"The Nightmare Before Christmas" has been a holiday classic ever since its release in
1993.
The only problem is, fans have always had trouble deciding which holiday it belongs
to.
The film’s Gothic visuals and horror-inspired characters make it quintessentially Halloween,
but the plot and theme of the movie are undeniably Christmas-y.
This debate has gone on for so long that even the film’s director, Henry Selick,
has had to go on the record and say that it’s --
drum roll, please --
a Halloween movie.
But we’re going to go ahead and disagree with Selick to make a more unusual argument
here.
Actually it’s time to declare "The Nightmare Before Christmas" the quintessential Thanksgiving
movie.
Sure, the movie doesn’t explicitly deal with Thanksgiving in its plot, but hear us
out.
As the halfway point between Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving is the perfect time
to watch a movie that’s a little bit about both of those holidays.
Thanksgiving is also desperately lacking in quality entertainment,
so it’s always a struggle each year to think of a good movie to watch on the holiday that’s
not "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."
Even if it didn’t intend to, the film actually does a great job of depicting what Thanksgiving
is all about
as it explores the holiday's core themes of thankfulness and appreciating what we’ve
got.
Thanksgiving is the time to express gratitude for what we have, whether that's family, friends,
or good health.
Thankfulness is literally in the name of the holiday, Thanksgiving.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" explores this very theme
through the character of Jack and his existential crisis.
"And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King, have grown so tired of the same old thing."
Jack is tired of Halloween and everything about it.
His dissatisfaction with being the Pumpkin King is a lack of thankfulness towards what
he has in his life.
But, after discovering and nearly destroying Christmas, he abandons his quest to become
Santa Claus
and doubles down on being the Pumpkin King,
"That's right!
I AM the Pumpkin King!"
appreciating the gift he didn’t realize he had, and being rewarded with the fullness
of feeling thankful.
One of the central aspects of Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving movie
is self-reflection and review of the events of the previous year.
Jack captures that reflective, analytical mood as he tries to better understand
his place in the world and what he wants to contribute.
You could say that Jack’s adventure even shares a vague similarity to the story of
the Pilgrims.
Both are searching for freedom or to escape from a status quo, looking for a new world.
But Jack's search for a more satisfying life only makes him realize
how great his life in Halloweentown already is.
Jack’s lesson to stick to what he knows directly opposes what Halloween’s about,
which is something that you aren’t; literally donning a mask to hide your true identity.
And we know that Jack ultimately fails at Christmas,
since he’s not managing to embody the purely cheerful and joyous Christmas spirit.
The most commercial holiday, Christmas places a lot of emphasis on gift-giving.
But as we see, Jack’s idea of a great present demonstrates that
he doesn’t quite have a handle on that idea.
So Jack’s arc doesn’t really represent the themes of either Halloween or Christmas,
as well as it does the pure-and-simple thankfulness of Thanksgiving.
When Jack discovers Christmas, the extent of his exposure is a three-minute song and
dance,
so he doesn’t have the slightest understanding of the holiday.
Once he returns home with the plan to create his own Christmas,
he has to rely on his familiarity with Halloween.
So this leads to his creating a holiday that combines the macabre aesthetic of Halloween
with the merry glee of Christmas.
Much like Jack’s Christmas, Thanksgiving shares aspects from each holiday.
It falls dead center between the them both literally and metaphorically.
Visually, Thanksgiving shares a lot of its aesthetic and color scheme with Halloween.
It features earthy tones like orange, brown and green.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" gets a lot of mileage out of this similarity halfway
through the film.
After returning from Christmastown, Jack locks himself in his home, desperate to understand
the holiday.
The town which previously looked gray and low-contrast even in daylight is suddenly
more vibrant.
We see a rich, earthy color palette start to appear.
This shift in the film’s use of color visually reflects the change of seasons from early
to mid-fall.
So this alludes to the transition the town is about to undergo from celebrating Halloween
to Christmas,
but what we actually see looks a lot more like Thanksgiving season.
In addition to its fall connections with Halloween, Thanksgiving shares thematic links with Christmas:
the emphasis on family, gratitude and joy, themes that Jack’s story also touches on.
While he doesn’t have a literal family, the citizens of Halloweentown stand in for
his family,
which he comes to appreciate, however untraditional it may be.
"How dare you treat my friend so shamefully!"
So if Thanksgiving is in some ways a hybrid of its neighboring holidays,
Jack’s take on Christmas could be considered a creative interpretation of Thanksgiving.
It would be an example of telling it slant, as poet Emily Dickinson would put it,
or finding a personal, untraditional way of expressing an idea.
The truth of Thanksgiving is effectively revealed through the story of
using Halloween to celebrate an unusual Christmas.
Right after Jack and Santa Claus exchange greetings, it even begins to snow in Halloweentown.
"Happy Halloween!"
As the citizens enjoy their newfound winter wonderland, we hear
a combined rendition of “This is Halloween” and “What’s This?”
"This is Halloween.
Halloween.
What’s This?
What’s This?"
The two holidays have fused into a new one.
Still, before we can confidently declare this a Thanksgiving movie,
we have to consider the state of the genre, or lack thereof.
We have to ask “why aren’t there more good Thanksgiving movies?”
and “what even is a Thanksgiving movie?”
Does it have to explicitly feature the holiday celebration,
and why is it so hard to do a Thanksgiving movie well?
There are a few problems to overcome when you center a movie around the Thanksgiving
dinner.
There’s nothing inherently cinematic about sharing a meal.
Some of the more forgettable Thanksgiving movies rely too much on the iconography of
the holiday --
turkey, fall colors, family reunions -- without really giving us much new
beyond recreating the dinner we might have just had in our own homes.
Or they give us sappy emotion without really earning it.
Going back to how Emily Dickinson would look it,
these on-the-nose Thanksgiving movies may not be telling the story slant enough.
Another option is to lean away from sentimentality and let dysfunction creep into the family
get-together.
This is probably more dramatic and might result in a better movie,
but perhaps less in the spirit of Thanksgiving.
So it might be hard to argue that this is still a Thanksgiving movie
rather than a movie that just features some scenes around the holiday.
Meanwhile, there’s no reason that a Thanksgiving movie actually has to feature Thanksgiving
dinner at all.
The theme of thankfulness might be served better by different images
rather than just watching people consume a meal.
And the introspective nature of Thanksgiving -- the activity of taking stock of your life
and reflecting on events from your year -- that can be represented in a lot of different stories.
"As anyone can see / We're simply meant to be."
The few good Thanksgiving movies there are often don't feature the holiday very much,
or show it only in passing.
"You want the bird?
Go in the alley and eat the bird!"
The same issues apply when it comes to classifying something as a Christmas movie
versus just a movie that features a Christmas scene.
The content and themes are really what decide holiday movie status.
Whatever it meant to or not, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" expresses
the central ideas of Thanksgiving in a unique and enjoyable way.
Just like Thanksgiving, it bridges the gap between Halloween and Christmas
and it leaves the viewer in a thoughtful, grateful place.
When considered as a Halloween or Christmas movie, it’s just another classic in a crowded
space.
But as a Thanksgiving movie, it stands out alongside only a small handful of other must-see
post-Turkey films.