Tuesday, December 7, 2010

TV Specials 7 - 5

Last week I got an instant message telling me to turn on ABC*.  I quickly did it because the Miami/Cleveland game was boring me to sleep.  What I found was the first of today's entries was playing.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas until those holiday specials take over the network TV stations.

*(may not have been the right channel, but it's my story so deal with it)

Special #7: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Most specials function as stories, ways to tell classic tales--for example, those about Scrooge or Rudolph-- or newer original stories.  Santa Claus is Coming to Town puts storytelling aside as it focuses on a larger goal:  filling in the back story of Santa Claus.  Everybody and his brother knows how Scrooge came to find the Christmas spirit and how Rudolph saved the day.  What most don't know is anything about the origins of Santa Claus.  He exists simply as one of the unexplained myths that surrounds Christmas.  We know that the modern day Santa Claus is based on a historical figure "Saint Nicolas", but the rest of the story has been imaginatively filled in over the years to include flying reindeer, chimneys, and elves on the north pole.  While there is value in tracing Santa Claus' historical roots as a folk figure, little kids don't care.  Why should they?  The fantasy and mythology behind Christmas is supposed to be about the impossible and the magical.

This is where Santa Claus comes in.  Our narrator, a postman voiced by Fred Astaire, recounts how the legend of Santa Claus that we all--well, not all, but you know what I mean--learn as children.  Young Nicolas is left in the woods, adopted by a family of elves, and then saves a small town that has lost the spirit of giving and--gasp--has outlawed presents.  Some of the explanations seem forced and laughable, but the spirit behind Santa Claus is pure.  Fred Astaire's postman sums up the spirit of (secular) Christmas pretty well at the end.  Christmas is a time about thinking of others, spreading joy, and making life a little easier on everyone.  Next time you spend two minutes cursing under your breath while standing in the Best Buy checkout line behind 150 people, try to keep that in mind.  It is a lesson we can all get behind, even if we don't believe in Santa.



Special #6: Mickey's Christmas Carol

There isn't much that can be said about Walt Disney's wonderful take on A Christmas Carol.  Scrooge McDuck is the perfect Disney embodiment of old Ebeneezer himself, and the inclusion of so many great Disney characters from other movies really takes you back.  The story is of course well told and concise (the whole thing is a scant 24 minutes long) while doing great justice to Dicken's original.

I can do nothing now but implore you to watch it again for yourself, courtesy of YouTube.







If the room doesn't get a little dusty when Scrooge visits the Cratchits' house at the end, you may have a heart just as cold as the Grinch.

Special #5: Frosty the Snowman


Since I am running late on getting this posted I won't go into too much detail on Frosty, but rest assured it remains one of my favorite Christmas specials of all time.  Another short one (25 minutes) it is definitely worth the time to watch on YouTube.







Back with another 5 songs tomorrow.  I'll even try to post the list at a decent time.

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