An Anthropological View on the Nightmare Before Christmas

Jack had become tired of his beloved Haloween Town, its appears that there is a price to be for being perfect.Jack wondered off in a melancholey way hoping for something new. By chance alone, it seems, he stumbled upon the doors to the paralelholiday lands of which he was most intrigued by the one marked by a curious looking tree decorated with lights and shiney glass balls. Behind that door layed a land filled with things that seemed quite queer to jack he was an etic observer of this town, a land filled with cold soft snow, little houses adorned with bright flashing lights, and filled with decorated pine trees and oversized socks. Things he had never seen before. He then discovered "Sandy Claws" his equivalent in this town, he is adored by his people much like jack yet he is so very different instead of being morbid and scary he is jolly and cheerful but is reveered in the same light, this just shows how very different these two cultures are. When jack returned home to Halloween Town he tried to report his findings to the people of his land but dispite his best efforts they were very confused their ethnocentric minds could not grasp a culture so strange to them. Like in the case where jack discribes to them the stalkings and they wish to know if there is still a foot inside because this would be the norm for them. The people of Halloween Town had never experienced any things like these, they had just been enculturized differently. When assigned their tasks to recreate cristmas they altered what they were told based on what they felt would improve them. For example the little duck toys were fitted with sharp teeth and gilded in blood stains and bullet wounds. They had to make there tasks culturaly relative to them other wise they just seemed silly and useless if a present did not inspire horror and disgust it obviously was not a proper present. Jack plays the role of an anthropologist trying to be as unbiased as possible and discover all that is presented to him. He scrutinizes things in a way that only a scientist would find neccisary. However, when Jack goes to pervey this information back to his people it is misunderstood just how many of our social sciences are. people, no matter how hard they try, are biased towards their own culture and thus veiw all others as skewed and improper.