Ok I'll be your Huckleberry. I can play this game.

Why not argue it's not just about cultural appropriation its about cultural violence akin to colonisation and invasion.

He doesn't think he can do it BETTER. He just wants to do it because he was bored and suffering burnout.

"And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King, Have grown so tired of the same old thing"

Then he "discovers" Christmas town and makes a whole lot of Anthropological observations about the inhabitants "theyre hanging mistletoe. They kiss. Why that looks so unique."

"I want it for my own" he concludes, showing the avarice of the coloniser.

Then he goes and manufactures consent by telling Halloween town a bunch of lies about Christmas town. He has the king of Christmas kidnapped on the pretext that he is villainous "when he sets out to slay with his rain gear on .... and they call him Sandy Claws" and lets not forget his henchkids also traumatise the Easter Bunny.

This kind of hints at colonial violence and avarice. "It's OURS this time" they sing. But the real invasion happens on earth when everyone's christmas gets invaded by scary violent halloween creatures who terrorise the locals, attempting to force Halloween town cultural norms on them.

The sirens and searchlights the town uses to defend themselves from Jack are a reference to western countries being attacked during the WW2 Blitz. Arguably Jacks mistake is the same as Hitlers, by invading western nations instead of colonising (Africa in Hitlers case, Christmas Town itself in Jacks case) he meets more resistance and overstretches.

However Jack makes amends by pinning his crimes on his outsourced labour, Oogie Boogie the "Boogey man" whose name as an imaginary figure people blame stuff on is a clear reference to the scapegoating process. Notably Oogie Boogie is voiced by Ken Page who has a recognisably Black voice. Jack punishes the Boogey man and reinstates the Christmas Town leader. The film glosses over the harm of colonisation by showing everything getting fixed quickly.

Jack thus profits from his attempted coup and invasion by being reinvigorated and having his own culture enriched by his violent cultural borrowings. "and I Jack the Pumpkin King.. .thats right, I AM the pumpkin king. And I just cant wait until next Halloween cos Ive got some new ideas that will really make them scream!"

Tldr for anyone who doesnt realise this is satire: when you have a hammer anything can be a nail lol 🤣