It is the time of year for tons of yuletide traditions:
Sending Christmas cards to our friends and family far away-that has been happening
since 1843. The decorating of the Christmas
tree-we have been doing since sometime around the 16th century. The singing Christmas carols (1st
one “Jesus Illuminates All”, 336 A.D), and kicking back and watching a bunch of
Christmas specials/movies.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I had an interesting
discussion of what constitutes a Christmas movie or special. For example, some would argue that the movie
“Die Hard” is a Christmas movie. It
does, after all, take place on Christmas Eve with John McClane coming to L.A.
to see his kids and perhaps fix the relationship with his soon-to-be ex-wife
Holly. It begins with the limo driver
playing Run DMC “Christmas in Hollis” while taking John to his wife’s office where
they are having a huge Christmas party.
The film, however, quickly devolves from that point into a stereotypical
action movie that was popular in the 1980’s with Bruce Willis trying to give
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger a run for their box office money. Is it a good movie? Yes, it is a good action movie. But it isn’t
the 1st movie that comes to mind when I think of a Christmas movie.
“Die Hard” I would dub as a Fil -in -the -Blank genre movie
that has a Christmas label stuck on it. If you want to call “Die Hard” a
Christmas movie you can but it has very little to do with Christmas and
certainly doesn’t reflect the true meaning of Christmas. The movie “Gremlins” could also be called a
Christmas movie. In reality, though, “Gremlins” is a PG-13 horror film with
those little green monsters terrorizing the town of Kingston Falls at Christmas. I would also classify most of the Hallmark
Channel’s lineups under this category as well with them rehashing the same
romantic comedy tropes against a Christmas backdrop. Heck I would even throw such notable classic
Christmas movies as the Bing Crosby Rosemary Clooney musical “White Christmas”
in the Fill in the blank genre movie with Christmas label stuck to it category
because it’s more of a musical spectacular than it is about the Christmas
holiday.
Then there are the movies and specials that clearly are
about Christmas because they feature the ultimate icon of Christmas-Santa
Claus. Now Santa doesn’t have to be even the main character or have the movie
or special revolve entirely around Santa for it to qualify as a Santa film. The movie “Elf” is about an orphaned baby
boy named Buddy who was raised by elves trying to find his human birth parents
and Santa is only tangentially connected to it. The most famous Rankin Bass stop motion
Christmas special was all about Santa suddenly needing reindeer with a built-in
spotlight hence Rudolph’s becoming an insider rather than an outsider of the
Christmas world. A Santa movie is a
wonderful thing at Christmas because as famous editor of the New York Sun
posted to young 8 year old Virginia when she asked if Santa was real “(Santa) exists as certainly as love and
generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your
life its highest beauty and joy.” [i] And I would say most Santa films embody that
feeling of love and generosity that abound during the Christmas season.
But there are certainly other notable Christmas classics
that aren’t just some other type of movie with a Christmas label attached to it
or something that takes place within the greater Santa Claus cinematic multiverse. Those I would say embody that spirit of
Christmas but not quite the true meaning of Christmas. They capture that
feeling of love, generosity and joy so much they become obvious Christmas
classics. The movie “It’s A Wonderful
Life” is really a 140 minute pre-“The Twilight Zone” episode done in the Frank
Capra heartfelt patriotic style. But
somehow “It’s a Wonderful Life” is more than some weird sci-fi mystical plot
about an angel showing how the world is worse off without George Bailey in
it. Because it has that heart and
spirit of generosity people love this film and it fits Christmas’ overall
theme. The 1966 Chuck Jones TV adaptation
of his fellow cartoonist buddy’s Dr. Seuss book “How the Grinch Stole
Christmas” could be classified as a Santa film with the Grinch being an anti-Claus
who steals things rather than gives them. In the end though, the Grinch realizes that
Christmas isn’t material it’s spiritual and the joy he receives causes him to
repent of his Grinchy ways so he too can spread the Christmas love. Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” is by
Dickens’ own words a ghost story. Yet, the theme that Scrooge must care more
for humanity than his personal wealth is the epitome of that Christmas spirit
of generosity and love and how if we recognize it we can change. Then
there is that brilliant “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. The
one thing that the networks hated about the Peanuts Christmas special was Linus
getting up and reciting Luke 2:Vrs 1-14. Charles Schulz insisted that that
biblical passage be in there because “That’s really what Christmas is all about
Charlie Brown.” And
maybe why this particular secular special has been so beloved for almost 60
years is because this secular show does a good job recognizing the true meaning
of Christmas. I found a comment online
pointing out when Linus is reciting the Gospel of Luke he drops his security
blanket when he says “Fear not!” As
soon as the actual Gospel of Christmas is said out loud suddenly Charlie Brown
is happier and the Peanuts gang, who have been very nasty to him through much
of the special, go out of their way to be nice to him.
