John Scalzi - Why Tim Burton's Recurring Nightmare Remains So Popular
From time to time, I find myself in the company of emo boys and goth girls, as one so frequently does these days. And while these sensitive purveyors of darkness may look down on me for my summery color schemes, lack of full-sleeve tattoos and/or corneal piercings, and the fact that I own the most recent Journey album -- and enjoy it -- I have something that puts them all into kohl-lined awe.
And that is: In the summer of 1993, when I was working as a film critic in California, I visited the studio in San Francisco where Tim Burton and Henry Selick were filming The Nightmare Before Christmas. I "toured" the sets (which meant admiring miniatures from above while not touching anything, lest one messed up hours of animation), coming within inches all the parts of Halloweentown that the emos and goths wished they lived in.
Later, I and other critics were herded into a room for an interview with Burton, Selick and Nightmare composer, Danny Elfman, who was also the singing voice for Jack, the skeletal ruler of Halloweentown. As part of that interview, we saw a rough cut of the section that would become the song "Jack's Lament." The animation was done, and so was the music, but the vocal track for Jack hadn't been laid down yet. So Elfman got up and sang the song live. Perfectly.
Now, as an old school fan of Elfman and his '80s band Oingo Boingo, this was thrill enough for me. But when I recount it for the gothlets, their eyes get all wide, and then the envy comes. Bitter, black-clad envy, that eats at their soul like a wee hungry gargoyle.
Why Nightmare Persists
But while taunting emos and goths is fun, it also points out something about The Nightmare Before Christmas: A decade and a half after its 1993 release, this strange little musical is more popular than it was when it was released, a fact evidenced by annual re-issues in theaters at Halloween and by yet another DVD edition of the movie released this last Tuesday (the fourth home edition of the film, which also has at least two versions of the soundtrack available on CD and MP3). Nightmare hasn't managed to eclipse the other Disney musical of 1993 (that would be The Lion King), but it has significantly more social currency among teens, twenty-somethings and even more than a few thirty-somethings, especially the ones who were, are, or want to be, just a little alienated from the mainstream.
Why this film? What's the secret to the long-running afterlife of this Disney animated musical? There are a number of reasons, but my theory is actually a simple one:
It's not really a Disney animated musical.
In one sense, this is quite literally inaccurate, as it was released by Disney. But in another sense, it's also quite literally accurate, since the film was originally released by Disney under the Touchstone Pictures banner (i.e., Disney's banner for adult-themed movies) when Disney's then-head Michael Eisner decided that the film was too dark to be released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, the usual home of Disney's animation work. (This makes one wonder if Eisner actually saw, say, Pinocchio, which was darker in a number of ways than Nightmare ever was.)
In the context of 1993, Eisner was entirely right. Nightmare is the odd stepchild of its time. The Disney films of this era -- Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King -- are all of a piece: Smoothly and gorgeously animated stories of a young person finding him/herself, with color schemes that used all the crayons in the box, and music by way of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, thanks to Broadway vets Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, Tim Rice and pop star Elton John.
The Anti-Disney Musical -- Or Is It?
Nightmare, on the other hand, was none of these things:
Instead of a plucky teen, you have a weary (and indisputably adult)
character, who aside from being dead is jammed to the marrow with
existential ennui, and whose gaunt, skeletal form wasn't "cute" in any
conventional sense. The film's palette and themes were either washed
out blacks, oranges and greens, or over-excited neons. The film's
stop-motion technique -- incredibly, this was the first full-length
theatrical release to use it -- gave it a twitchy, restless feel. And
where Disney's musicals took from the sunny side of Broadway, Danny
Elfman borrowed from darker and/or more cinematic lyricists and
composers, most notably Bernard Herrmann and Weill/Brecht, and mixed it
in with his own offbeat theatrical history and musical predilections.
In many ways, Nightmare is the anti-Disney animated musical.
We have to be careful not to overstate things; the film was still meant for family audiences (even if it does feature Santa Claus being kidnapped and tortured), and the images, themes and music, while darker and more sophisticated than, say, anything you might find in Aladdin, are still accessible, poppy and fun. This is Halloween -- but Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the calendar, right after Christmas. Nightmare is the anti-Disney animated musical -- but it can (and has) been marketed just as effectively those musicals are, and by the same people.
