"I Feel Like Louise Bourgeois is Orgasming Somewhere."
Well, it's November. Halloween has come and gone, but the memories and the hangovers still remain. Maybe you stuffed your face with candy, or maybe you drowned your sorrows in liquor. Or maybe you didn't do a thing because Halloween was on a Thursday this year and dammit, you had work in the morning. What, does everyone expect you to forsake your good health for some cheap thrills and a costume contest or two? You're a busy guy.
Not to worry, friend, because that's what holiday weekends are for (or any weekend, really). And there are few better ways to celebrate Halloween than by watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. A beautiful labor of love, this stop-motion classic was beloved by many creepy children who grew up in the 90's. With its catchy songs, its breathtaking animation and its unique take on Halloween AND Christmas, it earns its title as a holiday staple.
Perhaps you don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe you've never seen this movie, but wondered what the fuss was about. If you haven't, it's about time you've begun.
Not to worry, friend, because that's what holiday weekends are for (or any weekend, really). And there are few better ways to celebrate Halloween than by watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. A beautiful labor of love, this stop-motion classic was beloved by many creepy children who grew up in the 90's. With its catchy songs, its breathtaking animation and its unique take on Halloween AND Christmas, it earns its title as a holiday staple.
Perhaps you don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe you've never seen this movie, but wondered what the fuss was about. If you haven't, it's about time you've begun.
"The Hangover Before Christmas": The Rules
In case you haven't realized it yet, it's almost winter. All those pumpkin flavored drinks you've grown to love over the course of the month? They're going away soon. For this game, grab all the pumpkin beer you can get your hands on. Or if you want to get fancy, make pumpkin spiced lattes spiked with your favorite liquor.
Spooooky pumpkin spiced lattes
Easy Mode
1. Drink for Title Drops: For easy mode, that's the full title, "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
2. Drink when they drink.
3. Drink for Daddy Issues. Sally has a fraught relationship with her creator, Doctor Finklestein. This totally counts.
4. Drink when a character in the movie gets scared.
5. Drink for dismembered body parts, or when someone loses a body part.
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says the word "Christmas" or "Christmastown".
2. Drink for song title drops. This is either an easy rule or a difficult rule.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink when someone says the word "Halloween" or "Halloweentown".
2. Drink whenever a character is blissfully unaware of the current situation.
1. Drink for Title Drops: For easy mode, that's the full title, "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
2. Drink when they drink.
3. Drink for Daddy Issues. Sally has a fraught relationship with her creator, Doctor Finklestein. This totally counts.
4. Drink when a character in the movie gets scared.
5. Drink for dismembered body parts, or when someone loses a body part.
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Title drops: Drink whenever someone says the word "Christmas" or "Christmastown".
2. Drink for song title drops. This is either an easy rule or a difficult rule.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink when someone says the word "Halloween" or "Halloweentown".
2. Drink whenever a character is blissfully unaware of the current situation.
Like when someone thinks they're doing good, but really they're traumatizing an entire city
The Players
Our players for this game are...
Krissy Pappau: Sang along the whole time (Medium)
Pooh Daddy: Questions the physics of the holiday universe (Medium)
Seb: Used to hate this movie. Then she learned. (Medium)
Bride of Buggerlas: NOT the bride of Frankenstein (Easy)
Big Moose: Can only see phallic imagery (Medium)
The Fuzzy Masked Man: Would like his own evil laboratory (Medium)
Velma Jenkies: Is concerned that we never see a single human adult face (Medium)
Shirley Whiskas: Wants her own Oogie Boogie Man (Hard)
Making drinking games, making drinking games is so fun. Almost as much fun as playing them. Join us, won't you?
Krissy Pappau: Sang along the whole time (Medium)
Pooh Daddy: Questions the physics of the holiday universe (Medium)
Seb: Used to hate this movie. Then she learned. (Medium)
Bride of Buggerlas: NOT the bride of Frankenstein (Easy)
Big Moose: Can only see phallic imagery (Medium)
The Fuzzy Masked Man: Would like his own evil laboratory (Medium)
Velma Jenkies: Is concerned that we never see a single human adult face (Medium)
Shirley Whiskas: Wants her own Oogie Boogie Man (Hard)
Making drinking games, making drinking games is so fun. Almost as much fun as playing them. Join us, won't you?