So, does that mean that the only true Christmas specials are
the ones who re-present or explore the world of the Nativity of Jesus? There aren’t too many depictions of Jesus’
birth that makes it into our regular viewing habits for some reason. Some are better than others. For example, I prefer to watch the Rankin
Bass “Little Drummer Boy” about how a boy filled with hate gets overcome by
love as he plays a drum solo for baby Jesus to the other Rankin Bass Nativity
themed special “Nestor: The Long -Eared Christmas Donkey” which was just a
rehashing of the Rudolph plot with Nestor saving Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus on
their way to Bethlehem. Dallas Jenkins’
“The Shepherd” was so good it lead to the #1 crowdfunded project of all time
“The Chosen”. I think what made it good
is that it realistically depicted how frightening it would be if an army of angels
suddenly appeared in the sky in addition to making a protagonist that was put
upon and derided by everyone around him because he was a cripple. (Making his
healing and being the 1st one to hold baby Jesus after Mary &
Joseph all the sweeter). Yet, these
Nativity specials, while showing the reason for the season, don’t necessarily
get to the heart of why the Son of God had to become incarnate in human flesh
to begin with.
So, allow me to explain the Christmas movie/special has more
to do with the true meaning of Christmas than most TV specials. It’s Pixar’s “The Toy Story that Time Forgot”
which came out around Christmas 2014 and aired on Disney owned ABC. [ii] The special itself is at first glance only
nominally Christmas-y. The story takes
place about two days after Christmas which makes sense since the only times a
year a kid gets a lot of new toys is either on their birthday or on Jesus’
birthday. The plot features Bonnie
packing up Buzz, Woody, Rex, Trixie, and a stuffed kitty angel ornament that’s
been hanging on Bonnie’s tree for a playdate with her friend Mason at his house. Now prior to Bonnie dragging her toys to her
friend Mason’s home the show opens up with Trixie the plastic triceratops
lamenting how Bonnie is never allowing her to be the big blue plastic dinosaur
she is in the Pixar universe. Once
Bonnie arrives with backpack & toys in tow to Mason’s home Mason quickly
urges Bonnie to play with him on his new videogame console in his game room. Bonnie quickly throws her backpack into
Mason’s playroom where the Toy Story toys quickly realize Santa was very good
to Mason because Santa gave him a vast collection of these half human/half
dinosaur action figures and matching playsets.
Trixie quickly befriends one of the half human/half dino action figures named
Reptillus and they develop a borderline romance. Of course, per Toy Story logic most action
figures do not know they are toys and begin to act out their commercial alter
egos for better towards Trixie and fellow plastic dino Rex, and for worse towards
Buzz and Woody who find themselves in the center of a sci-fi dino dystopian
colosseum fighting for their lives! The
humanoid dino creatures are at one point about to send Buzz, Woody, and the
kitty angel ornament to their deaths down a heating vent shaft (with the kitty
angel playing “O Come O Come Emanuel” on her decorative trumpet) when Trixie
manages to make her way into the game room (unseen of course because also by
Toy Story rules no toy can be seen as alive) to shut off the power to Mason’s
game console, thereby forcing Mason & Bonnie to play with the physical toys
and not the virtual ones. Before she
gets there her new Dino boyfriend Reptillus tries to stop her. Trixie then convinces Reptillus he is more than just some plastic warrior. By accepting the fact he is a toy and
surrendering to something/someone greater than himself he can go beyond what he
had ever imagined. I think Reptillus
ultimately shuts the power off and allows himself to be held by Mason and let
Mason determine his actions. Afterwards
Reptillius described the feeling of being a plaything in Mason’s hands, not
knowing anything about the outcome or what he was supposed to be as a glorious
experience.
Now, you ask, why did God send his only begotten Son to be
our Lord and savior. It’s because in
some ways like Mason’s toys we too are trapped in a tiny ego world of our own
making and we often make a mess of it.
Sometimes we too need to surrender to our higher power a.k.a. God and
let him dictate our ways. Because it we
do, we too can experience something glorious. And once we do, we too can then spread that
glory of God’s love and devotion to the rest of the world.
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