Every year, it seems that Halloween creeps in earlier than before, and with it, its Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington.
Take the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland; it’s a haunted house with ghosts that, as soon as Halloweentime arrives at the Disneyland resort at the end of summer, becomes inhabited by Jack and the people of Halloweentown. However, they’re not there for Halloween; they’re there to make Christmas. There’s the rub, because the once cult and now very mainstream holiday staple from the mind of Tim Burton and director Henry Selick is about one holiday taking over another.
So with Halloween about to make way for the Christmas season at the end of this week, io9 looks at both sides of the great debate. There are arguments both ways, but let’s settle this once and for all. Is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween movie? Or should you file it under Christmas instead?
It starts at the end of Halloween night
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The intro to the film is, yes, a rousing anthem from the film’s composer, Danny Elfman, about Halloween and the town that makes it happen every year. We get introduced to Jack as being the main scarer and patron of the holiday as the people of Halloweentown essentially throw an after-party. Halloween may be over for the year, but it’s what powers the entire population of this place. (Verdict: one point in favor of Nightmare being a Halloween movie.)
Jack is literally done with Halloween
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So done that he walks out of the land itself and into the woods where all the other holiday doors are. Haven’t any of us gotten tired of being known for one thing and sought to reinvent ourselves? That’s where Jack is at here. (Verdict: one point in favor of Nightmare being a Christmas movie.)
Christmas becomes a hyperfixation
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“What’s This?” is the anthem for anyone who finds something new and decides to make it their whole personality and everyone’s problem. Jack gets one taste of something vastly different than his culture and tries to appropriate it so hard! (Verdict: Christmas.)
Halloweentown has one job
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In this town they call home, they have one job and that’s to make Halloween. (Verdict: Halloween.)
They let Jack work through this Christmas thing
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Jack decides that he’s bringing Christmas with him to Halloweentown for everyone to try as, like, a group project when maybe Jack needs group therapy. And since everyone “yesses” Jack, he’s only enabled. (Verdict: Christmas.)
They are making Christmas
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Once Jack gets everyone on board, their focus moves away from Halloween to giving Christmas a twist. It’s undeniably festive, even though the Christmas gifts they make end up being Halloween tricks and treats in freakishly adorable boxes with bows and ribbons. (Verdict: Christmas.)
Sally foretells doom if Jack does Christmas
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Sally is the heart of the movie and she knows what holiday she’s really in. It’s a horror show trying to make Christmas and she has a premonition it’s going to blow up in Jack’s face because he’s the Pumpkin King. (Verdict: Halloween.)
The town square calendar counts down to Christmas
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The main events of the story take place in the 35 days before Christmas. Jack skips over Thanksgiving and goes full holly jolly in November, and it couldn’t be more clear: it does not take place in the lead-up to Halloween. So there, it’s a Christmas movie. (Verdict: Christmas.)
Jack becomes Santa
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The conclusion is clear to Jack: Sandy Claws = CHRISTMAS. So he has his lackeys kidnap Santa. His trusty dog, Zero, even joins his skeleton reindeer squad with a nose that lights up. (Verdict: Christmas)
The film culminates on Christmas in the human world
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After learning a hard lesson (but not before terrorizing families with frights instead of holiday delights), Jack realizes he should stick to Halloween. After freeing Santa from Oogie Boogie, Jack helps St. Nick take off to make Christmas right on Christmas night. Even though when Santa goes by Halloweentown, he does utter “Happy Halloween.” (Verdict: Christmas.)
Halloween and Jack are simply meant to be
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Okay, sure, so it turns out that Santa confirms that within Halloweentown, every day can be seen as Halloween. And Sally helps Jack remember who the hell he really is: the Pumpkin King as well as her true love. So go ahead, live like Jack and Sally and have Halloween on Christmas. We’ll keep wishing it never ends. (Verdict: Halloween.)
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