Description: "This edited collection considers The Nightmare Before Christmas as a milestone in animation and film history, considering the different layer of meaning and history of the film from pre-production to the present day. Contributors highlight the core areas in which The Nightmare Before Christmas is most historically significant or uniquely insightful. This includes its journey from a quiet art-house release in 1993 distanced from a reluctant and fearful Walt Disney Pictures - to a prodigal son as it became one of Disney's most beloved family titles and developed into a cult phenomenon"--
Brief description: Filipa Antunes is Lecturer in Humanities, specialising in media and culture, at the University of East Anglia, UK. She teaches a range of modules around these subjects on the Humanities Foundation Year, the Liberal Arts degree, and the Film, Television, and Media degrees. Her main research interests are childhood and popular culture, especially when the two intersect; ratings and other forms of media regulation; boundaries between childhood and adulthood (and the culture of children and adults); and representations of childhood, parenthood, and family.
Review Quotes:
"What's this? Antunes, Eldridge and Williams rightly recognise The Nightmare Before Christmas as a milestone not just in animation and cinema, but in all areas of popular culture, and they have gathered a delightfully ghoulish chorus of expert voices to examine its meanings, contradictions, and path from marginalised cult obsession to mainstream Disney darling. Through diverse critical lenses and theoretical acuity, the essays within show that what gives The Nightmare Before Christmas its staying power is that it is not only a stop-motion film to be watched, but a transmedia phenomenon that can be touched, played with, worn, subverted, performed, and even eaten. The insights of this new volume make it an essential companion for all Jack Skellington disciples, whether student, scholar, or Hot Topic-adorned fan." --Catherine Lester, Associate Professor in Film and Television, University of Birmingham, UK
"This collection is an essential resource for scholars and fans alike, providing a new and innovative look at this much-loved film. While the film's story and production are well-known to audiences, the collection's contributors reframe established perceptions of The Nightmare Before Christmas by embracing and exploring the complexity of the film's creation, reception, and meaning. Looking beyond the film itself, the collection also highlights the transmedia nature of Nightmare and its legacy, by foregrounding the participatory and dynamic ways that viewers engage with it, from tourism to food and fashion." --Alissa Burger, Associate Professor English, Culver-Stockton College, USA "The 1990s were a brilliant and incredibly exciting period for US animation as an art form: the glory days of The Simpsons, the return of Disney animated musicals, the rise of Pixar. But this period did not belong to cel animation alone: The Nightmare Before Christmas was a significant milestone in the rich tradition of stop-motion animation. This necessary new volume celebrates its aesthetic and narrative innovations alongside its robust, varied cultural afterlife both at Disney and among its many fans. The contributors' foci and frameworks are as diverse as film studies itself, providing an eclectic appreciation for this masterpiece. Under the skilled editorship of Antunes, Eldridge, and Williams, this collection makes a powerful case for Nightmare not only as one of US animation's most original and dazzling films, but also as one of its most enduring media franchises." --Peter C. Kunze, Assistant Professor of Communication, Tulane University, USA, and author of Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood and the Disney Renaissance (2023)