And in fact, this is the secret to its success: Tim Burton, Henry Selick and Danny Elfman took Disney money and crafted something that looks and feels like it's outside of the mainstream, even as it plays to it: A pseudo-secret document for the freaks and geeks, who took to it with love and affection, and don't have to outgrow it, because it's built to appeal to the alienated of all ages. That so many freaks and geeks (and, yes, others) love it that Disney can wrench continued profits out of it through continual home video and theatrical re-releasing suggests that freaks, geeks, emos and goths are, in fact, solidly part of the mainstream now. Now, there's a thought.
If this disturbs them and they want to get back out of the current mainstream, well. I suppose I can let them borrow my Journey album.
Winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, John Scalzi is the author of The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies as well as the novels Old Man's War and Zoe's Tale, which was released this week. His column appears every Thursday.
Actually, "Lion King" was released in '94. NBX was released in that spot because the other movie wasn't ready to be released.
And my 4 year old niece likes the movie, although it might be because it's Disney. (Speaking of that, the NBX versions of Donald and Goofy in "Kingdom Hearts" are great.)
I also like Sally. :)
LaDracul:
They were released within a year of each other (which is why I think I flubbed the calendar date -- I saw previews of both on the same press junket), so though the calendar date is off, the basic principle is the same.
Surprising to me, as a 30 Y.O. American was that The Nightmare Before Christmas has cache among Japanese teenagers. This makes really close to no sense to me (even within the scale of how little Japanese-everything makes no sense to me). Christmas is practically unrecognizeable in Japan. Halloween is something they've heard their foreign teachers of English talk about, but not something they've themselves done, neither in recognizeable shape nor not. (strange wording)
It's not necessarily easy for me to recognize emo-teens in Japan, since they all have black hair, usually with terrible haircuts (often enough draping hair over one eye) and wear school uniforms... but anyway, the particular pitch of the response leads me to think that somehow Jack is Cute.
FWIW, I learned these things because I'm the owner of 2 different tNmBC T-shirts. So I like it myself...
What makes this movie so great is the music. It's an OK movie, but a great musical.
//JJ
JohanJ:
And what makes it a great musical (aside from, well, the great music) is that so much of the story is told inside the music -- i.e., the songs aren't "showstoppers," they actually function as plot. If you listen to the soundtrack CD, you actually get most of the story. In this respect, Nightmare is very much like an opera, actually.
The music certainly appealed to me right off the bat as an admirer of Elfman for a long time, but I think Nightmare primarily works because it is an original and well crafted story to begin with. And it is a story set in that whimsical world of myth much like a Brothers Grimm sort of tale. I think a big reason it persists in generating revenue is for exactly the same reason those old dark fairy tales continue on; adults remember the safe versions but enjoy that dark twist. I see Nightmare's appeal to adults, and thus those with a disposiblse income that can afford to buy collectible DVDs, as the primary reason it continues to be released. Emo teens may adopt the whole outside the mainstream approach, but are they really the target for a big business like Disney?
John - wouldn't you count 1986's THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN as the first feature length stop motion animated film? Sure, it's Claymation, but that's only a variation of stop motion.
K
Damn, Scalzi, another reason to be jealous of you: Jack's Lament, sung LIVE by Elfman. Too awesome.
Oogie Boogie on you.
Kermit Woodall:
I don't recall it being released into theaters, or if it was, it had only a very limited release. So we could debate whether the film qualifies on those fiddly technical grounds. But certainly claymation is stop motion work.
I don't think I'm an emo boy or girl, but I'm positively lightheaded with awe about your experience. And thank you for another opportunity to say that Danny Elfman is amazingly underrated by too many people.
I had the opportunity to look at all of the sets and characters when they came to Disney World. They were fascinating.
This film is really timeless. Our 9 year old still watches it regularly and knows all the words. It was her favorite Disney film as a smaller kid. Thankfully, rather that listening to shrieking Dora and Barney, I was able to listen to this beautiful film over and over and over again.
I never understood the hype behind this film (I mean, the concept sounds terrible!!! Kidnapping Santa? Skeletons? C'mon!) until I actually saw it. And I agree with JohanJ that the music is what makes it such a great movie!!! I couldn't help it... the music is so catchy that I fell in love with it!!!
Kind of reminds me of my experience with RENT. The concept sounded so alien to me (following the lives of 8 people--half with AIDS, half homosexual--living in New York) that I wondered how it got so popular... then I saw it and fell in love with the music!!!