Nostalgia Goggles
The Nightmare Before Christmas is argueably one of the most important animated films of the 90's, if only because it is aesthetically beautiful. There's a wonderful fluidity involved that you don't see in much American animation, and the cinematography always makes an effort to be interesting. This movie could have been live action. It works better animated.
What about its merits as a movie that tells a story?
"I don't know what I don't like about it," remarked Moose about twenty minutes in. He wasn't the only one who felt that way; Bride of Buggerlas felt the same resistance, and Seb admitted to hating the movie for years. I've met plenty of people who've seen this movie who just don't find it charming. It's not that they actively dislike it, either. They're ambivalent, or disinterested. THAT'S more indicative of the movie doing something wrong than about personal taste.
So we discussed: what exactly is it about this movie that makes it hard to love?
"Well, Sally kind of sucks," put in Seb.
What about its merits as a movie that tells a story?
"I don't know what I don't like about it," remarked Moose about twenty minutes in. He wasn't the only one who felt that way; Bride of Buggerlas felt the same resistance, and Seb admitted to hating the movie for years. I've met plenty of people who've seen this movie who just don't find it charming. It's not that they actively dislike it, either. They're ambivalent, or disinterested. THAT'S more indicative of the movie doing something wrong than about personal taste.
So we discussed: what exactly is it about this movie that makes it hard to love?
"Well, Sally kind of sucks," put in Seb.
Cover your ears, Sally
The main offender of our dismembered body parts rule AND our daddy issues rule, Sally is widely considered to be one of the most passive of the Disney heroines. She's obsessed with Jack, but rarely interacts with him before his plan to make Christmas goes into effect. She constantly runs off, but doesn't seem to have any idea of what to do when she's loose except follow Jack. And her one song, while beautiful, is all about her two desires: to help Jack, and to have him want her. When she and Jack finally get together, though, we're sort of unsatisfied.
"They don't know each other," Bride of Buggerlas said. "They're not friends."
"But you know those crushes you have when you're thirteen, where you never even speak to the person but you create a relationship between the two of you?" Seb countered. "It's like that."
This, I think, hits on the core problem and strength of this movie: It is a story that is told in a way that is immature. The film is filled to the brim with childlike wonder and hope and promise, but it doesn't quite know what it's saying or how to say it. The fact that all of its characters act on emotion rather than logic is a dead giveaway. Even Sally, who's supposed to be the "smart" one, is acting on fear; her pleas to Jack to stop his present course of action don't come from any evidence that it will turn out bad, but from a vision she had of impending doom. Nobody listened to Cassandra, and nobody listens to Sally either.
Nowhere in the movie is this immaturity more apparent than in the song "Poor Jack".
"They don't know each other," Bride of Buggerlas said. "They're not friends."
"But you know those crushes you have when you're thirteen, where you never even speak to the person but you create a relationship between the two of you?" Seb countered. "It's like that."
This, I think, hits on the core problem and strength of this movie: It is a story that is told in a way that is immature. The film is filled to the brim with childlike wonder and hope and promise, but it doesn't quite know what it's saying or how to say it. The fact that all of its characters act on emotion rather than logic is a dead giveaway. Even Sally, who's supposed to be the "smart" one, is acting on fear; her pleas to Jack to stop his present course of action don't come from any evidence that it will turn out bad, but from a vision she had of impending doom. Nobody listened to Cassandra, and nobody listens to Sally either.
Nowhere in the movie is this immaturity more apparent than in the song "Poor Jack".
First, on a purely technical level, Jack's going through a range of emotions very quickly to the point where it's difficult to track. But secondly, the "message" of this song isn't easy to track, either. We know Jack's happy at the end, but why? Throughout the film, the movie gets its message confused, and this isn't different.
We start with "Don't reach beyond your own abilities," which is a weird thing for a children's movie to tell us. But it kind of evolves into, "Stick to your convictions," and then later into "Don't fear failure."
