I feel like such a film student, analyzing The Nightmare Before Christmas...
Wow, I never thought that being in this major would make me so damn critical of film nowadays. It's not just new summer blockbusters that I roll my eyes at, it's old favourites that I reexamine.
This weekend, very little was accomplished other than massive Supernatural watching with mooglepower, flyingpanther, and rickjamesbiatch. I saw Nightmare Before Christmas: 3D in Long Beach with wildglitterwolf and her sister, thesquirrelyone. (By the by, thesquirrelyone, you have WAY TOO MANY LOVEBARS IN YOUR USERINFO, KTHX.) And this is what inspired me.
As I watched the film I have seen many dozens of times over, I not only began to marvel at some shot compositions (damn you, Jay's storyboarding!), but I began to analyze: just what is the message this movie is trying to show? Is it actually about the blending of holidays? Homogeny of America? Or is it about something else?
Nightmare is the typical gothy/punk/outcast/Hot Topic movie. It's amazing, I'll say it right now. It has some of the most creative and successful designs of animation in recent years, or perhaps even of all time. Burton's style is defined by this movie. But. But, but, but. The movie's message is so different than what I thought it was that I was almost shocked by how stupid I was. Maybe it's obvious to many or all of you, but I have to say it now.
Stripping the art, music, and design away, the movie is a backwards tale about childhood. It's about growing up and fitting in. True that the people of Halloween Town are comfortable with their setting (where their Christmas toys are murderous, fanged stuffed bears). True that Jack is the Pumpkin King, and he's loved for it. But he longed for something else. He longed to be - dare I say it? - normal. He wanted to drop the fright of Halloween in favour of cheer, and Christmas joy. It's so insanely the perfect example of the typical life of a person who really enjoys the movie. The outcast, the kid who wears all black. The kid who feels different, alone, not normal, and the kid who's all along felt like he or she is different than the normalites that enjoy Christmas cheer. They'd rather be in Halloween Town.
It's disgusting, almost, taking that into account as you examine the plot. What happens to Jack when he attempts to assume Santa's role? He is rejected, feared, hated. He's hated enough to be shot from the sky, for fuck's sake. It's way too much the typical reaction of discrimination, and way too much paralleling historic reactions. Military force to quell the uprising of the minorities. And when Jack awakens in the graveyard, he realizes that he can't deny who he is. So sure, many this is a typical story of being true to one's self (which is a message I always enjoy and admire), but really, how much can you argue that, when even after Jack saves Santa from getting killed by Oogie Boogie, Santa is still a jerk about shit? I mean, what the hell. Santa does come back in the end to wish Jack a Happy Halloween, and to bring snow, but I still don't see it as harmony between the races. So is the message in the end trying to tell all of the gothy/punk kids out there, "don't even try to be normal, you're still a freak"? I don't know. It just made me think.
As a side note? As I'm working through Supernatural again like no one's business, I am going to throw a general invitation out there for SPN marathons, if any of y'all want to start watching. I get nervous about lending out my DVDs, especially when they're as popular with me as my SPN DVDs are at the moment, but I'll gladly have a marathon with y'all. So, just saying. thesnowmelts?
Also, WHY IS IT 90 DEGREES OUT AT 9AM? FUCK THIS CITY. @&*@&^!&(
This weekend, very little was accomplished other than massive Supernatural watching with mooglepower, flyingpanther, and rickjamesbiatch. I saw Nightmare Before Christmas: 3D in Long Beach with wildglitterwolf and her sister, thesquirrelyone. (By the by, thesquirrelyone, you have WAY TOO MANY LOVEBARS IN YOUR USERINFO, KTHX.) And this is what inspired me.
As I watched the film I have seen many dozens of times over, I not only began to marvel at some shot compositions (damn you, Jay's storyboarding!), but I began to analyze: just what is the message this movie is trying to show? Is it actually about the blending of holidays? Homogeny of America? Or is it about something else?
Nightmare is the typical gothy/punk/outcast/Hot Topic movie. It's amazing, I'll say it right now. It has some of the most creative and successful designs of animation in recent years, or perhaps even of all time. Burton's style is defined by this movie. But. But, but, but. The movie's message is so different than what I thought it was that I was almost shocked by how stupid I was. Maybe it's obvious to many or all of you, but I have to say it now.
Stripping the art, music, and design away, the movie is a backwards tale about childhood. It's about growing up and fitting in. True that the people of Halloween Town are comfortable with their setting (where their Christmas toys are murderous, fanged stuffed bears). True that Jack is the Pumpkin King, and he's loved for it. But he longed for something else. He longed to be - dare I say it? - normal. He wanted to drop the fright of Halloween in favour of cheer, and Christmas joy. It's so insanely the perfect example of the typical life of a person who really enjoys the movie. The outcast, the kid who wears all black. The kid who feels different, alone, not normal, and the kid who's all along felt like he or she is different than the normalites that enjoy Christmas cheer. They'd rather be in Halloween Town.
It's disgusting, almost, taking that into account as you examine the plot. What happens to Jack when he attempts to assume Santa's role? He is rejected, feared, hated. He's hated enough to be shot from the sky, for fuck's sake. It's way too much the typical reaction of discrimination, and way too much paralleling historic reactions. Military force to quell the uprising of the minorities. And when Jack awakens in the graveyard, he realizes that he can't deny who he is. So sure, many this is a typical story of being true to one's self (which is a message I always enjoy and admire), but really, how much can you argue that, when even after Jack saves Santa from getting killed by Oogie Boogie, Santa is still a jerk about shit? I mean, what the hell. Santa does come back in the end to wish Jack a Happy Halloween, and to bring snow, but I still don't see it as harmony between the races. So is the message in the end trying to tell all of the gothy/punk kids out there, "don't even try to be normal, you're still a freak"? I don't know. It just made me think.
As a side note? As I'm working through Supernatural again like no one's business, I am going to throw a general invitation out there for SPN marathons, if any of y'all want to start watching. I get nervous about lending out my DVDs, especially when they're as popular with me as my SPN DVDs are at the moment, but I'll gladly have a marathon with y'all. So, just saying. thesnowmelts?
Also, WHY IS IT 90 DEGREES OUT AT 9AM? FUCK THIS CITY. @&*@&^!&(