The debate over the famous Tim Burton movie, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, has been going on for a very long time; is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? There are many ways this could be interpreted, but I have decided to interpret it as a question of what it symbolizes more.
While many could say that the movie is a Halloween movie because it is set in Halloween Town. I believe that the setting plays a minor role in the movie. This movie has many settings, and while it was primarily placed in Halloween Town, Burton projects Christmas Town onto Halloween Town when they start decorating for Christmas in Halloween Town. This makes Christmas a major theme in the setting portion of the movie.
When it comes down to the characters of this movie, it is very clearly a spooky Burton movie. There are skeletons, ghosts and even witches. Everybody looks weird and unnatural. When I think of Halloween, that is exactly what I picture in my mind. We see Jack Skellington, a scary skeleton, who is tall, lanky and very eerie, as well as Sally, who is sewn together, and sends chills down my spine when I see her arm get ripped off. Burton clearly did an almost perfect job on the aesthetic this movie creates in Halloween Town. He makes you feel weird inside, even during the Christmas scenes. In this case, this feels more like a Halloween movie rather than a Christmas movie.
This movie shows many traits of a Halloween movie. It has a spooky atmosphere, it has a fun Halloween-esque soundtrack and it has Halloween themes like skeletons and other traditional Halloween creatures. While this might be true, a common theme in this movie is how outsiders see Christmas. When you look at the movie, you notice that the Halloween aspect is just about the characters. The characters are based on traditional Halloween monsters. Even they become festive for Christmas. The common theme in every single topic of discussion is Christmas.
When it comes down to the reality of this movie, Burton did a great job creating this movie to work both in the Christmas season and the Halloween season. I believe that you can watch this movie and it will be fitting for either season. This movie fits any occasion, whether it be staying in on Halloween with your closest friends eating candy while watching Jack be a Pumpkin King, or if it’s cozying up with your family with hot chocolate, watching the Boogey Man gamble on Sally’s life. When it comes down to how I would classify the movie, I would say it is 100% a Christmas movie. It perfectly explains what Christmas is like to an outsider.
