Christmas Wong Kresten: Nightmare before christmas tattoos

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Nightmare before christmas tattoos

It's a well known fact that cartoons aren't just for kids. In fact, producers of Disney and Pixel flicks have stated point blank that they make cartoons for kids that parents can enjoy as well, since parents are the ones taking their children to the theater and having to sit through the movie with them. They do this by including overt dialogue or hidden messages that will fly right over the heads of children but will entertain and amuse adults, making the cinematic experience easier to enjoy. Other movies, like Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" have a primarily adult cult following, the characters of Jack, Sally, the ghost dog Zero, and the mischievous threesome Lock, Shock and Barrel appearing repeatedly in permanent ink. Clicking through the thumbnails of BMEzine's cartoon tattoos section, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" makes up nearly 1/4 of all the images featured there.

Cartoon television shows are popular choices as well when it comes to tattoo ideas. Nickelodeon's "Spongebob Squarepants", "Powerpuff Girl" or the Fox channel's "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" have bright, humorous or empowering characters that translate great as tattoos. Even video game characters make an appearance, especially the Godfather of all digital games -- Mario, often seen along with his brother, Luigi, or arch enemy, Bowser. Hello Kitty seems to be a favorite amongst young girls, while scenes from Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" continue to show up on the ribcages of young men. The cutesy drawings of emo artist Kurt Halsey have appeared in so many tattoos that I even wrote a hub about it: Kurt Halsey Fan Tattoos

Of course, there will always be tattoos of the standard, original cartoons: Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Tigger, Snoopy and Winnie the Pooh. Classic films like "Alice in Wonderland" beget classic tattoos of Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the hookah-smoking caterpillar whereas classic books by Dr. Seuss yield images of the infamous Cat in the Hat.

Cartoons evoke nostalgic memories of childhood as well as teach important lessons. No matter how old you get, there is something about the innocence of cartoons and the characters they portray that will always ring true.