First, I offer my apologies to any frequent readers I may still have (though I'm sure there are few or none) for the infrequency of my posts. Consider this my Christmas present to you. I'd also like to inform you that I have experienced a Christmas miracle-after having attended scarcely more than 10% of my lectures this past term, I got B grades in all my classes-far better than I could have ever hoped.
But, that's beside the point. As you may have gathered from the title of this post (if you're a devout fan) or certainly gathered from the video, this is a post about The Nightmare Before Christmas. I'd like to describe why it is my personal favorite Christmas movie.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Christmas movies. After all, it is the second best holiday of the year! Watching A Christmas Story is a family tradition. I can't remember a single Christmas morning during which A Christmas Story was not providing the background to my family and me opening our presents from Santa Claus.
Equally dear to my heart is A Charlie Brown Christmas because I've always been a huge fan of Charles Schultz's portrayal of children with huge adult personalities parading in children's bodies (whether in the comic or the animated Christmas special). Of course, few stories are as heart-warming as It's a Wonderful Life which has one of my all-time favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart, in the lead role. Last, Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas classic that will be broadcast on television for many Christmases to come-it's as close to the complete package as you can expect from a Christmas movie.
This is all, of course, beside the point. The Nightmare Before Christmas has something none of the others have. I'm not referring to the dark imagery. I'm not referring to the stop-motion animation (of which I am a huge fan [not as much in Nightmare as in this]). I'm not referring to Tim Burton, which is the shirtless guy in the video above's favorite element. (Yes... I do know him personally... Though I hate to admit it).
I think it's heart-warming that the scariest man in Halloween Town, The Pumpkin King Jack Skellington tries to bring Christmas to his frightful compatriots. Even as the most beloved man in town, however, he is somewhat of a misfit. The love and flattery of the townspeople are not enough for Jack.
After the most successful Halloween in Halloween Town's history which prominently featured Jack as the center attraction, he finds some time alone to soliloquize-in song-that something was missing from his life. Shortly after which, he stumbles upon Christmas Town and becomes enamored by its charms. I can hardly do this discovery justice-Christmas Town is the ideal white Christmas-filled with happy children, elves, and of course, Santa Claus (cleverly rendered Sandy Claws by the ignorant Jack). Jack is overjoyed by the concept of bringing-well, joy-to children instead of scaring them.
He promptly returns to Christmas Town to inform his loyal following of his discovery. No one quite seems to understand. In a town of monsters and misfits, Jack is an outcast-which I love. Frustrated with their inability to comprehend the nature of gift-giving and spreading holiday joy, he embarks on a journey to explain Christmas to them logically. He borrows a science kit from Dr. Frankenstein-I mean, Dr. Finkelstein-and puts candy canes and tree ornaments through rigorous tests. After his fruitless efforts, he comes to the discovery that he ought to give Sandy Claws a vacation and distribute gifts to the nice children of the world. He enlists the help of the people of Halloween Town, and things go awry.
As was stated earlier, they'd rather spread horror than joy on Christmas. Jack is too "wrapped" up in his scheme to realize how terrible the gifts are. Most of them come to life to scare children or are composed of dead animals. Sally, who reveals her feelings for Jack by sending him a care package while he's locked away conducting his experiments, is given the most important mission from Jack: to sew his Santa outfit. Three miscreants (Lock, Shock and Barrel) are to kidnap Sandy Claws to let him know he has Christmas Eve off, and to provide Jack with more information on him.