"I don't think I'm an emo boy or girl, but I'm positively lightheaded with awe about your experience. "
Ditto here, just from an animator's perspective!
It's interesting to note three movies which get shown a lot long past their initial release: Nightmare Before Christmas (musical, stop action), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (musical, live action) and in Grand Rapids at any rate, The Polar Express (musical, IMAX-3D, computer animation). Two have very seasonal releases, the third is merely inexplicable. (grin)
But all three endure because they are visually arresting, memorable -- and singable. And all are fantasy/genre films. (double-grin)
Dr. Phil
What about the Rankin/Bass 1967 film Mad Monster Party? The music certainly isn't up to the standard of Danny Elfman's, but it was stop-motion animation and I know that the I saw it was in a theater...
Regardless, you do get major coolness points for having visited the set and hearing Elfman sing "Jack's Lament" live!
For whatever it's worth, Wikipedia has a list of "Stop-motion-animated features" that goes back to 1926:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stop-motion_films
The Wikipedia definition of such a feature is "Films that have stop-motion animation in at least 75% of their running time, or have at least 40 minutes of animation in total"; despite being a self-styled animation geek, I haven't seen 1926's The Adventures of Prince Achmed or 1937's The Tale of the Fox--but the latter is (again according to Wikipedia) "fully animated."
In the U.S., Mad Monster Party (mentioned by someone else) certainly appears to qualify as a prior stop-motion feature. I'm afraid, however, it's another one I haven't seen (indeed, I hadn't even been conceived when the movie was released).
Of the listed movies I have seen, several are admittedly TV productions.
Stop-motion, historically speaking, was an enormously popular technique in Eastern Europe (I have no idea why); Nightmare may have been the first American stop-motion feature (Rankin-Bass, IIRC, is a British house), but I'm reasonably sure from the Wikipedia list and my gut it wasn't the first ever. Not that it needs the honor: it's a brilliant little film.
Correction: Rankin/Bass is an American animation house. I guess I went with Brit because I always associate them with their Tolkien TV specials.
Ok. I do, by all means, understand their is a dark feel to this movie and that there are a lot of social outcasts, whether self-inflicted or not, that really enjoy Jack's adventure in Christmas Land, however, yet again Tim Burton has truly put forward a very simple scenario. And as I write this I am actually finding it quite ironic to think that Jack represents all of us who have ever questioned or challenged why certain things are the way they are. As we question, we attempt to make changes to something that is perfect just the way was in the first place. "Santa Claws" was doing Christmas the way it needed to be done. Just the same way Jack had been doing Halloween the way it needed to be done. Each character has their purpose. Very much the same we all of us living real life all have our own purposes to fulfill and as we do so with all that we are, the end results should shine forth with perfection. In the end there is a lesson Jack is teaching us, a lesson of contentment as to who we are once we've truly discovered ourselves. Our hearts will let us know and it will be our hearts that lead us on in success. Thanks, Jack.
I don't know how old you are, John, but as someone who attended high school not too long ago and was surrounded by the individuals you're talking about, I'd like to point out an important difference between legitimate fans of the movie and its goth/emo pseudo-fans.
I myself have been a fan of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" since it came out when I was just a kid. It's not in my top ten, or even my top fifty, but that's because I like a lot of movies. "Nightmare" just happens to be one of them. Now, I don't own a handbag or a backpack with the image of Jack Skellington's face on it - the same goes for hoodies, skullcaps, scarves and skinny jeans - but I do enjoy it for the quirky, opera-light, beginner's-guide-to-Camus curiosity it is.
The emo/goth persons who do own (and wear) such items, on the other hand, may not necessarily have any real affection for the movie. Hell, they may not have even seen it! (I can think of more than a few personal acquaintances who fit that bill.) That's the thing about the goth/emo image. It's just that: an image. The reason characters from "Nightmare" wound up on so many of the clothes you find hanging on the racks in Hot Topic is that they fit the long established visual motifs of emo/goth-ism itself: the tattered costumes, the train-track stitches across Sally's face and limbs, the fact that all the main characters are pale skinned and emaciatedly skinny. Trust me, it has nothing to do with how it speaks to their sense of alienation - or at least, it does very rarely. Most emo/goths aren't that deep. That's just what they want you to think.