Subject: Jack Skellington
Culture: American pop culture
Setting: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Page 2007 p120
"In regards to Jack Skellington, his creativity ... defines his role. Due to his boredom with Halloween he finds an outlet in the newly discovered festivities of Christmas, something which he clearly relishes after the frustration he'd been feeling at going through the same routine year on year. We can understand this boredom of repetition, all of us having been bored by classes at school or jobs in which we feel as though we're just going round in circles. Therefore both children and adults can identify with Jack's excitement at discovering Christmas and at the prospect of trying something new. We empathise with the character, an empathy made all the stronger when we see his good intentions backfire and he is wrongly perceived as a skeleton ruining all the joy of Christmas. When we reach this point in the story we feel sorry for Jack while also being amused by the gruesome presents he's delivered to unsuspecting households. These two emotions create an interesting mix and follow Burton's common use of juxtaposing such things as horror and humour, as seen in Beetlejuice and Sleepy Hollow."
Costume
