Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a real classic. While no one has quite been sure if it's a Christmas or a Halloween movie, one thing is for sure, it can be enjoyed at either holiday thanks to its fantastic writing and design.
An area of amazing design has to be Christmas Town, which Jack Skellington discovers himself in. In the iconic song 'What's This?' Jack manages to explore a location that is the exact opposite of everything he knows from Halloween Town. The result is a fun melody, but also allows the animators to create an extremely complex world full of tiny details.
The Hats
It may be a strange observation but the hats in Christmas Town actually really mean something. Every single character in the town has a hat except from the baby. The hats must therefore signify some sort of Christmas power.
With every character featuring a hat, it was all the more powerful when Santa's hat is taken and Jack instead dons it, using the power of Christmas to his advantage. This is a small detail in Christmas Town that actually contributes to the story.
Hidden From The World
One of the interesting inclusions for Christmas Town is that it's hidden in the real world. Halloween Town feels like it's not even on Earth and is instead in some kind of dark dimension. Christmas Town is quite different.
It has been given surrounding mountains that indicate that the location is being protected from the outside, real world. That gives a sense of Christmas being connected to humanity much more so than Halloween ever will be.
The Colors
Christmas Town really doesn't copy any of the color palette of Halloween Town. Over 3 years of production went into this movie, which means every choice is extremely deliberate. For the themes of the story, the colors were crucial.
Christmas Town therefore reflects the traditional colors of Christmas, from the deep reds to the blues and greens. Any color that is slightly copied is more bright in some way, or a deeper shade. Visually the two areas are stunningly different.
Only Christmas Trees
Christmas trees are an incredibly important part of Christmas Town. Not only is the door that Jack enters through shaped like a Christmas tree, but the important design is reflected throughout the whole of the location.
Look closely and there are actually no normal trees anywhere in Christmas Town. Every single one is a Christmas tree shape and decorated for the holiday seasons. This is starkly different from all the dead trees of Halloween Town.
A Bold Sign
Halloween Town has quite the odd sign. Almost hidden but framed with Jack Skellington as a pumpkin Scarecrow, the sign was used to set up the spookiness of the location as well as introduce the character of Jack.
Christmas Town is actually quite different in comparison. The sign has managed to incorporate every single aspect of the Christmas Town decoration. From the reefs to the lights from the trees, to the snow that Jack plays in and the candy cane structures.
Toy Infrastructure
The Christmas Town is a very busy place and therefore has infrastructure built in to try and deal with so much going on. The elves have clearly built in these forms of transport themselves though, as they are all based on toys.
Throughout the scenes set in this town, the audience can see things like a clockwork powered polar bear and a toy steam train taking the elves where they need to go. This is a great festive detail for fans to enjoy.
Electrically Powered
Compared to many other Disney villains lairs that are usually dingy and dark, much like Halloween Town, Christmas Town is bright and colorful. However there's an unusual reason for this.
The Christmas based land is actually using real lights, powered by electricity. Halloween Town had no power like this and was using candles and jack o' lanterns. For Christmas Town it's clearly taken some modern technology and started to use electricity.
Classic And Modern Design
Speaking of modern influences, the Christmas Town has clearly evolved and aged as the Earth has, but retained many of its traditional origins. While it may have more mechanical upgrades therefore, it still features ginger bread houses.
There's a strange mixture of Christmas past and Christmas present that has come together to produce a town that is strangely ageless. It's an interesting way of portraying this mythical landscape.
World Is Alive Like Halloween Town
One of the things that would have been interesting to explore in a sequel to the Nightmare Before Christmas is it seems that the world is alive in some way, trying to influence Jack himself.
This was clear in Halloween Town with the gusts of wind and Spiral Hill actually having a life of their own. But, in Christmas Town the wind also has a presence as does the snow itself. Some kind of magic is clearly at work.
Candy Cane Structures
Candy canes actually take the place of wood in this crazy world of Christmas, as in every major piece of construction there's actually a piece of candy cane forming the structure. Whether it's the famous sign or even the ginger bread houses.
What's more, this technique has been used on really tiny things like the handle of the umbrella, making this world feel really cohesive. It's an impressive piece of design and one that has to be really noticed after a few watches of the film, to appreciate it fully.