ABOVE: This decorative pumpkin depicts Jack and Sally. Photo by amor_81 // flickr
By Julia Berkman
Tim Burton’s stop motion masterpiece “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is hitting the smaller Bellingham screens this week for a special screening. In case you can’t get in on the action, this comprehensive play-by-play of the movie should serve to whet your Halloween movie palate. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
The movie opens on the grim and gray city of Halloween Town. The whole community has come together for their annual Halloween celebration. Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king, is brought out, lit on fire, and dumped in toxic waste–a normal event in Halloween Town. This scene is a great opening to cast light on the main characters.
Poor, defenseless ragdoll Sally just wants to go see the celebration, but Finklestein, her evil creator, is determined to keep her inside. The moment where Sally rips off her own arm to save herself may seem gory to us humans, but the loss of limbs in Halloween Town is pretty run-of-the-mill. It does, however, give a new look to body autonomy.
Jack, despite the festivities, is bored with the rudimentary task of being the king of the pumpkins. Halloween has become routine to him, which he expresses in the iconic song “Jack’s Lament,” sung in the local cemetery. Little does he know, Sally is watching him from behind the tombstones. Lugubrious Jack and his faithful pet, a ghost-dog named Zero, wander into the outskirts of Halloween Town, jaded to all the horror their hometown has to offer. That’s when everything changes in a pivotal plot twist.
Jack discovers doors carved into some gnarled pine trees. They turn out to be portals to another world. It is only logical that, given the existence of Halloweentown, there would be a Christmas Town, Valentine Town, Chanukkah Town and perhaps even a President’s Day Town. Jack falls down the tree-shaped tree door into Christmas Town. What follows is a pure yet unsettling combination of characters. The king of Halloween has been transplanted into the pure snowy world of Christmas.
Christmas Town is awash with festivities, from garland hanging and tree decorating to sledding. This joyful celebration is something that Jack could never fathom. The holiday cheer kicks off the opening notes of the most popular song of the film, “What’s This?”
Christmas Town is just the spark Jack needs to reanimate Halloweentown and pull himself out of his funk. He comes back to town with a whole new idea of what Christmas should be. At the same time, Sally is falling deeply in love with Jack and growing wistful for the outside world. She poisons her creator and captor in order to escape the castle again and see Jack, who is trying to convince the members of Halloween Town to give Christmas a try.
Unable to win over his comrades, Jack stretches the truth about the feeling of Christmas: Santa becomes Sandy Claws, and reindeers are his flesh-eating servants. Halloweentownspeople convinced, Jack sets about kidnapping the elusive Sandy Claws for a truly eerie parody of Christmas. Sally is assigned to sew a red suit, while the evil Dr. Finklestein is set to generating some hellish reindeer mockup.
Three faithful yet mischievous trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock and Barrel, step up to the task of capturing Santa. Though at first they accidentally capture the Easter Bunny, they try again and succeed, bringing a frightened Santa back to Jack in his own bag. Although dismayed at his lack of claws, Jack interrogates Santa on how to make the best Christmas possible in Halloween Town.
After a few weeks of hard work, everyone in town has realized how terribly Christmas and Halloween go together. Sally tries to sabotage Jack’s final unveiling of his yuletide showcase with thick fog. Thankfully for Jack–yet sadly for everyone else–his dog lights the way with his glowing jack-o-lantern nose in parody of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Jack and his reindeer-abominations fly into the real world, ready to spread cheer to all.
Unfortunately for both Jack and the poor families he visits, his idea of a Christmas present is a shrunken head or a toothy rubber duck. The military is called upon to take down Jack’s sleigh, and with it his dreams of spreading Christmas cheer.
Meanwhile, Sally sneaks into the lair of Oogie Boogie, a gambling man in possession of Santa thanks to the trick-or-treaters. Sally thinks that only Santa can convince Jack that his attempts at Christmas are sorely misguided. Unfortunately, Sally is also captured by the Boogieman. Jack shows up, determined to save the man he idolized and the ragdoll woman he loves. The showdown between Oogie and Jack ends in an unraveling of Oogie’s burlap skin, and a victorious escape from his lair.
Santa, thoroughly traumatized by the whole event, chastises Jack for attempting to mix holidays. He takes to the skies in his sleigh and fixes Cristmas for the world. He also leaves Halloweentown one final parting gift: a snowfall. Amidst the snowflakes, Sally and Jack find that the true meaning of Christmas is love.
This film can warm a cold heart, and should be played from October first to December 24. You can watch it coming up on October 26 in VU 552 at 6 p.m.
BELOW: A Jack jack-o-lantern. Photo by Randy Robertson // flickr
