I wanted to take the time to talk about this song from one of my favorite films ever, The Nightmare Before Christmas. (Please note that this blog entry will contain spoilers about the film, but if you haven't seen it, then what the Halloweentown is wrong with you?) The song is titled "Poor Jack" and is sung by Jack (Danny Elfman provides his singing voice) after he is shot out of the sky. His attempt to take the guise of Sandy Claws (his name for Santa Claus) and be in charge of Christmas rather than Halloween for a change fails miserably, and he sings this song about how terribly sorry that he feels for himself. The song is basically Jack's Dead Man's Pity Party... or is it? Let's a take a look at the song's lyrics, shall we?:
What have I done?
What have I done?
How could I be so blind?
All is lost.
Where was I?
Spoiled all, spoiled all.
Everything's gone all wrong.
What have I done?
What have I done?
Find a deep cave to hide in.
In a million years, they'll find me.
Only dust and a plaque
That reads, "Here lies Poor Old Jack."
Like I said, Jack is pitying himself. This could, after all, be one of the most depressing Disney songs ever, right? Wrong. Here's the rest of the song:
But I never intended all this madness, never,
And nobody really understood,
How could they,
That all I ever wanted was to bring them something great.
Why does nothing ever turn out like it should?
Well, what the heck, I went and did my best,
And, by God, I really tasted something swell,
And, for a moment, why, I even touched the sky,
And at least I left some stories they can tell, I did,
And for the first time since I don't remember when
I felt just like my old bony self again,
And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King...
That's right, I am the Pumpkin King!
Ha, ha, ha!
And I just can't wait until next Halloween
'Cause I've got some new ideas
That will really make them scream,
And, by God, I'm really going to give it all my might!
Uh oh, I hope there's still time to set things right.
Sandy Claws, hmm.
People give "Let It Go" from Frozen (which, don't get me wrong, I love) so much credit for being such a self-empowering Disney song but ignore this, probably because of the first part of the song being a lament about his failure. However, Jack comes to the realization that despite everything that went wrong, his intentions were good, and he isn't a bad person. He learns from his mistakes and decides that he wants to do better. He also decides that there is nothing wrong with who he is. Gone is the self-loathing that we hear in the early number "Jack's Lament." Here it is replaced by self-acceptance and self-love. Only then is he able to see himself as someone who is lovable. Only then does he realize that Sally loves him. In some ways, I honestly think that this is even more empowering than "Let It Go," which is basically the ultimate anthem for introverts.
