26 Sep The Nightmare Before Christmas: Five Lessons from the Movie
I woke up feeling sort of blah, today. I’m not sure if it’s the weather or just stress and imposter syndrome making me feel like a failure at life, but I just don’t feel like myself. Despite that, I’m taking pictures for my blog, trying to remember to eat a healthy breakfast despite not having an appetite, and chugging along hoping these negative feelings will pass. I woke up thinking about Jack in the Nightmare Before Christmas.
We love decorating for fall | Halloween | the holidays with this movie in mind. We finally finished painting our metal Funko POPs DIY from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and I have to say I am pleased with how they turned out. I’m taking pictures for a new post, and it’s Jack’s turn for his closeup. As I arrange the POPs and snap the pictures, I can’t help thinking of Jack, the Pumpkin king. The more I watch the movie, the more I understand his feelings and why he did what he did. I understand his dilemma. I totally get Jack.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
*This description of the story will contain slight spoilers that will not ruin the story, but will give a summary of the plot. If you prefer to watch the movie and come back to my analysis of Jack’s dilemma then stop here…
…go on, I’ll wait…*
Also known as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, this movie is a stop-motion film based on a poem written by Tim Burton, himself, in 1982. The poem finally made its debut as a movie in 1993, and although it had a ‘modest’ box office hit, it has since earned quite a cult following.
The story follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. The town has just completed this year’s Halloween, and Jack is on his way home after another successful performance as the scary Pumpkin King. He is troubled and wonders if this is all there will ever be to his life. He feels as if he’s missing out on something more, but he can’t quite figure out what. As he laments over his troubled thoughts, he comes to an unfamiliar clearing in the woods with a door that leads him to Christmas Town.
“What’s this?” Christmas Town is unlike anything Jack has ever seen before – it’s fresh and new, bright and colorful, and Jack believes this is what he’s been missing all along. He explores the town, hiding so he isn’t seen, and returns to Halloween Town feeling more inspired than he has in years. Immediately, he finds the mayor, calls a town meeting, and tells everyone what he’s discovered. The townspeople are intrigued, but they have a hard time picturing Christmas outside of how they see Halloween. Spooky is all they know.
Jack takes to his house to try to understand this new holiday. But he can’t. He just knows he wants it for himself. So instead of understanding the holiday, he comes to a new realization and convinces the townspeople to take over Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas has a love interest, a villain, hench-people, and (of course) Santa Claus. Each character is unique and adds something to the story. Jack plans his Christmas Day takeover with a curiosity and excitement that he hasn’t experienced in years, and the people of the town can’t help but follow his lead. In his quest to find new meaning in his own life, Jack fails to understand the true meaning of Christmas and ends up almost ruining the day for all the children.
If you’ve never seen this charming movie (albeit a bit complicated and maybe a tad problematic), it is definitely worth a watch. Especially during this spooky season and into the holidays. Hubs and I watch it every year and it’s become like our little family tradition to turn it on while we decorate.
Jack’s Dilemma
Jack is good at what he does – so good, in fact, that he is dubbed “the Pumpkin King” by the townspeople and around the world. And what he does is scare people. It’s what the town does, being Halloween Town. But Jack is tired of the sound of screams year after year. In fact, he’s tired of doing the same things over and over again.
He feels empty – unfulfilled – and he feels like there’s something out there calling to him. Although he doesn’t know what that is. Not to say he isn’t proud of his accomplishments. In fact, he’s quite full of himself and what he is. But he still feels like he’d give it all up to satisfy the unknown in his mind.
He seemingly has it all – fame, the admiration of all who know him, talents, and (I guess?) good looks. But that doesn’t matter to him because he feels like there is still something missing – something out there for him. Honestly, I think Jack is bored of doing the same thing over and over. He’s unmotivated to do the thing he’s done for so long and is so good at.
Jack is all of Us
At some time in each of our lives, I think we feel like we want more. What if this isn’t all I’m made for? We get up, go to work, come home, eat, watch tv, sleep, and wake up to do it all again. No matter what we do and how much we love what we do, life can all seem a bit repetitive after a while. Like Repunzel asking When Will My Life Begin.
One of the cool things about living a geek life is being able to find lessons in our favorite shows and identify with some of our favorite characters. Or maybe it’s just the nerdy side of my geekiness showing, but I often find value in the things I can learn when I indulge in my fandoms.
Makes it a bit more meaningful, don’t you think?
So I understand how it feels to get up and go to work – most of us do. We get into a routine and go into autopilot. There have been mornings when I’ve pulled into the parking lot for work and wondered how I got there. I woke up and just went full-on auto. My routine can be done with my eyes closed and half the time I don’t have to make any extra effort to think about what I’m doing.
After a while, I started to wonder if this was all there was to life. Like, am I really going to just do this until I retire? Yes, I’m good at my job – I excel at it. Even still, I feel like an imposter in someone else’s life, sometimes. And there are days when I just want out – I want something different and I want to live someone else’s life for a bit. Do you ever feel this way?
Honestly, this is where comics, manga, anime, and Star Wars come in. They allow me to step out of my world and enter into another world for a little while. Sometimes we just need a break.
So what do we do when this happens? Do we see someone else happily living their life and doing their job and try to take that from them? Are we going to try something new even if we fail? Or do we just keep our heads down and work through it?
I don’t have the answers. But I do know that I’ve felt just like Jack before. More than once. And every time I watch the Nightmare Before Christmas, I learn something new about myself.
Five Lessons The Nightmare Before Christmas Teaches Us
- It’s okay to want more out of life
- Don’t be afraid to try new things
- Don’t take anyone else’s shine
- Always be yourself
- Learn to admit your mistakes
First, it is okay to want more out of life.
