Character Analysis: The Mayor of Halloween Town

Character Analysis: The Mayor of Halloween Town

By: Brian Cotnoir

Few films have left as big of an impact as Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.  Since its release in 1993 it has garnered a cult following worldwide and its story, characters, and songs are known and loved by practically everyone.  Just like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, this is one of those films that has more memorable and likable characters than you can count, so once again I asked my friends who they thought I should write a Character Analysis on.  I was fully expecting to get an overwhelming amount of requests for Jack Skellington, Sally, or Oogie Boogie, but much to my surprise my friends began suggesting I do one of the secondary characters from the film.  Then the next problem was I had no repeat requests until 2 days after I asked them for their opinions.  The Mayor of Halloween Town, one by a single vote that broke a 5-way tie...talk about close Election results, right?

CHARACTER: The Mayor of Halloween town from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993)

The Mayor of Halloween Town

The Mayor of Halloween Town (or Mayor, as most of the residents refer to him as) is the Mayor of the fictional Halloween Town.  He has a distinctive appearance; he’s short, portly, with a giant cone-shaped head.  He has two faces, one face that’s flesh colored and always smiling, and the other is a pale colored with a melancholy expression.  His outward appearance varies depending on what mood he is in.  The fact that he is able to switch his moods at the drop of a hat suggests that he may be suffering from some type of bipolar disorder or possibly suffering from Manic Depression.  When he is happy he is a man who is passionate about his job and loves the town he represents and he does everything he can to appease its residents. When he sad, he’s very dreary, and you hear a sense of hopelessness in his voice. When something doesn’t go the way he had hoped or planned he plunges into a deep sorrow and begins to act like the world is over. You also get the sense that the two separate faces could imply that he is paranoid (and a bit anal retentive).  I mean the day after Halloween, he’s on Jack’s doorstep because “the next Halloween is only 364 Days a away”.  I mean, for crying out loud give the man a break he still has plenty of time before he needs to start planning for next Halloween.                                         

    Even though he is the Mayor of Halloween Town he doesn’t appear to be the person in charge.  The Mayor is very loyal and at times appears to be subservient to Jack Skellington aka The Pumpkin King, which I believe is more of a nickname rather than an actual Title.  Seriously, what other Mayor’s do you know of that would let of its residents dictate all that goes on in town?  It appears that The Mayor gives Jack so much freedom in Halloween Town in order to find favoritism with Jack and inter the Town’s residents as well.

THE ACTOR:

The Mayor of Halloween Town is voiced by actor Glenn Shadix.  Shadix had two distinctive voices for The Mayor.  He speaks with a deep authoritative baritone when he is happy and singing and when he is sad he has a mildly high-pitched sorrowful whine that almost sounds like he’s crying as he talks.  I think Shadix’s voice for The Mayor of Halloween Town sounds similar to Thurl Ravenscroft’s voice from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (1957).  This was the second time that Shadix has appeared in one of Tim Burton’s projects.  Before supplying the voice of The Mayor in “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, Shadix played Otho Fenlock in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice”.  Tragically, Glenn Shadix died in 2010 from blunt trauma after he fell at his condominium in Birmingham, Alabama.

CHARACTER IS SIMILAR TO OR INSPIRED BY:

If re-elected I promise you all....NOTHING!

When I first saw The Mayor of Halloween Town’s two faces, I initially thought that he was supposed to a take-on the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character, but they actually have very little in common.  The Mayor’s personalities are just happy and sad as opposed to Jekyll & Hyde which are Nice & Mean.  Upon further research I did on The Mayor’s character I discovered he inspired by actual politicians.  The Mayor’s two faces are a play-on of the expression “Two-faced Politicians”.  That’s really clever actually.  However, I think they could’ve done so much more with this character.  I think with a few changes to the story they very easily could’ve made the Mayor the villain to the story.                                                    

    Like my idea would be to make this “two-faced politician” similar to Jekyll & Hyde, and the happy bright face could represent him pretending that he likes Jack, and his other face could secretly hate that Jack is always upstaging him and is more well liked than him, and he could use Jack’s desire to takeover Christmas as a ploy to try to get Jack out of Halloween Town forever.  That’s just a thought I had.

FATE OF THE CHARACTER:

Look at picture i drew for you, Jack.  Do you like it?

After believing that Jack was blown up by the Humans for ruining Christmas, The Mayor sank into a deep depression claiming he knew that the Christmas was  bad idea the whole time.  When he was informed by Lock, Shock, and Barrel that Jack is alive and being held captive—along with Sally and Santa Clause—by the Boogey Man.  The Mayor rushes to save them and arrives with Lock, Shock, and Barrel right after Jack vanquishes The Boogey Man.  The Mayor helps free the three captives and drives them back to town for a triumphant welcome home.  As Santa Clause departs Halloween Town, it begins to snow there for the first time ever, and as soon as the Mayor catches a snowflake on his tongue he is overwhelmed with delight.  If I had to guess where he is now, I’d bet you he’s still The Mayor of Halloween Town.