Some of the more loyal devotees of the Film Cynics might already know that I pick up a new Christmas DVD every year – as I try to build up a respectable library of holiday themed titles. This year, my wife chose the Rankin/Bass Christmas Collection, a box set with the stop-motion classics of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town as well as Frosty the Snowman. Nothing says good ol’ days American Christmas quite like a set like this, unless someone cooks up a Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas box set – and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone already has.
Not long after we got it home and broke it open, I sat down to watch Rudolf with my daughter and marvelled at some of the pathetically antiquated notions of exploitation and prejudice the writers were using to move the story along. When the song said that all the other reindeer laughing and calling Rudolf names, I didn’t think it meant his father too. I also didn’t expect Santa Claus to be making the case for conformity at the expense of being true to ones own self. Give a good hard look at some of the weird underlying messages in this production, and then how Santa accepts the former pariah Rudolf into the fold when he finally serves a purpose in the community.
And speaking of me ruining tradition Christmas programming for everyone, I had the misfortune of watching The Santa Clause the other day, and there was a question hanging in the air that I don’t think was ever answered to my satisfaction. Why wasn’t anybody mourning the passing of the old Santa Claus? No funeral? No wearing black? No freakin’ elven wake? It seems to me that that the good people of the North Pole were a little bit dismissive about the passing of their “beloved” Saint Nick. I wonder if that thought occurs to Tim Allen’s character in the wee hours of the morning – how little his absence will be felt when he slips off the roof of somebody’s house.