You can be great at what you do and still want more out of life. Even if everyone around you tells you that you’re only good at this thing, it is okay to be curious about other paths. As humans, I think we are built to want more out of life. This can manifest itself in many ways – some being good and others being destructive. But that doesn’t negate the need for us to want more and the desire to be and do more. Sometimes this causes us to be hard on ourselves and to disregard all the good we’ve done.
But be easy on yourself. Recognize the work you’ve put in so far and the things you’re good at. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to accomplish more and more so that you feel empty even when you’re doing good work.
There’s a fine line between knowing your limitations and pushing yourself too hard. Balance is key.
Second, don’t be afraid to try new things.
Okay, so you may not want to jump ship on your current career like ole Jack. But maybe you can try something new in your spare time, as a hobby?
I discovered my love for blogging when I worked as a Human Resources Director for a university. I moved to a completely new town for this new job and I knew no one. It was just me and my sweet pups, so weekends were kind of lonely after a while. I already loved writing, and discovered that I also enjoyed taking pictures, and writing blog posts. After a few years of consistent posts, I also discovered that I also loved designing my blog-site.
I grew a blog from scratch with no experience and even grew an audience. All in my spare time. I felt like I had someone to talk to on the weekends, and it taught me valuable skills that I would use later on.
I always say that life is much more full when you have hobbies and passions you enjoy. There may be people who pick at Hubs and I for collecting comic books and cosplaying; but we are our happiest when we’re indulging in the things we love outside the thing we have to do to pay the bills.
Third, don’t take anyone else’s shine.
In your pursuit to find something new, to define yourself, or to redefine yourself, be careful not to steal someone else’s shine. Don’t downplay the things someone else has done in order to succeed, and don’t try to make others look bad or less successful in order to make yourself look better.
Jack did not have to go to Christmas Town and steal their whole deal. For a moment he lost himself in order to step into the shoes of someone else. And that did not work out so well for him in the end. So a perfectly amazing holiday turned out to be a literal nightmare.
We hear all the time that there is room in the world for you. There is no one else like you and no one will contribute to the world quite like you will. So there’s no need for a spirit of competition when we could all just co-exist.
In the same way, don’t dim your own light for anyone else to shine, either. No one has to give up their light – we can all be bright.
Four, always be yourself.
This one is touchy because the fact that Jack, and the good monsters of Halloween Town, were themselves is the very thing that caused them to ruin Christmas. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? They were always true to themselves, even when trying something else.
It goes back to shining your light. Or rather, not allowing it to dim. Through it all, Jack was Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. He wanted to make Christmas his way, and do it differently, but he remained true to himself. In trying other things, don’t try to be someone other than who you are. That’s the end of the sentence.
But can it be argued that being himself made Jack into a villain?
Who is the Villain in The Nightmare Before Christmas?
Is there a villain in this story? Well, definitely yes. And no. Or maybe the villain isn’t really who we think it is…?
If we think through the actions of this character as adults (ewww, I know, I hate it too), we can recognize a few things taking place here that are a bit below stellar. First you have trespassing, then stealing (in more ways than one), and then aiding and abetting, contributing to the delinquency of minors, kidnapping, breaking and entering, and appropriation.
It’s Jack. Jack’s the problem.
And you thought the Nightmare Before Christmas was a children’s movie!
And I am the first to want to come to his defense. After all, he had good intentions, didn’t he? But as he tries to understand Christmas, to no avail, he comes to a conclusion: “…why should they have all the fun, [Christmas] should belong to anyone, not anyone in fact but me…” and this is where it takes a turn. The evil laugh is all we need to hear for us to realize that Jack’s harmless Christmas passion has turned into an all-out obsession.
Jack has turned to the Dark Side, ladies and gents.
So we have two villains – Oogie Boogie the bogeyman and Jack Skellington. Oogie Boogie is just evil. He wants to inflict harm and he knows he’s the villain. But Jack is not wicked. He has no evil motives. His actions, however, do inflict pain and cause harm to others even though he feels his reasons are justified. That makes him an unintentional villain. Like Anakin right there at the beginning. Before the Padawans.
:: weeps into my fall-flavored candy ::
We should be careful, in our pursuit of a better life, that we don’t unintentionally harm others in the process.
Five, learn to admit your mistakes.
When all was said and done, and in his failure at being Santa Claus, Jack was able to examine his actions and come to terms with his errors. He realized that he made a mistake and admitted that mistake. And then, for just a minute, he allowed himself to feel some self-pity. But he didn’t wallow in it – he got right back up with the intention to fix his mistake.
I had an amazing supervisor in college. So much of what I was able to do in my last job was because of the things she taught me. One thing that always stuck with me was when she told me “I will never get mad at you for making mistakes. We all make those. But if you lie about it and never try to fix it, we’ll have a problem. I can’t teach you if you aren’t willing to admit to your mistakes so we can fix them.”
It’s unfortunate that Jack didn’t have a mentor. Maybe instead of kidnapping Claus and stealing his holiday, he could have just approached him and asked for advice.
Bonus Lesson: Sometimes the grass is not always greener.
Sometimes what we thought was greener pastures is actually dead grass. So when we discover that the other side is full of weeds, we can go back to our side and do the best we can with what we have.
I read an anonymous quote once that said “you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” And that quote stayed with me.
But the quote I’d like to leave with you is actually something that Oogie Boogie said when Santa asked him “what are you gonna do?” Oogie replied, “I’m gonna do the best I can.”
What lessons, if any, did you take from the Nightmare Before Christmas?
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