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Sally and the Creature vs. the World

A TNBC Fan — Sally & Dr. Finklestein Out all the years I've...

It’s a classic question: when is the appropriate time to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas? During the Halloween season or the Christmas season? This past year, I watched it the week before Christmas simply because I didn’t write this post when it was closer to Halloween. But to answer the question, I’d say both. And honestly it’s just a great movie to watch any time you feel like it, which is why I’m posting this in the middle of the year. (Although I had intended to finish this a lot closer to last year’s holiday season. Oops.)

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Anyways, now that we have that figured out, I will answer another question that might be on your mind right now. Why am I talking about a movie on a blog primarily dedicated to books? I am a Book Dragon, after all. Well, the movie was based on a book, so I think that should count for something. Plus my blog is dedicated to storytelling, and it is still a story. (So there could be more discussions on movies in the future.)

Most importantly, however, it reminded me of another book I’ve read: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If you’ve seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, then you might recognize that the characters, Dr. Finkelstein and Sally, share the creator-creation relationship of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature (who is very much not named Frankenstein despite what pop culture might have you believe). As I watched the movie, I weirdly had the urge to write an essay comparing and contrasting Sally’s character to that of the Creature in the gothic novel. What can I say? It’s the literature major in me. For my Romantic Literature class (Romantic referring to the period that lasted from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, not, you know, referring to that kind of romance), I wrote a paper exploring how Frankenstein’s creation tries to discover his identity through the roles of Adam and Satan from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. (If you’re interested in this particular subject, you can find said paper on this blog.) In that paper, I took into account the relationships the Creature has with his creator and with society itself. I think it is safe to look to these relationships in this case as well.

Creation vs. Creator

As I’ve already mentioned, Sally and the Creature both attribute their existence to a creator. In the case of the latter, he was created by a human scientist, and in the case of the former, she was created by a not-so-human scientist. But the unifying factor here is that neither creator is God, and thus, they are flawed beings. They can’t offer the same kind of love and support that God can. Far from it. But the relationship between creator and creation is crucial as evidenced by the differing ways in which the Creature and Sally develop.

The Creature and Victor Frankenstein

11-the-creature-jonny-lee-miller-and-victor-frankenstein-benedict-cumberbatch-photo-by-catherine-ashmore  - Cinemapolis
From the National Theatre production of Frankenstein in which Benedict Cumberbatch played Victor Frankenstein and Johnny Lee Miller played the Creature

As soon as the Creature gains consciousness, he is faced with rejection. He doesn’t recognize it as such at the time, for he then only has the mind of a newborn. But the fact is that his own creator looks at him in horror and abandons him, dooming him to a life alone. Instead of taking responsibility for the life he has brought into the world, Frankenstein lets his experiment run rampant, not caring what happens to him as long as he himself no longer has to deal with him.

While the Creature is out on his own, he learns language and eventually becomes familiar with and identifies with John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which tells the story of Adam and Eve and their Father, God, in the Garden of Eden. Once the Creature discovers his link to the irresponsible scientist through his creator’s own writings, he recognizes that Frankenstein has failed in his role of God. He might have created life as God does, but he does not care for it, guide it, or most importantly, love it.

What the Creature longs for, more than anything, is reciprocated love. Clearly he won’t get that from Frankenstein, nor, sadly, does he get that anywhere else. He needs an Eve. He needs an equal partner in life, someone who won’t abandon him to the cruelties of the world but will instead remain a faithful companion. Since no human will fill that role for him, he comes to Frankenstein with an opportunity to actually make things right, to bring some sort of balance into his creation’s life by creating this partner. In doing so, if all goes according to plan, Victor could make his own life a little easier. The Creature and his mate would do life together apart from human society, apart from Frankenstein and his family, allowing all parties to get what they want.

By the time creator and creation discuss this proposition, the latter already has blood on his hands. He had been fueled by the constant rejection, including by that of the scientist himself. But after Frankenstein goes back on his word and destroys the female he had been bringing to life, the Creature understandably feels all the more vengeful. The female, in the Creature’s eyes, represents everything that he had been missing out on in his life–understanding, friendship, love. He didn’t think he would need anyone else, just the one being who would never reject him out of fear. Of course, no one really knows how she would have felt about her male partner had she been allowed to live, even if there have been Frankenstein re-imaginings which explore how she would have fit into the Creature’s story. But in Shelley’s story, the Creature never gets his happily ever after. He never gets his Eve. And so his path turns from one of seeking love to one of seeking revenge. Because Victor destroys what his creation loves most, the Creature does the same in return by killing his creator’s best friend, and later, his newly wed wife.