"It's saying commit fully to what you do," elaborates Shirley, "and if you fail, take the lesson."
On the one hand, this is cool because very few children's movies talk about artistic integrity and what happens if you DO fail. Failure is so often not an option for heroes. We always assume they'll succeed. Jack fails in a big way, but by doing so rediscovers himself and returns to his first love: scaring people. Burton and Elfman probably went through this many times in their artistic careers, and this movie is more about finding what you're good at than anything else. But it doesn't come across clear enough. The message doesn't come across on a first viewing, which may be another reason it's a difficult film to connect with.
One thing we could all agree on was that the iconic "Jack on a hill against the moon" shot is brilliant. Even if some of us thought the hill looks phallic in retrospect.
We start with "Don't reach beyond your own abilities," which is a weird thing for a children's movie to tell us. But it kind of evolves into, "Stick to your convictions," and then later into "Don't fear failure."
"It's saying commit fully to what you do," elaborates Shirley, "and if you fail, take the lesson."
On the one hand, this is cool because very few children's movies talk about artistic integrity and what happens if you DO fail. Failure is so often not an option for heroes. We always assume they'll succeed. Jack fails in a big way, but by doing so rediscovers himself and returns to his first love: scaring people. Burton and Elfman probably went through this many times in their artistic careers, and this movie is more about finding what you're good at than anything else. But it doesn't come across clear enough. The message doesn't come across on a first viewing, which may be another reason it's a difficult film to connect with.
One thing we could all agree on was that the iconic "Jack on a hill against the moon" shot is brilliant. Even if some of us thought the hill looks phallic in retrospect.
"NNNNNGH!" -Pooh Daddy
Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself
Right away when the movie begins we're given some pretty creepy imagery. The opening number is designed to bring us fully into the world of Halloween Town, and it does its best to terrify us while still staying within the PG rating the movie was given.
"Pumpkins in this world are sentient. We just saw heads being impaled on spikes." -The Fuzzy Masked Man
That being said, is the movie really that scary? We're already a step removed because it's an animated film, so we relate more to the cartoonish imagery than any of the gruesome stuff. And it's hard to be scared of any town filled with inhabitants who are as jolly and full of song as the people of Halloween Town. Even if the composition of their bodies isn't exactly normal.
"Most of these are familiar, but what the fuck is the Mayor?" -Bride of Buggerlas
Because fear is such a part of these characters' lives, it's hard to tell when they're actually scared. And it's easy to argue that they never are, because the things that go on where they live are so nuts that nothing fazes them. I personally argue against this.
Fear is a pure emotion. When you mix fear with any other feeling it can become anxiety, nervousness, jealousy, even awe. Some of my comrades didn't want to drink for some moments I considered sipworthy because the characters were "shocked" rather than afraid. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but especially in a town where scaring others is a recreational sport, "shock" is a good enough substitute for fear for me. These characters ENJOY feeling scared, and that pleasure shows in their faces in a way that it doesn't when the people in OUR world are terrified by Santa Jack and his mechanical reindeer. For an example, let's take a look at the "Town Meeting Song", where Jack regales his neighbors with stories about his trip to Christmas Town.
Fear is a pure emotion. When you mix fear with any other feeling it can become anxiety, nervousness, jealousy, even awe. Some of my comrades didn't want to drink for some moments I considered sipworthy because the characters were "shocked" rather than afraid. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but especially in a town where scaring others is a recreational sport, "shock" is a good enough substitute for fear for me. These characters ENJOY feeling scared, and that pleasure shows in their faces in a way that it doesn't when the people in OUR world are terrified by Santa Jack and his mechanical reindeer. For an example, let's take a look at the "Town Meeting Song", where Jack regales his neighbors with stories about his trip to Christmas Town.
Jack has them in the palm of his hand by the end of this song, because he's given up on trying to fill them with wonder and is giving them what they want: a scary story. It's the same kind of thing that happens around any campfire in the middle of the night. You hear these stories and compete with each other to see who can tell the best one. Jack's audience applauds at the end of the song because he's told a story they like. The "normal" stuff confuses them, but the stuff they know still excites them, because they still manage to get a tickle of fear when they experience it. I think this kind of fear still comes from the same places as the wet-your-pants terror shown later in the movie. It's just on a smaller scale.
