Since Halloween season is here, many look forward to the creepy, gory movies to embrace the spooky season. As I also prepared to welcome the spirit of Halloween, I came across The Nightmare Before Christmas movie by Tim Burton, and wondered the same question I always had: is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween or Christmas movie? The Echo asked various Neuqua students this question, and their answers were equally divided. More curious than ever, I rewatched the movie. Here’s a breakdown:

Tim Burton—famous for directing the movies Beetlejuice and The Corpse Bride—is well-known for his crazy hair and unique art style. Right after writing Beetlejuice, Burton wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas, breaking the common Halloween themes presented in his previous movies and introducing a new setting: Christmas. The main character Jack, a skeleton named “The Pumpkin King,” is celebrated by everyone in this Halloween town, its residents being broken, decaying beings where screams and horror are part of their everyday lives. The town residents sing “This is Halloween” to show how their passion for the holiday is a permanent part of their lifestyle and how they will never get sick of it. However, Jack, the Pumpkin King feels like something is missing, introducing us to the Christmas aspect of the movie.

Jack is instantly enchanted by the idea of Christmas and desperately wants to adopt it in his Halloween town, certain that everyone will agree and joyfully change their customs for him. Of course, that is impossible, and so the movie carries with this Halloween vs. Christmas theme until the end. It eventually shifts from Jack trying to adapt Chritsmas to stealing Christmas, furthermore showcasing his true nature: yelling at others and making scary faces while talking about the holiday. No matter how Jack tried to steal Christmas, there was always Halloween everywhere. When the dead musicians started playing “Jingle Bells” and “Here Comes Santa Claus,” the songs didn’t sound lively—they sounded dead and depressing. Not to mention, throughout the whole movie they referred to Santa Claus as “Sandy Claws” because that just made sense to them. “You don’t look like yourself, Jack, not at all… you’re the Pumpkin King!” says Sally, Jack’s dearest friend, who tried to warn him all along how stealing Christmas was a bad idea.

After watching the movie, it was difficult to categorize it between two distinct holidays. Tim Burton was definitely trying something new here. However, Burton will always be known for his goth movies despite the fact that there was a “Sandy Claws” in the movie. Jack ruining Christmas for all children without being aware of it explains that none of this was meant to be destructive in his perspective, on the contrary, he wanted to do good. Unfortunately, the chaotic outcome cannot be denied, even for Jack himself. With slow realization, Jack knew that he could not steal a holiday. And so with an evil laugh, Jack embraced who he really is, “I am the Pumpkin King! And I just can’t wait until next Halloween ‘cause I’ve got some new ideas that will make them scream.”