December 26th

 

the cynical gaze

of a secular wisdom

a child’s faith prevails

 

Today we watched The Miracle on 34th Street, the original version from 1947. This is the second time I’ve seen it, and a lot more subtlety shone through for me. I often thought the newer version starring Richard Attenborough was almost its equal, but now I can see it is inferior to this magnificent original. It’s funny, sad, it pulls at your heart strings and has a wonderful ending.

Why? Because it feels real, because certain things are rightly left unexplained, you can take your own meaning from it. The modern version dumbed down somewhat,  spelt it out, (spoilers, so stop here if you haven’t seen one or other of the movies) there was a “real” miracle in that somehow Kris Kringle was able to purchase the dream home little Susan Walker wanted, for her mum and dad-to-be. It’s ridiculous, syrupy nonsense, forgivable because it’s Christmas and you don’t mind suspending belief for a big shot of feel good.

But the original, oh my! It blows it out of the water. To me, Kris Kringle is just a well meaning old guy, who indeed suffers from the delusion of thinking he is Father Christmas. This is a story of positive mental illness. He doesn’t create miracles, he just makes people feel good about themselves, encourages them to take a risk and make a difference. And the final set play? He probably made it happen through some phone calls, research and then encouraging the couple to take a certain (literal) route to their destination.

What makes the film lovely for me, is some modern elements which still resonate loudly today.

1) The ugly commercialism of Christmas. Kris Kringle fights this, he pursues the true spirit of Christmas, of generosity and goodwill. The pressure of buying the right toy, the fads, the pushy marketing, he rails against this.

2) One of the main characters is a single mum and a successful one at that. Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), working at Macy’s department store in a senior management role, is a great role model, strong, respected and a fabulous mum.

3) Science vs Faith. Doris is also a firm believer in telling her little Susan (Natalie Wood) the truth. That there is no Santa Claus. From a commercial perspective she is rightly happy to employ Kris Kringle, he is a marketing masterstroke, but she’s perplexed and frustrated at his attempts to try to convince her daughter as to the existence of Santa. It’s implied, but I think she is an atheist too.  

4) Mental illness. Now, if you, like me, believe Kris Kringle to be a well meaning but slightly mentally ill old man with a gift of making people happy, then this film gives us another positive role model. It’s stated in the film, you should only be locked up for a mental illness if you are a danger to yourself or to others. But Kris Kringle is wholly altruistic, so it is ultimately cruel when he is compelled to whack the evil company psychologist on the bonce with his umbrella thus getting himself locked up and leading to the fabulous courtroom scenes where he is represented by the savvy and endearing love interest for Doris, Fred Gailey. Of course, you may well believe Kris Kringle really is Santa, which is fine too…

You can be an atheist and enjoy this Christmas movie! It’s about faith in general, in the human spirit. The newer version pushed it right in the spiritual/ religious space, which spoilt the subtle premise… Sometimes you just need a friendly nutter with a beard to give you that little shove. Then the miracles happen! All in all, the original is a beautiful movie. Kris Kringle, played by 5’4” World War 1 veteran Edmund Gwenn is brilliant, he won an Oscar for his performance. Here he is teaching his studious young ward how to pretend, in this case they are being monkeys, in a very funny scene.

And with that said, I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas!