Rolling Stone recently ranked Henry Selick’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” the eighth greatest animated film of all time. The film was recently re-released in theaters on Oct. 11, to the enthusiasm of fans everywhere.
With all of this excitement, a classic question has been the subject of much internet debate: Is the film a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?
“There’s much debate on whether [The Nightmare Before Christmas] is a Halloween or Christmas movie because the movie revolves around stealing and replacing Christmas with another Halloween,” Miles Sheppard, a University of Iowa student, said.
The question is valid — just looking at the poster can be confusing. The film features skeletons and pumpkins but also plenty of snow and presents. Is this another “Die Hard” conundrum? To most fans in Iowa City, the answer is a simple no.
“In my humble opinion, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is the third-best movie ever made and should be watched all year round. With that being said, it is more of a Halloween movie than a Christmas movie,” Bryn Meyers, a UI student, said passionately.
To some people like Meyers, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” isn’t just a classic seasonal watch to keep you occupied, such as pumpkin-picking or researching costumes more diligently than doing homework. It’s a year-round affair.
“I think it’s a Halloween movie. I think that even just the animation of it is more Halloween-vibed than Christmas,” UI student Rhya Cowden said.
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As Cowden brought up, the general animation of the film proves to be a large factor in most fans’ decisions.
“I think it’s a Halloween movie. It was released a week before Halloween, so obviously it was made for Halloween. And the main characters are Halloween characters,” UI student Lindsey Roethler said.
The film centers around a skeleton named Jack Skellington, the “pumpkin king” of Halloweentown. After Skellington becomes bored with the yearly practice of frightening those in the “real world,” he accidentally comes across Christmastown, a land full of joy and warmth.
After reevaluating everything he thought he knew, Skellington plans to abduct Santa and step into his shoes. Despite the numerous references to Halloween and Halloween paraphernalia, audience members have taken to the internet to debate as there are also many references to Christmas with Skellington’s main mission in the film surrounding, well, Christmas.
While there may be fierce debate online, however, people around campus seem to have come to a consensus: “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a Halloween movie.
“I think it’s a Halloween movie,” Randy Jackson-Alvarenga, a graduate student and teaching assistant at the UI, said. “It’s about a Halloween character wanting to try something different, and, because of that, it is deeply grounded in Halloween.”
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