He’s the much-beloved Pumpkin King, but Jack Skellington of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas has plenty of skeletons in his closet. Halloween Town’s de facto leader (depending on how you feel about the mayor) has so much wrong with him, in fact, that an entire song, “Something’s Up With Jack,” was sung about him in the film by his fellow citizens.
Many of these issues are much more obvious than others, even serving as the heart of the film itself. However, others are so pervasive –in not just his culture, but our own– that they even affect the real, live people who enjoy this macabre classic.
He Hires Lock, Shock And Barrel
Halloween Town’s terrible trick-or-treaters have quite the reputation, which is why it makes no sense for Jack to call them in to kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws, aka Santa Claus, so Jack can be the new Santa. He actually makes this mistake twice; had he not already guessed that Lock, Shock and Barrel would completely fail in their mission, he witnessed their ineptitude when they brought the Easter Bunny through the portal instead.
Jack had to have known they would take Santa to Oogie Boogie as well, making Jack not only complicit in his fate, but also his torment.
He Doesn’t Alter Santa’s Look
Jack spends every waking moment not only experimenting on and studying elements of Christmas, but ensuring that all of the citizens of Halloween Town work to perfect their own version of Christmas. Every detail is painstakingly analyzed and tweaked until it’s perfect in Jack’s demented vision, which is obviously a terrible idea from the start… except for Santa’s outfit, which he asks Sally to make for him.
There is really no reason to have Santa’s suit intact when everything else is obviously Halloween-themed. Perhaps Jack thinks it will help him blend in a bit, but since his ultimate goal is to “improve” Christmas, so shouldn’t he do the same with the outfit?
He’s Not The Hero
Many fans are quick to point out that Jack is, in fact, a villain. He upsets his whole town, works to create weapons of mass destruction, takes said weapons to Christmas Town, kidnaps Santa Claus, destroys everyone’s holiday and puts just about everybody in great danger.
Jack may not mean to be so destructive. He may have everyone’s best interest at heart. Then again, if that’s what he thinks is a healthy execution of a holiday, we just don’t know what to tell him. He also doesn’t even bother to ask if Santa wants a “vacation,” as he promises to give him, or whether or not he has permission to “borrow” the holiday.
He’s Only Got Four Fingers On Each Hand
Jack’s body is super weird, especially for a human who admits that he was once alive. Jack only has four fingers on each hand, and he’s super long, thin and more monstrous than skeletal in terms of human shapes. Burton’s other skeletons actually look like human skeletons, so why doesn’t Jack?
He also has a billion cameos, one of which puts him in a sunken ship (James and the Giant Peach). James was sailing from England to New York, so how did Jack’s body get there? Where is Halloween Town, really?
A Random Grave Takes Him Home
Not only does Jack completely get away with ruining Christmas, with his only consequence being blown out of the sky (which, let’s face it, for a deceased skeleton, isn’t much of a punishment), he doesn’t have to make anything right at all and he goes home through some random grave as a portal. Was that always a possibility? Is this used to travel through worlds at other times, and if so, why are we just learning about it? If not, how did Jack even know he could do that?
Jack does go home to save Sally and Santa from Oogie Boogie, but it’s a situation he put in motion in the first place. So his big “learning moment” that heroes are supposed to have… was just getting blown out of the sky.
He’s Got Kids
How a skeleton and a rag doll have kids is a great mystery, but fans assume they have five of them, since it’s mentioned on the official soundtrack to the movie. Santa returns to Halloween Town several years later to find that Jack had “four or five skeleton children at hand.” Perhaps he was only leading them in their xylophone band, but many fans believe these are his and Sally’s kids.
If this is the case, how did they reproduce in the first place, and why are they just skeletons and not hybrid monsters? Perhaps they were adopted, but the details are definitely unclear.
He Has A Pity Party
During what is meant to be the moment of clarity of the film, where most heroes understand their mistakes and attempt to atone for them, things go a little awry. Not only does Jack completely let himself off the hook with zero responsibility for his actions, but he has a little pity party. A whole song is centered around why nothing turns out like it should for Jack, this poor practically worshipped figure with a community who loves him.
Then he suddenly declares that he did his best, and next year will be the best Halloween yet. Not only is there no real epiphany here, but there’s no growth, which makes this movie that we all hold so dear rather pointless.
He Is A Terrible Leader
Jack is the worst “leader” for Halloween Town. He lies to the whole town about “Sandy Claws” to get them on board. He hates now nobody gets him, and even mentions the fact that nobody understood his dream in his big pity party at the end of the film. “How could they?” he sneers. In fact, almost every song he sings is about poor Jack and his problems, which truly don’t exist save for a bit of boredom.
When missiles are launched and people are screaming, Jack just assumes he’s being thanked. He issues no apology for not listening to Sally or leaving her to clean up his messes, then he declares his undying love for her. He only cares about himself.
He’s Pretty Much A Jerk
Let’s face it, this belovewd figure is quite a big jerk. The entire plot of the movie is due to his own midlife crisis as he decides he’s bored with his life, and he puts the entire town through an unnecessary upheaval for his own creative pursuits. If the point of the movie was that his dissatisfaction with life was merely due to his not having a relationship with Sally, his previous behavior regarding her sure doesn’t mesh with this motive.
Jack mocks the citizens when they don’t understand Christmas Land, even though he doesn’t really “get” it, either. He takes advantage of their admiration for him to manipulate them into making a new holiday and foregoing their life’s work.
He Treats Sally Badly
Sally is supposed to be Jack’s “dearest friend,” in his own words, yet he is pretty terrible at being a friend. He doesn’t listen to a thing she says, talking over her and ignoring her concerns. He has no idea that she’s being kept prisoner against her will in Dr. Finkelstein’s lab, which is really unbelievable if they are so close. He should have spent the film trying to free her, or talking the doctor into handing her over to him, rather than “making Christmas.”
It’s obvious that Sally is Finkelstein’s servant, which should trouble not only Jack but the rest of her community.
