This theory could mean that Sally had a much sadder story than we thought.
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Nightmare Before Christmas has inspired numerous theories, including one that radically alters Sally’s story, giving it an even more melancholic connotation. Released in 1993, this animated film stop motion It revitalized animated cinema, traditionally populated by more entertaining and vibrant narratives aimed at a young audience. Under the direction of Henry Selick and with an original plot by Tim Burton, where he once again captured his childhood traumas, the film became both box office and criticalgenerated a legion of admirers and was positioned as one of the most outstanding animated films in history and one that hides a couple of secrets.
Nightmare Before Christmas transports us to Halloween Town, and living up to its name, This city is home to various beasts and entities related to this festival.. Halloween Town is led by Jack Skeleton, the revered Pumpkin King. Fed up with the monotony of Halloween Town, Jack discovers a town where Christmas exists and you decide to import this new holiday into your home, unleashing immediate chaos. Accompanying Jack on this adventure is Sally, whose narrative becomes even more heartbreaking following a hypothesis posed by a fan.
Sally was a witch before she died!
An interesting theory to say the least, but extremely sad
Sally represents goodness personified in Halloween Town and is Jack’s partner and crush. She acts as Jack’s common sense, although he often ignores her advice. Upon Jack’s return and his proclamation to import Christmas to Halloween Town, assigning festive tasks to the inhabitants, Sally foresees the chaos that Jack’s scheme will cause..
Jack, however, dismisses his opinionassuring him that his version of Christmas will be full of happiness and laughter, so he asks him to make his Santa Claus outfit.
In addition, Sally is a cloth doll, in certain scenes we can even see how she comes together. This, in addition to the “premonition” she had, inspired a Reddit enthusiast to point out that Sally may have been a witch in her previous life.
Considering Halloween Town as the afterlife, a city where monster and entity was once a human being, Sally may have been a witch in her earthly life, condemned to dismemberment for her witchcraft practices. That is why in Halloween Town, we see Sally transformed into a cloth doll, forced to sew herself frequently. An additional aspect that could support this hypothesis is that Sally is seen in the film making concoctions in a cauldron. This would suggest that Sally retained her magical gifts after her death, but her punishment also followed her into the afterlife.
Is Halloween Town really the afterlife?
Very interesting, but some details were not taken into account
Halloween Town is commonly seen as a fantasy kingdom populated by monsters and terrifying entities, but over time it has begun to be seen as a form of postmortem existence. In fact, Several theories have speculated about the causes of death of the prominent characters in the film.based on their forms and functions in the city, like this one from Tumblr.
The creator of this theory proposes that Jack died in a firewhich would explain its current skeletal form; the mayor was hanged or beheadedas deduced from his ability to turn his head; Dr. Finklestein succumbed to poisonmaking him susceptible to Sally’s potions; Lock died of hypothermiaevidenced by its appearance; Shock could have been burnedfrozen or drowned; Barrel suffocated under water; Zero was struck down by lightning, now similar to “smoke”; and Oogie Boogie was skinned alive.
This perspective of Halloween Town as a spiritual plane gives to Nightmare Before Christmas a much more somber tone and its characters, a more tragic nature. This leads to questioning whether other festivities also represent forms of the afterlife, and whether Christmas City would be a parallel to paradise.
But going back to the initial theory, although seeing Sally as a woman who was a witch in her previous life, adding depth and tragedy to Nightmare Before Christmas, the film itself refutes this idea: Halloween Town has witches in the most traditional way, who even participate in the opening song “This Is Halloween.” Therefore, if Sally had been a witch, she would appear as such, just like the other witches who retain the appearance of her.
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