‘Boys and girls of every age. Wouldn’t you like to see something strange?’ Uncanniness and The Nightmare Before Christmas

Abstract

This article explores The Nightmare Before Christmas through the critical framework of the Freudian uncanny, incorporating such issues as animation, authorship, audience, genre and seasonal holidays. The uncanny is initially identified in the film’s macabre cast of animated corpses and the stop-motion process which brings these puppets to life. More significantly, the uncanny is understood as the intellectual uncertainty implicated in blurring distinctions, whereby a quality shifts into its antithesis. The homely becomes unhomely, the familiar unfamiliar, the festive night transforms into a frightful nightmare. The Nightmare Before Christmas is characterized by such ambivalent dynamics. Despite contrasts between the family friendly Disney studio and the darker creations associated with filmmaker Tim Burton, Gothic qualities which define the latter have traditionally characterized the former, with its history of dancing skeletons, haunted houses and animated objects. Ambiguity concerning the film’s intended audience further enhances its uncanny status. The combination of animation and horror, while seemingly at odds with the genre’s respective audiences of child and adult spectators, accords with established traditions within children’s media which frequently incorporate horror elements. For adult viewers, the stop-motion aesthetic evokes nostalgia memories of spooky childhood entertainment which easily assume an uncanny register. Finally, this article considers the extent to which Christmas and Halloween, while seemingly distinct, share common qualities upon which The Nightmare Before Christmas plays.