#evgra

An iconic duo!! Lovable skeleton with his lovable ghost dog!! I’ve been meaning to make an appreciation post about Jack & Zero for the longest time, so I’ll just spurt everything I have about them here.

Zero was Jack’s only friend for the longest time - even if the guy had a bunch of admirers and loved by everyone, he felt alone because no one really understood him. But Zero is his best friend because he understands him and is there to witness his sorrow beyond Halloween. The one Jack masks to everyone else, yet only allows Zero to see. (Keeping in mind Sally was never meant to know he was sad, she just happened to be there at the right time.)

Their relationship in the original poem was a little different. Zero really wanted to cheer Jack up from his blues, but got ignored. I’m really glad this factor was changed in the movie - because you get the feel that Jack’s not only lamenting to himself, but also to Zero. He turns to him to express his emotions and Zero shares them. When he’s happy, Zero’s happy - when he’s sad, Zero is, too. He was just as excited for Christmas as Jack was, and when they crashed, he was deflated and sad, too.

He shadows Jack both emotionally and physically. Besides mirroring his emotions, Zero reminds him of what’s good or what exactly matters - he cheered him on when Jack convinced himself to feel better after the crash, reminded him to go and save Santa, and tried to help Jack find himself while he was going nuts over Christmas. He also barks in support while he’s battling Oogie Boogie, and we all know how happy he was seeing Jack finally finding what made him happy(Sally). So they share quite a strong bond, just like any other owner with their pet.

I share the typical headcanon for how they met. Mine is that Zero, who, while alive, got hit by a car as a young pup, and passed to the other side as a ghost. He came into Halloween Town afraid and alone, but found comfort hiding in the pumpkin patch. He eventually came across Jack while they were both young. He was scared of him at first, but after he continued to give him some food and gradually spent more time with him, the pup got real attached. Jack decided to keep him with his family and named him “Zero”, as every time Zero was around, there weren’t any pumpkins ready to be harvested.

An APPRECIATION POST FOR JACK SKELLINGTON? FDJKLSFJKL THIS IS MY DREAM!

I feel like the first reason tons of people love Jack(there’s very little people out there that hate him) is because he’s such a likeable character. I believe Burton himself even claimed that. There’s nothing really bad about his personality or the way he treats other people - he’s a very approachable and lovable guy. He’s the type of person you feel happy around because he’s just so open and pure. He doesn’t have any bad intentions with anything he does - his actions and decisions are always good-natured. He wants to make people happy.

Jack is very passionate about the things he does and he’s very prideful of himself. He is in no way vain or selfish just because he thinks positively of himself - he never acts like he’s above anyone or doesn’t look down on those around him. He includes everyone, talks with them, and always looks on the bright side even if things turn out bad. His positive attitude is what makes his downfalls so temporary - he’s lighthearted and always willing to move on and fix his mistakes. And that’s the type of person you definitely want to be around.

His character is incredibly gifted and talented. Throughout the movie, we see that Jack can sing, dance, craft, experiment, calculate, do flips…the list goes on. He has many talents that make him such an interesting character to watch and see more from. He’s always doing something to catch the attention of others. He’s not a character you can grow bored of easily. He’s the type of person that hypes you up no matter where you see him - and that’s because of his pep and energy with whatever he’s doing. He engages people.

What I really admire about Jack is how he only makes things about himself if it’s fun for everyone. He doesn’t come out from his “show” bubble just because he’s sad. He finds purpose in making other people happy with what he does best. Even if he suffered from depression, Jack still made sure that he was pleasing his people and giving them what they wanted. He puts others before his own well being - which would explain why he put himself through so much with Christmas and how he got sad in the first place. He’s very selfless - and I think that’s something people don’t appreciate about him enough.

Along with his many attractive & desirable talents, Jack is smart to boot! He understands basic algebra and plans things quickly. He made a plan to save Santa and Sally with his environment in only a matter of seconds - and we even see in a section of the film where he tries to put Christmas elements into science & math. We see him surrounded by books and favoring things like Shakespeare. He’s practically a nerd of everything. Jack is shown to always know what he’s doing - you never get the impression that he’s confused or uncertain about anything(besides Christmas). He feels strongly in whatever he believes in, and that gives him incredible stability.

It’s not to say that Jack’s without flaws. Everyone knows that his decision of taking over Christmas was bad - and he made it without thinking sensibly. His faith given to the wrong people was what endangered Santa, and him insisting on making other people happy was what led him to not listen to Sally very well. He was overrun by emotion to the point where he lost his sensibility. He was so focused on making himself and other people happy that he ignored the warning signs around him. He had very good intentions with what he was doing - but his way of thinking was what caused his utter mistake.

-But these flaws aren’t what MAKE Jack. He redeems them as the film continues on. Jack takes full responsibility of his mistakes; he doesn’t just run away or pretend that it never happened. He goes and fixes them, and he isn’t afraid to admit when he’s in the wrong. He learns his lesson through the experience, and he carries on with what he learns(despite what some of the games may show). Jack did the right thing by going back and setting things straight. He saved lives and a holiday by understanding that it was his own fault. His strengths were what gave him that ability - to recover so quickly and understand that he needed to fix what he had broken.

Overall, Jack Skellington is an amazing character. We love him because of how kind, humane, compassionate, smart, and responsible he can be. People often misjudge his character just because he made a mistake - but it’s really far from it. The more you take some time to observe his character, the more you can understand why millions of people love Jack.