In any case, you should DEFINITELY drink when the Mayor's head whips around to his paler side. It's the side of his face that's TELLING you he's worried about something. That's a gimmie.
In any case, you should DEFINITELY drink when the Mayor's head whips around to his paler side. It's the side of his face that's TELLING you he's worried about something. That's a gimmie.
"I think he's supposed to be a top." The Fuzzy Masked Man
Some Light BDSM
"I have a problem with the Oogie Boogie Man," said Shirley Whiskas, "because I'm sexually attracted to him."
Um.
Um.
I mean, no judgements, but...um?
Shirley went on to elaborate that it wasn't because of anything particularly attractive about this character, but what the character does. Specifically, tying up Santa Claus and hoisting him into the air.
"Children's interpretations of bondage have informed large portions of my sexuality," chimed in Big Moose. Not sharing this fetish, I felt as though I was hit with a startling revelation. Seeing as a lot of children's entertainment involves seperating good guys from bad guys, and good guys get captured a lot, and the easiest way to hold somebody captive is to tie them to a post or train tracks or something, it's a logical connection to make. Just not one that springs to everyone's mind.
Oh man, tons of the stuff I watched when I was little had SOME elements of BDSM ... Dudley Do-Right ... The Great Mouse Detective ... Toy Story?
Please send us more examples. This might be fun to explore.
"Children's interpretations of bondage have informed large portions of my sexuality," chimed in Big Moose. Not sharing this fetish, I felt as though I was hit with a startling revelation. Seeing as a lot of children's entertainment involves seperating good guys from bad guys, and good guys get captured a lot, and the easiest way to hold somebody captive is to tie them to a post or train tracks or something, it's a logical connection to make. Just not one that springs to everyone's mind.
Oh man, tons of the stuff I watched when I was little had SOME elements of BDSM ... Dudley Do-Right ... The Great Mouse Detective ... Toy Story?
Please send us more examples. This might be fun to explore.
Note the spread-eagled skeleton
The Results
Working on it
It might be too late to play this game on Halloween, but you can still play it near Christmas (which we all know begins November 1st). Or you could play it tonight. Don't be constrained by the calendar. Movies are forever. Not for a day.
In the meantime, here's some extra rules.
Drink once for each song title that doesn't get dropped
Danny Elfman titles his songs like he's writing an opera. For every "This is Halloween," there's a "Scheming Song" or "Jack's Lament". And we wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to take a swig.
Drink every time a character is confused
You can substitute the "scared" rule for this, because it happens twice as often and is much more uniformally presented.
Drink for group celebration
The people of Halloween Town know how to party. To the point where they make up spontaneous choreography in the thick of it.
In the meantime, here's some extra rules.
Drink once for each song title that doesn't get dropped
Danny Elfman titles his songs like he's writing an opera. For every "This is Halloween," there's a "Scheming Song" or "Jack's Lament". And we wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to take a swig.
Drink every time a character is confused
You can substitute the "scared" rule for this, because it happens twice as often and is much more uniformally presented.
Drink for group celebration
The people of Halloween Town know how to party. To the point where they make up spontaneous choreography in the thick of it.
"All right, everybody, the camera's only going to come through once, so get it right the first time." -Velma Jinkies
Thanks for joining us this week, everyone! Next week we'll be examining a thought provoking television show that raises a lot of important questions.
I...uh...can't think of any of them right now...just...give me a second...
Like what you see? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, at For Your Inebriation and @KrissyPappau respectively. You'll get weekly updates, behind the scenes drunk talk, and other chatter!
For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). Video footage is taken and edited by Seb (Amy Yourd). All "Nightmare Before Christmas" related footage is owned by Touchstone Pictures and Walt Disney Studios.
For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). Video footage is taken and edited by Seb (Amy Yourd). All "Nightmare Before Christmas" related footage is owned by Touchstone Pictures and Walt Disney Studios.
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