Easter Eggs at Christmas

I have just finished watching the movie Elf as I do at this time of the year each year. I was struck by one particular scene where Buddy the eld looks out from a bridge on a snowy night and how it references James Cagney in the Frank Capra film It's a wonderful life. Others have noticed similar things and the movie is described by some critics as being a "meta film" in the way it acknowledges and plays with audience expectations of the Christmas movie genre, tying familiar tropes together to create an original story wrapped in a "holiday classic bow".

1. It's A Wonderful Life Buddy's bridge scene references George Bailey contemplating his purpose in life.
2. Miracle on 34th Street Buddy's trip to Gimbel's is reminiscent of the scenes in Macy's. Gimbel's was Macy's store rival.
3. Edward Scissorhands Buddy makes snowflakes like Edward. He doesn't have the same tools but he achieves the same result.
4. A Christmas Story Buddy's snowball fight is a reference to this film. Buddy saves Michael from school bullies just like Ralphie.
5. A Christmas Story The Ralphie actor has a cameo. Peter Billingsley plays Buddy's elf supervisor Ming Ming.
6. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Leon The Snowman resembles Rudolph's Sam. The snowman Leon and Sam are both mentors to elves
7. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Buddy's elf costume recalls Hermey the mistfit elf's costume.
8. The Santa Clause Elf plays on the theme of nonbelievers being converted by the irrefutable evidence of the Christmas spirit and Santa Claus's existence, with a normal man being thrust into the North Pole environment.
9. The Christmas Star Edward Asner plays Santa again not a crook this time but the real thing.
10. National lampoon's Christmas Vacation Once again there are antics with an oversized Christmas tree.

These metareferences are sometimes referred o as Easter eggs. So Easter at Christmas!

10 Christmas Traditions

1. Preaching several sermons on Christmas themes (various verses this year)

2. Singing most of the Christmas hymns in our hymn book

3. Watching the film Elf starring Will Ferrell (tonight I hope)

4. Watching University Challenge Christmas Special on TV

5. Reading the novel Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (50 pages read so far)

6. Reading some Christmas detective fiction (A Dramatic Christmas this year)

7. Going through a book of devotions from December 1-24 or 25 (this year Joel Beeke and 31 readings)

8. Burning down an advent candle December 1-24 (a red one again this year, a bit too thin)

9. Going to see Kate Rusby and her band doing one of their Christmas concerts (really enjoyed that)

10. Listening to lots of Christmas music (I now have 671 items in my collection)

Four Classic Christmas Films

This Christmas I watched Elf as I often do. I also watched It's a wonnderful life as happens sometimes. Then I also watched Christmas with the Kranks which I have seen more than once (I first read the John Grisham book, Skipping Christmas) and a new one to me Fred Claus which has a good concept and some pretty funny moments 

Some Christmas Films 2020

Over the Christmas I didn't get to see It's wonderful life but I did watch Elf once again and enjoyed and Christmas with the Kranks, which lived up to expectations and more.

A guest introduced us to A Christmas Story from 1983, which is from a Jean Shepherd novel and is based in the 1940s. It gently tells the story of a young boy named Ralphie attempting to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift. Great nostalgia and Christmas feeling. I also caught a large chunk of the 1984 version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott, Frank Finlay and Angela Pleasence. Both films have the advantage of being period pieces but inevitably it is not hard to see when they were made.

We also watched on Netflix a newer film (2019) Klaus a cartoon that gives a nice twist on the Christmas legend.

The other thing we saw over the holiday worth mentioning here is the BBC TV mini-series Black Narcissus, an adaptation of the 1939 novel by Rumer Godden in which a group of nuns face challenges in the hostile environment of a remote old Himalayan palace that they wish to make a convent. This version was in three parts. I found the first a bit slow but the second part was better and quite Christmassy with snow. Not everyone will want to watch this series due to the overall content.

Trivia: Peter Billingsley, the child star of A Christmas Story makes a cameo 20 years later as an elf at the beginning of Elf.

Five Christmas Films

1. Arthur Christmas (2011)

2. Elf (2003)

3. Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

4. Millions (2004)

5. Nativity (2006)

I seemed to have watched more Christmas movies than usual a few years go (2011).

1. There was Arthur Christmas with two of my (older) boys who hadn't seen it either at the cinema. Highly competent it was a fine film though it could have benefited from being 10 or 20 minutes shorter. As is so often done the Christmas myth has been taken up and adapted to produce a heart warming and fun story in impossible cartoon style. If only life was so simple. No high spots in this film but quite a spectacle in some ways.

2. A couple of weeks before that I had watched our Elf DVD with two of the boys. It's often been on in the background but I'd never watched it properly until then. It's an excellent comedy exploring the oft visited theme of an innocent abroad, an elf in New York on this occasion. Great fun. I love Will Ferrell's reaction when told that his father is on the naughty list. Arthur does show a similar spirit with his "A child's been missed!" but not as funny.
3. More recently I'd joined the boys watching Christmas with the Kranks on DVD. I have a soft spot for this as I read the book first - John Grisham's Skipping Christmas and on that basis we all saw it in the cinema when it came out. It's okay and very Christmassy with the usual Hollywood optimism thrown in but hardly a great film, I guess. It got panned at the time. I liked Tim Allen's botox scene.

4. Then another time my son Dylan was looking for a film and found Danny Boyle's film Millions on BBC iplayer. This is technically not a Christmas film but no doubt was on TV for its Christmas content. Coming out of a Roman Catholic milieu and raising various ethical issues it was a great alternative Christmas film and as a comedy is as good as anything in this list. Well worth seeking out. Apparently the screenplay was written in response to an interview remark by Martin Scorsese about reading the lives of the saints. The book "Six O'Clock Saints" from the fifties is very much at the heart of the story. (Perhaps the worst scene in the film features St Peter supposedly giving that old liberal rubbish about the feeding of the 5000 being just a matter of sharing).

5. Nativity was on TV that Christmas. We may have the DVD somewhere. I've still never watched it all the way through. It looks like fun.