Christmas season is right around the corner, although for some, it started November 1. A big part of the holiday festivities is watching movies. While there are many Christmas movies to choose from, including many modern and live action films, the old fashioned movies stand out as classics. The stop- motion animated movies produced by Rankin/Bass Productions during the 20th century, such as Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer, and The Year Without A Santa Claus are among the most notable. These are without a doubt my favorite Christmas movies, and while I don’t think they’re under- appreciated or underrated in any way, I do feel it is not acknowledged enough how strange these movies are.
Why i prefer these movies
Both despite and partially because of the oddness, I prefer the older Christmas films as opposed to more modern ones. This is mostly because of the charm in the old animation, scoring, and voice acting, but also in the depiction of the North Pole. In modern, live action Christmas movies such as The Santa Clause, which came out in 1994, or Spirited, which came out in 2022 with stars Will Ferrel, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer, the North Pole is shown to be run like a corporation both in the visuals and set designs and of the interactions between the higher ups like Santa and minor elf characters. Personally, I would prefer not to watch a corporate, capitalistic portrayal of the magical North Pole during a holiday season that is already extremely commercialized. Furthermore, newer Christmas movies often don’t have any of the funk that the old movies had.
funky, festive, films
One of the defining characteristics of the Rankin/Bass holiday films is the stop- motion animation using doll-like puppets. In Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, the character Jessica sings the song “My World Is Beginning Today,” and during this scene, the animation style changes into a very hippie/ retro psychedelic splash of colors. The song and visuals have barely anything to do with Christmas, and the song is about Jessica growing her worldview and thinking against the grain for the first time. In The Year Without A Santa Claus, Santa sings an existential song titled “I Believe in Santa Claus” about believing in his own existence while pretending to be an ordinary man.Â
Continuing on what makes these films stand out is the inclusion of more pagan figures in the films, such as the Heat Miser, Snow Miser, and Mother Nature characters in The Year Without A Santa Claus or the Winter Warlock in Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town. It is a unique contrast to the biblical or commercial imagery often seen in Christmas media.Â
memorable moments and characters
The characters in these films are very silly, and even their banter is funny at my grown age, such as when Rudolph and his friends visit the Island of Misfit Toys in Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer, they come across a discarded Jack-in-the-box because his name is Charlie and not Jack. Subjectively, it is quite odd that in a children’s christmas movie like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, there is a warlock that tries to kill Kris and his penguin friend Topper, or that in Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer, there is a flying tiger king named King Moonracer.Â
There are certain features of these films that are just not present in modern christmas movies or modern movies in general, particularly the animation and voice acting styles, but also the bizarreness that is riddled throughout the Rankin/Bass movies. The quirks of these movies is what makes them so special and memorable and enjoyed amongst multiple generations.Â
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