Suddenly without those closest to him, Victor is forced to finally focus all his attention on the living being he had brought into the world. But instead of showing him the love he was seeking, Frankenstein seeks to destroy him once and for all. A lonely monster pursues the lonely Creature. And yet, the Creature chooses to show compassion by occasionally leaving food behind for his creator. Of course, he could never forget the pain the scientist had inflicted on him, and he is not ignorant of the man’s current intentions, but Frankenstein has always been the only person who could possibly understand him. Despite their unhealthy relationship, creator and creation are bonded until the very end of their tortured lives.

Sally and Dr. Finkelstein

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It’s not entirely clear what Dr. Finkelstein had intended for his relationship with Sally to look like when he created her. It could very well be that her intended role had evolved into something else by the time we see her in the movie. Nightmare Before Christmas fans have debated over whether Sally plays the role of a daughter or a wife to the mad scientist.

But no matter what Sally’s true role is, it is clear that her relationship with Dr. Finkelstein looks way different compared to that of Frankenstein and the Creature. Unlike Shelley’s scientist, Dr. Finkelstein not only doesn’t turn his creation away, but he tries to keep her within his castle walls as much as possible. Sally, though, grows weary of this mundane life. At the beginning of the movie, we find out that she had escaped in order to participate in the Halloween festivities. Her creator, however, believes she isn’t “ready for so much excitement.” This apparently is his reasoning for keeping her locked up. She needs protecting from the outside world, or so he says. But seeing as how Sally proves herself quite capable over the course of the movie, it’s clear she can handle the outside world just fine. It seems he really just depends on her for companionship and caretaking. While the doctor does have Igor, his lab assistant, their relationship looks like it is of a more professional nature. But he depends on Sally to tend to his personal needs, as we see when she prepares his soup for him. From their dialogue, one can assume that she cares for him like this regularly.

Along with literally keeping Sally under lock and key, the doctor relies on psychological control to prevent his creation from leaving. As he sews her arm back on after she returns from overhearing Jack’s lament in the graveyard, he reminds her: “You’re mine, you know! I made you with my own hands.” He makes it sound like she owes him a great debt for her existence, but while Sally probably is grateful to be alive, it’s clear she wants to do much more with her life than serving her creator. She doesn’t want to be tethered to him forever, especially not when she knows the love of her life lives outside the castle walls.

Despite the scientist’s efforts, Sally keeps managing to escape. Her favorite way to do so, it seems, is by poisoning Dr. Finkelstein. Since he, like the other residents of Halloween Town, doesn’t seem to be mortal, she knows the poison won’t kill him. It would simply force him to sleep, giving her enough time to leave. After all, she’s not cruel. She simply wants a little independence and more importantly, wants to help Jack Skellington, whom she cares deeply about.

In response to Dr. Finkelstein reminding her of how she owes her life to him, Sally had pointed out how he can make new creations. By the end of the movie, he does just that. Seeing as how Sally was clearly too much of an independent spirit, he creates a wife for himself and gives her half his brain, ensuring that the two of them will “have conversations worth having.” Because the scientist finally has a companion who will keep him happy, Sally, unlike the Creature, is free to pursue her own happy ending. Although she and Dr. Finkelstein will always have that creator-creation relationship between them, their individual fates are not dependent on the other’s.

Creation vs. Society

The relationship to the outside world is just as crucial to the Creature and Sally as is their relationship to their creators. The fact that the former is originally forced out into society and the latter is originally kept from it definitely matters, but it is also important to recognize the influence of particular individuals like the De Lacey family and Jack Skellington, as these characters play essential roles in the characters’ motivations and development.

