Laws of Physics in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - Outline

The Laws of Physics in The Nightmare Before Christmas

I.                    Introduction

a.       Introduce “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

b.      Stop motion animation

c.       Hypothesis: The Halloween world deviates from “real” physics in several major ways

II.                  Impossible Structures – Balance and Weight

a.       Majority of the structures (buildings, furniture, characters) in the Halloween world are “impossibly structured” i.e. will collapse under their own weight/be greatly affected by our gravity

b.      Buildings: Jack’s house (26:19), Dr. Finkelstein’s lab (21:38), Oogie’s Lair (31:00)

c.       Furniture: beds (throughout the movie)

d.      Characters: Jack Skellington, Unicycle Clown, Bat Boy, Sally

III.                Improbable Arcs and Weightlessness

a.       Various objects thrown/jump in improbable arcs

b.      Lack of variation in timing/acceleration/deceleration make objects seem as if they are merely floating in air

c.       Weightlessness/Floating: Witches on their brooms (throughout the movie); the reindeer (35:00 and 59:00); Zero, Jack’s dog; every time a character jumps

d.      Improbable Arcs: Easter Bunny jumps out of the bag (34:07), Jack being blown apart by the missile (51:47)

IV.                Reaction without Action – Sentient Objects and Unbelievable Forces

a.       The hill upon which Jack sings uncurls, despite no visible force behind it (8:00)

b.      A vacuum sucks Jack into the Christmas World entrance (12:13)

c.       Oogie uses mighty suction power to prevent Sally and Santa from escaping (51:00)

V.                  Competing Hypothesis:  Accurate Terminal Velocity

a.       Sally is made of heftier things than Jack, so she explodes upon impact with the ground from 5 stories high (24:28)

b.       Jack is lighter and doesn’t explode even though falling from a greater height (51:47) like  a squirrel

c.       Jack should have broken anyway upon landing on the angel statue – uneven weight distribution

VI.                Conclusion

a.       I can go on forever with deviations (such as non-Newtonian “solid gases” -  a term I had to coin for this movie), stuck to more major ones

b.      Ignored the more blatantly “magical” parts (i.e. Sally’s sentient body parts)

c.       Halloween world physics versus Christmas world physics

d.      Animation taking physics past its breaking point