As the season gets colder, people tend to spend more time indoors and curl up with their favorite holiday movie. A lot of Elizabethtown College students have started their holiday movie watching season as 72% of students stated that they watch holiday movies as the season comes up in the year. Right now, its prime Halloween and scary movie season. Also, around this time an annual debate arises with it circling Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film features Jack Skellington or the “Pumpkin King” as they call him in Halloween Town, who discovers the meaning of Christmas and helps save Santa Claus from Oogie Boogie.
Because of the mixture of holidays, people have debated whether or not the film should be considered a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie. The main characters besides Santa Claus are Halloween-themed and supposed to be creepy and scary. However, the theme of the movie centers around Christmas as Jack realizes everything he has is within Halloween Town and that he doesn’t need anything more than that. These mix of characters and theme center around the debate as it depends on how someone views the movie, either depends on the characters or the plot.
In the survey sent out to the students, the majority of them stated that the film is a Halloween movie. Some also said that the movie is a mix of both or just a seasonal holiday. Also, students responded by saying that typically watch The Nightmare Before Christmas in October more than December. Of course, some said that they watch the film from October through December.
I personally believe that the film is a Halloween film. Clearly, there are already a plethora of Christmas movies out and it’s not difficult to find one watch, even now before Halloween. True Halloween movies are few in number. Horror films are typically released year-round and do not focus solely on Halloween. True Halloween movies center around the holiday and the events of the movie should only take place because of Halloween. For example, Hocus Pocus is a true Halloween movie because the events of the movie are dependent on the fact that its Halloween. The Nightmare Before Christmas follows this idea as Jack explores the trees that lead to the other holiday towns after Halloween. The plot takes places after Halloween and leading up to Christmas Day. In addition, the film was initially released October 13, 1993, leading up to Halloween.