The Creature in European Society

National Theatre's Frankenstein: The play's the (free) thing, with  Cumberbatch and Miller — Original Cin
De Lacey and the Creature, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, in the National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein

One of the first things the Creature learns once he is out on his own is that his creator is not the only one who refuses to accept him. He is, in everyone’s eyes, a hideous monster. No one else is willing to take on the responsibility that rests on his creator’s shoulders alone because they, like Frankenstein himself, cannot see beyond the Creature’s outward appearance.

Forced into loneliness, the closest he comes to finding family is when he stumbles upon the De Lacey cottage. Understanding from past experiences that he most likely will not be welcomed if the family sees him, he hides in a hovel and chooses to merely observe the lives of the De Laceys through a hole in the wall. In the process, he witnesses what true love looks like, which greatly contrasts from everything he has ever known up to that point. He sees how the family members care for each other, even in the midst of their struggles, and he sees how much the son, Felix, loves Safie, a Turkish woman who comes to stay with them. As he learns their story, he also discovers how much they had had to give up, but their happiness which arises from being together illustrates the beauty of love. The Creature’s awareness of this make him realize just how badly he wants to be loved, too. When he aids the De Laceys with their farm chores without them knowing about it, he hears their appreciation for his work, but it’s not the same as getting to actually be loved by them.

When the Creature attempts to befriend the old blind man, De Lacey, while everyone else is out taking a walk, it seems at first like his dreams are about to come true. But upon the walkers’ return, he is driven out of the cottage. Once again, he is rejected based on his disfigured appearance.

Unfortunately, things don’t get any better for the Creature after that. After he saves a little girl from drowning, her father thinks the worst and shoots him. He later finds William Frankenstein, Victor’s younger brother, whose prejudice immediately reveals itself as the boy rejects his offer of friendship. Upon learning the boy’s last name, the Creature kills him in a fit of rage, as he directs his anger towards his creator onto the young Frankenstein. It is in that moment he first becomes the “monster” everyone assumes him to be. Rejection after rejection had brought the ugly out of him, but of course, the rejection that haunts him the most is that of his own creator.

Sally in Halloween Town

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Sally’s situation is vastly different from that of the Creature’s. For one thing, she’s not forced out into society. She escapes into it. Luckily, the other residents don’t try to discourage her. As a walking ragdoll, she might stand out in human society, but in Halloween Town–a town filled with skeletons, ghost dogs, witches, zombies, werewolves, and other wickedly fascinating creatures–she fits right in appearance-wise.

Sally doesn’t seem to interact too much with others, or at least not that we see in the movie anyway. She’s more of an introverted soul who doesn’t like to draw too much attention to herself but who still hopes Jack will notice her.

More than anything, she longs for the popular skeleton’s love. I guess in that way, she is similar to Shelley’s Creature. Both long for reciprocated love. But in Sally’s case, she doesn’t need her creator to make a similar-looking companion for her.

Instead of trying to be super obvious about her affections, however, she chooses to show her love through gestures behind the scenes. She shows her support when she sends him gifts during his scientific study on Christmas, but she doesn’t even stick around to receive his gratitude. And when she realizes that his grand plan is sure to end in disaster, she attempts to save him from himself by creating a powerful fog that should be sure to keep him from flying out on Christmas Eve. Finally, when that fails and disaster strikes just as she had predicted, she does everything she can to set things right, even if it means putting herself in potential danger, which she does when she tries to trick the infamous Oogie Boogie. It is this last gesture that gets Jack at last to notice her and recognize his own feelings for her, allowing Sally to have her happily ever after in Halloween Town, a society which she can now thrive in.

Concluding Thoughts

Although both Sally and the Creature share the unique experience of being created rather than birthed, their lives are quite different. One might say, for instance, that their relationships with their creators are complete opposites. In the case of the latter, the creator wants nothing to do with his creation while in the case of the former, the creator is overbearing and forces his creation to remain within his walls.

The Creature may have his independence, but he’s alone and unloved. On the other hand, Sally may not be alone, but she’s not allowed to explore the world of the one she truly loves. But once she escapes into that world, she isn’t rejected from it like her counterpart is. She is able to find happiness because she lives in a society where looks don’t matter and because she finds someone who loves her and sees the beautiful soul within. Frankenstein reveals the harsh reality of how our world tends to view and treat outsiders, but The Nightmare Before Christmas reveals the rewarding experience of letting love open our minds and hearts.

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