Jack Skellington

Last night I got to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time of the season. It was great! We blew up and air mattress and we had homemade hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies made from scratch. I even picked up some candy apples! It was awesome! It was definitely the most special night I have had in a long time. 

While I was watching Jack discover this new world of Christmas, I couldn't help but think how mind blowing and life changing that would actually be. Imagine knowing one world your whole life and then finding out there was so much more to it. You would never be able to understand the culture and the traditions. It makes me sad that Jack was never able to truly grasp the wonder of this other world because he lacked the ability to understand it. 

He goes through the whole story unable to figure this marvelous thing out, and then in the end he finds all the warmth and love within Sally. Which got me to think about why holidays bring out such emotion in people. maybe holidays aren't special days at all. It is just on those days we see the ones who surround us in a different way. 

 

I know I am getting all philosophical about a cartoon, but that is the reason I love this movie so very much. There are so many undertones to it, and so many different things to discuss with it. In fact, while we were watching the movie we had a conversation about whether or not Jack was evil. 

 

I said that it wasn't that Jack was evil, but it was that he didn't know anything else because he was brought up in a world where everything was evil, and evil was the norm. How could he know that his entire world was wrong when he had never experienced anything different? It wasn't until Jack discovered that there was more out there that he could open his heart up to love. Isn't that how it always has to happen, you are trapped in your own world until someone shows you there is more?

Jack Skellington is such an interesting character because he is so child-like, but he is also in a position of such power and has such adult characteristics. Watching him discover an outside world and grow in love is so truly interesting to me. Tim Burton did such an amazing job developing such a complex character in a way that both children and adults can admire for so many different reasons.