The Nightmare Before Christmas is a visually appealing movie that often blurs the lines between different holidays. Produced by Tim Burton, “The Nightmare before Christmas” is often the subject of argument about which season the movie belongs in; Christmas or Halloween. However; the story, plot, lessons, and the surroundings around Jack in the movie leaves no question about the movie belonging to Christmas.
The plot of The Nightmare Before Christmas is centered around the idea of Christmas. According to Alyssa Avania at Screenrant, “ It is obvious that when he discovers Christmas, he is ready to leave his former life and holiday behind and would like to take over as the new and improved Santa” (December 24, 2019). Jack Skellington is unhappy in his realm of Halloween and wants to celebrate a new holiday. He goes out adventuring and finds a new realm with trees, presents, and snow. This inspires him to take over Christmas himself! Throughout the whole movie, watchers follow his adventures of making the santa suit, getting a sled, making toys and so much more. Jack is determined throughout the movie, to become the new Santa.
Tim Burton, who wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas, entwined life lessons for everyone of any age to learn and undertsand. A big lesson to kids that shines in the movie is to adapt to change. According to Katherine Hochrein at Linked in, “Granted the idea to pursue the Christmas takeover was seemingly decided on a whim, as Jack gathered his team to share his enthusiasm and vision for taking over Christmas. To achieve the objective of taking over Christmas, various tasks were delegated and goals were set” ( October 29th, 2023). Halloween Town learns how to adapt to changing circumstances, and takes on Christmas as a challenge.
The surroundings Jack is surrounded by throughout the movie plays a huge role in categorizing the film under the Christmas holiday. As the song ‘What’s This?’ is playing, we see Jack get thrown into the Christmas realm. While he is there he comes into contact with Christmas trees, snowflakes, colors and so much more. This is where Jack falls in love with Christmas and uses the surroundings and symbols he saw to take Christmas for himself.
While the movie ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’ might also feature Halloween concepts, the overall motive of the movie is to take over Christmas. The lessons portrayed in the movie, the story, plot, and the environments featured in the movie all indicate what season it truly belongs to; Christmas.
