Tim Burton’s Enchantment

Nicholas McDonald writes for The Bard Owl about a Christian interpretation of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Jack is captivated by the aesthetics of Christmastown. He’s spellbound by the values of the transcendent framework: love, beauty, purpose, etc. (at the center of which is our Christ-figure, Santa Clause, more on that in a moment). In the same way, those of us living in modernity may still feel the pull of the enchanted world we’ve left behind, where the Christian story provided the framework for the kind of transcendent truth, beauty and love we all desire “deep inside of our bones”. 

McDonald goes on to reference famous atheists like Richard Dawkins who have wished for a return to cultural Christianity. 

Enchantment is a subject dominating the discourse in Christian intellectual circles these days. Richard Beck regularly expresses his views about enchantment and spirituality on his blog and it’s the focus of his book, Hunting Magic Eels (which I still need to read). Rod Dreher just published a book called Living in Wonder, the theme of which is enchantment. Brad East and Alan Jacobs had a public conversation on their respective blogs about the meaning of the word and its use in contemporary discussion.

Many are recognizing the loss that comes with disenchantment. Whether Burton would have thought about that decades ago, I’m not sure. I do believe that the theme of one of his most well-known and successful creative endeavors points to the malaise that has been produced as a result of this shift.

faith

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