In 1982, while he was working as an animator for Disney, Tim Burton wrote a creepy little poem called “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” because of course that’s something that Tim Burton would do. About ten years later, he began production on an animated film based on the storyline of this poem. In 1993, the stop motion masterpiece The Nightmare Before Christmas was released to the world. It tells the story of immortal skeleton king Jack Skellington and his failed quest to run Christmas for himself. Having just discovered it several years ago and quickly turning it into an October movie tradition, I’ve begun to ponder whether there is more to this spooky story than just jack-o-lanterns and monsters.
When we first meet Jack, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, he is caught in a state of despair and ennui. As he declares in “Jack’s Lament”:
Yet year after year, it’s the same routine And I grow so weary of the sound of screams And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King Have grown so tired of the same old thing
But is this just plain old boredom? Does Jack just need a career change? His song seems to reveal some deeper discontent at work:
Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones An emptiness began to grow There’s something out there, far from my home A longing that I’ve never known
Hold on—is Jack experiencing sehnsucht? C. S. Lewis describes the concept this way in Mere Christianity: “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Jack’s own longings are reinforced once again in the closing lines of his lament:
Oh, there’s an empty place in my bones That calls out for something unknown The fame and praise come year after year Does nothing for these empty tears
He seems to find himself in the same place as the Teacher from the book of Ecclesiastes: all is vanity. The acclaim and adulation he receives from his subjects in Halloween Town, and his esteemed position, are all useless in light of his unsatisfied desires.
Lewis says that such longing means that we are made for another world. Interestingly, it is only by falling into another world, Christmas Town, that Jack comes in touch with something that stirs his soul. As he stumbles around gaping at the lights and colors, he sings:
There’s frost on every window I can’t believe my eyes And in my bones I feel a warmth That’s coming from inside
Jack has come into contact with what J. R. R. Tolkien calls, “Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world,” and the feeling begins to fill up the emptiness inside. Desperate for more, he sings:
I’ve never felt so good before This empty place inside of me is filling up I simply cannot get enough I want it, oh, I want it Oh, I want it for my own I’ve got to know I’ve got to know What is this place that I have found?
Enthralled with his discovery, Jack returns to Halloween Town with the good news of Christmas, but his fellow ghouls and goblins simply cannot grasp what he has seen. They can only see things through their own scary point of view. In frustration, Jack retreats to his tower and locks himself away, determined to discover the secret of what touched his heart in Christmas Town:
Christmas time is buzzing in my skull Will it let me be? I cannot tell There are so many things I cannot grasp When I think I’ve got it, and then at last Through my bony fingers it does slip Like a snowflake in a fiery grip Something’s here I’m not quite getting Though I try, I keep forgetting Like a memory long since past Here in an instant, gone in a flash What does it mean? What does it mean?
After some struggle, Jack arrives at a revelation, a moment of faith of sorts:
It’s simple really, very clear Like music drifting in the air Invisible, but everywhere just because I cannot see it Doesn’t mean I can’t believe it
Armed with such assurance, Jack embarks upon a well meaning but very misguided attempt to run Christmas himself, with the help of everyone else in Halloween Town. He sets them about making creepy presents, and instructs the mischievous trio of children, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, to kidnap Santa Claus and bring him back to Halloween Town. Instead, they betray Jack and hand Santa over to the evil Oogey Boogey.
Meanwhile, the rag-doll woman Sally, who secretly pines for Jack, has a bad premonition about this whole scheme, and tries to warn Jack, but he is so blinded by his enthusiasm that he ignores her warnings.
As can be expected, Christmas comes, and Jack’s plan to run Christmas turns out horribly wrong. Worldwide panic erupts as children encounter their scary presents, and the armies of the world shoot Jack and his sleigh out of the sky. But there is grace even then for Jack and his misguided vision. Caught in the arms of a graveyard angel (which in the poem is a stone cross), Jack laments his own blindness. He also realizes that he’s ultimately meant to be the Pumpkin King, and proclaims his desire to “give it all I’ve got” next year. He also realizes that he needs to set things right, and passes through the grave to save Santa Claus and Sally from Oogie Boogie. After grappling with the villain, Jack grabs a loose thread from Oogie’s burlap body, and shouting, “How dare you treat my friends so shamefully!” rips away Oogie’s shell to reveal a mass of bugs, which drop into the fire below. In a bit of Genesis 3 action, Santa even squashes the last bug from Oogie’s body under the heel of his boot. Jack apologizes for making a royal mess of Christmas, and Santa sets off to make things right. As a parting gift, he flies over Halloween Town and leaves a benediction of snowfall and Christmas lights. As the residents of the town discover these new wonders for themselves, Jack finds Sally out under the moonlight, where he sings:
My dearest friend, if you don’t mind I’d like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars And sit together, now and forever For it is plain as anyone can see We’re simply meant to be
Thus it is that a Pumpkin King of Halloween discovers Joy through Christmas, which leads him to everlasting Love.