When I was a kid, Christmas wasn’t Christmas without all those TV specials and movies to herald in the holiday season. Some of my longtime favourites: It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Bells of St. Mary’s, The Bishop’s Wife, White Christmas, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and of course, the Rankin-Bass Rudolph Christmas special. You know which one I mean, right?
As it was with some children’s programming in the 1970s, this particular show was one in which a kid could experience a slew of different emotions that ranged from sheer joy to the stuff of nightmares (consider the The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, for example). I was terrified of the Abominable snowman. There was something about his immense size and the HAIRINESS of him that I found very frightening.
We watched the old Rudolph Christmas special as a family last night and I remembered once again how equally fun and awful it is. And I’m not just talking about the sight of the scary Abominable either, I remembered how hard it was to explain that show to our kids when they were small.
Here’s the thing: Rudolph is born looking different and he’s made fun of by EVERYONE in his life; his friends, his flight coach, everyone. Even Rudoloph’s parents don’t accept him for who he is and want him to hide his “disability” by having him wear a prosthetic nose cover that impairs his speech. (Is it made out of dirt, or what?) And then there’s Santa himself. Even SANTA is weirded out by his nose and treats him poorly because of it.
We laugh about it now, but I think this was one of the hardest things to explain to our children, that Santa wasn’t very nice. (And what’s with his wife trying to fatten him up all the time?!)
Rudolph, after being teased and rejected, chooses a life of danger and isolation instead of hanging out in CHRISTMAS TOWN of all places.
And then there’s poor Hermie. It’s not like he wanted to slack off and bum around Christmas town. His boss wouldn’t allow him to follow his dreams and be a dentist, even though it is VERY noble career that involves helping others. Instead, he was made to slave away on an assembly line, producing shoddy work because his heart wasn’t in it. (A question from my youth: Why don’t elves need dentists? They must eat a lot of candy canes.)
And then there’s the not-so subtle sexism. The women were told to stay home while the men went out to look for Rudolph, although I didn’t question it when I was small I now watch it now with scorn in my heart. What the hell Donner! You are not father of the year! What’s the mother supposed to do at home while you crawl though the snowdrifts looking for your only son? The one you rejected?
I also wondered about that Island of Misfit Toys. I understood why someone wouldn’t want a train with square wheels, but what about the dolly? She was perfection! And how could Santa, who knew every detail about how I behaved that year, not know that there was an island full of toys who were looking for new homes?
At the end, everyone is reunited, but a terrible storm threatens to cancel Christmas. There’s no amount of elf dancing and singing that will change it either. It’s at THAT POINT that Santa realizes that Rudolph’s nose can light the way. HOW CONVEEEEENIENT, SANTA. You only realized how unique and awesome Rudolph was when you needed him. Thankfully, Rudolph takes the high road and agrees to be the lead. Suddenly, he’s one of the popular kids.
What’s his father thinking, knowing that his son usurped his potential career advancement? And what about Abominable? His teeth were pulled out by Hermie and he can’t hurt anyone. What does this mean? How can people change like that? What if he was always a good guy, just really grumpy for some reason? How is he going to CHEW HIS FOOD?!
I should point out that I do believe that extreme political correctness makes a very boring and insipid kid’s show. (Think Barney singing: “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family…”) It’s also unrealistic. You can’t be everyone’s friend. You won’t love everyone, and everyone won’t love you either. But STILL, watching the Rankin-Bass Rudolph story is like travelling back in time, and it makes me happy to live in an time in which we are more accepting of each other’s differences.
