The Nightmare Before Christmas And Cultural Appropriation | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

The Nightmare Before Christmas And Cultural Appropriation

It’s not only a lovely film but also a great allegory.

1697
The Nightmare Before Christmas And Cultural Appropriation
The Daily Beast

Around Halloween, I always get the opening music from The Nightmare Before Christmasstuck in my head (“This is Halloween, this is Halloween…”). And the closer we get to Christmas, the more the rest of the songs will be in my head (“Making Christmas, making Christmas…”). But Nightmare isn’t really a Halloween movie, nor is it a Christmas movie. It isn’t about scaring your pants off or getting into the spirit of giving. Just like the recent Disney film Zootopia,Nightmare is an allegory. It’s about a social justice topic that a lot of people have a hard time explaining or understanding: cultural appropriation.

Culture is a fluid concept. It’s nigh-impossible for diverse people to interact without becoming exposed to and adopting aspects of other lifestyles. That is not cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is when one group exploits the culture of another group, taking their practices or intellectual property without first asking permission or even having any understanding of the purpose or significance of the culture. The appropriating group then benefits from the use of the appropriated group’s culture, repackaging it and misrepresenting it so it’s “theirs” now, while the appropriated group goes unrecognized.

In the United States, the white Christian majority appropriates minority cultures. For example, white people perform black people’s music styles without giving credit to their origins or recognizing the purpose of the styles, and white people dress in Halloween costumes that mimic many other cultures’ outfits, ignoring the significance of the outfits to the cultures they’re from.

In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington appropriates Christmas.

Jack is the king of “Halloweentown”, which sets up and performs Halloween every year. One year, he gets bored with his job and decides he wants to try something new. He stumbles across “Christmastown”, sees it as something cool and special, and decides he wants to be a part of it. But instead of talking to the people of Christmastown about it to learn more, he takes pieces of Christmas back to Halloweentown and tries to understand it there.

But it’s impossible to truly understand another culture from the perspective of one’s own culture, and Jack can’t figure out what Christmas “means” by looking at it through a Halloween lens. Jack eventually decides that it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t understand Christmas—he should just take Christmas for himself, and “improve” it by making it more like Halloween!

So Halloweentown sets about creating a twisted version of Christmas with gloomy decorations and monstrous toys (singing as they do so about how “it’s ours this time!”). They even kidnap Santa Claus so Jack can do his job for him, ignoring Santa’s protests. In our world, minorities protest white Americans’ exploitation of their culture all the time, and are similarly ignored.

Naturally, Jack’s Christmas is a disaster; the people of the world are terrified by his presents. Realizing his mistake, Jack and his friends hurry to return Santa to his role so he can fix Christmas. And because it’s a Disney movie, everything works out for the best: Christmas is restored to its proper form, and Jack learns that he can’t just go around stealing other people’s holidays.

Jack liked Christmas and thought it was cool, but that didn’t give him the ability to replicate it. It also didn’t give him the ability, or the right, to take it and “improve” it—Halloween and Christmas are different holidays with different purposes and meanings! Because of Jack’s meddling and theft, Christmas, and everyone who understood and would have otherwise benefited from Christmas, suffered. And the same goes for people of different cultures in the real world.

At the end of the film, Santa brings snow to Halloweentown, a gesture of willingness to share his culture with the curious Halloween people, who finally get a sense of what makes Christmas different from Halloween. Like I said before, it’s okay to share cultures, if all people involved are okay with the exchange, and if the group that really owns the cultural practices still gets to call their culture their own. Respect and understanding are key when interacting with other cultures. Unfortunately, in the real world, the practices and properties of the “Christmastowns” often continue to be exploited by the unrepentant “Jack Skellingtons”.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

15 Times 'Parks and Recreation' Has Summed Up Your Life

Relatable moments from one of the best shows I have ever watched.

21
parks and rec
Liz Keysmash

Amidst my hectic college career, I always find time for one thing, even on the busiest weeks: Parks and Recreation. This show has made me laugh and has made me cry, but most of all I have related to this show more than I would like to admit.

Here are some "Parks and Rec" moments that relate to life struggles that just about everyone faces.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate
Facebook

April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation is notorious for her "I don't care" attitude. She speaks her mind without caring what anyone thinks of her. Fans love her because she isn't afraid to be herself. April can seem cold and negative, but she's really just fearless and strong-minded. And despite her sometimes harsh words, April truly cares about the people she's closest to. These are all reasons she is the epitome of a college student. April complains whenever she has to do any kind of work, but ends up doing the work anyway. April Ludgate is the ultimate college student spirit animal.

Keep Reading...Show less
coffee

It's finally flu season! It's around that time in the school year where everyone on campus is getting sick, especially if they live in the dorms. It's hard to take care of yourself while being sick at school, but here are some coping mechanisms to get you on the path to feeling better!

Keep Reading...Show less
Health and Wellness

The Battle Between College And My Mental Health

College isn't easy, and I'm afraid I'm not going to make it at the rate my mental health is going.

770
woman sitting on black chair in front of glass-panel window with white curtains
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Everyone tells you that college is hard, but they fail to explain why. Sure, classes are hard. Math sucks, and political science can be so boring. But that's not even what's killing me about college. What's killing me about college is my deterioating mental health.

As a college student, I feel as if people don't understand just how exhausted I, and fellow college students are. We have so many things going on, all the time, and sometimes it's hard to explain to people how we feel. Personally...I'm tired. I'm sad. And I'm struggling every single day with my emotions. But the thing is, it hasn't always been this way. I haven't always hated school, so why am I feeling like this now?

Keep Reading...Show less
manager

For the average 20-something, life moves pretty fast. You’ve got classes, friends, relationships, jobs, family, and whatever else we overcommit ourselves with. I probably should have learned to say no to adding more to my schedule a long time ago, but instead here are 11 things that can be more helpful than coffee.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments