicians being two faced). Jack has not one but four solo numbers in the movie. "Jack's Lament" and "Poor Jack" are effectively soliloquies as they permit the audience to hear Jack's thoughts in each case (the first of them establishes his character). "What's This?" and "What Does It Mean?" are his way of trying figure out Christmas. Sally also gets her number, "Sally's Song" where she speaks of not only her feelings but also her concern for Jack, having seen the vision of Christmas ending in disaster. Then the Boogie Boys sing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws", while Oogie Boogie sing "The Boogie Song", both of which fall into the category of Disney villain songs, though not included in some lists. One thing interesting is the song "Making Christmas", which is done to the tune of "Dies Irae". "Dies Irae" was a Gregorian chant, done mostly as a requiem in funerals. The title is Latin for "Day of Judgement" and it has been translated by many Classical composers, such as Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique and Verdi. In Danny Elfman, it becomes "Making Christmas", an irony that a Christmas song would be sung to a chant done in funerals (it'd be funnier if someone actually played it in a wedding as opposed to the "Ave Maria" or "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"). Then again, who is to say this is a first. I mean, have you ever heard of "Happy X-Mass", "I Believe in Father Christmas", or "Christmas At Ground Zero"? Hardly jolly enough songs and yet they are considered Christmas songs.
If there is one good thing to close off, it's that Tim Burton has not given this movie any sequels, which is a good enough defiance to commercializing of holidays.
For additional information on Hallowe'en and Christmas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas
Notes.
1. Deuteronomy 2:10
2. "Jack's Lament" The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton. Danny Elfman. 1993.
3. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". Coots and Gillespie. 1934.
4. Dr. Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Random House. 1957.
