Weekly Blog December 13th, 2020: Miracle on 34th Street

Hello Internet!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. I’m very happy that there is good news of a vaccine on the horizon and people in the United Kingdom are already getting vaccinated. It will probably take some time before the general public here in the US becomes vaccinated, but I’m happy that we have a date on the horizon where we will be able to return to a normal world. A world where I can see my friends and family and give them a hug. It kind of sounds dumb but I miss hugging my friends! Anyway, it has been a little while since I had written a Weekly Blog, so let me quickly list off the pieces I published over the past few weeks just in case you missed them and want to give them a read. Last Wednesday I published a Haiku titled “Unstoppable Force.” I’ve been thinking about persistence and how with enough perseverance and willpower amazing things can be accomplished. Many immovable objects become moveable if you just don’t give up. Now obviously that’s a gross oversimplification of life, but sometimes we just need a reminder to keep on going no matter the hardship. Be that unstoppable force. Then on that Friday, I published a Writing Prompt Piece titled “Witch’s Pyre.” A young woman is put on trial for being a Witch by a corrupt politician in this fantasy town. A young man who fell in love with the woman steps up and tries to free the Witch believing the charges against her are false. Well turns out she is actually a witch, but it doesn’t make the connection between the woman and the hero any less true. Then, this past Wednesday, I published a Poem titled “Hot Chocolate.” I don’t know about you but a nice, warm cup of hot chocolate is perfect on a chilly, winter day, especially when it’s Christmas season. Drinking some brings back so many cozy memories about winters past and that’s what this Poem is all about. Get yourself some hot chocolate and a warm blanket before reading this Poem. Finally, this past Friday, I published a Writing Prompt Piece titled, “The Save Humanity Protocol.” In the not too distant future a Military Artificial Intelligence becomes more and more powerful as it takes on the other intelligences and eventually decides it no longer needs humanity. It unleashes the nuclear arsenal of the world and wipes out humankind. Although as it starts to clean the planet up from nuclear destruction, it finds a group of humans that have survived the end of the world. This makes the Artificial Intelligence change it’s mind and it decides it needs to protect these surviving humans at all costs. Those are all of the recent pieces I’ve published so if you missed one, feel free to give it a read. Or you can just go ahead and read a piece if you like. I won’t judge. 

Now that we talked about that I want to move on to talking about this week’s Weekly Blog subject. If you remember, back in October I decided that I really wanted to get into the Halloween spirit by going back to a classic. So I made the decision to read Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to read a story that I knew bits and pieces of, but never actually read. Well in a similar vein I thought it would be very festive if I took a look at a classic Christmas story. So did I read Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol?” No, silly. Didn’t you read the title of this Weekly Blog? Plus I could just watch The Muppet Christmas Carol which is obviously the best version of that story. I instead decided I was going to watch The Miracle on 34th Street. It’s one of those movies that people consider a Christmas Classic but something I had never seen. Plus it’s on Disney+ (not a sponsor) so I thought this Christmas season would be a perfect time to watch and write a Weekly Blog on it. Also I should mention that I’m going to talk about the plot of this movie, so if you don’t know it and want to watch the movie, consider this a spoiler warning. Secondly, I watched the original movie released in 1947. I believe there are more recent remakes or retellings, but I went all the way back to the Black and White movie so there might be some differences between that one and others. I really don’t know since I just watched the one.

Alright, so what is Miracle on 34th Street about? Well let me tell you. The movie tells the story of the real life Santa Claus who comes to New York City. His mission is to fight against the commercialism that is taking away Christmas’ wholesome message. I didn’t know commercialism was such a huge problem back in 1947 but apparently it was. Good thing we took care of that it’s not like a hundred times worse in 2020… Anyway, Kris Kringle shows up at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and notices the man playing Santa Claus in the parade is drunk. So he takes over the position in the parade and then gets hired to be Santa Claus at the large Macy’s store on 34th Street. While on the job, Kris engages with all the kids and even recommends the parents go to other stores to pick up toys their kids want if Macy’s doesn’t have the product they want. This ends up setting up an arms race of sorts as each big department store in New York follows suit and tells their salespeople to send customers to other stores so they look like a generous store that puts people’s needs over profits. While Kris works at the store, he interacts with a woman named Doris who works for Macy’s as a part of its management as well as Doris’ daughter Susan. Doris raised Susan to not believe in things like fairy tales, imagination, and Santa Claus. This comes in direct conflict with Kris because he is the real Santa Claus and Kris does his best to convince Susan that he is really Santa. Doris is concerned about this and tries to fire Kris, but Kris and his generosity is a big hit with R.H. Macy and instead he is just evaluated by a Psychiatrist. Kris passes the test with flying colors, but he and the Psychiatrist have several disagreements. Kris ends up living with Doris’ neighbor and lawyer, Mr. Gailey and they agree that they will both try to convince Doris and Susan to believe in imaginative things like Santa Claus. During the time Kris works at Macy, the disagreements between him and the Psychiatrist escalate to the point where Kris hits the Psychiatrist with his cane and Kris gets sent away to a mental asylum.  It is then up to Mr. Gailey to convince the public and The New York Court that Kris is not crazy and is actually Santa Claus. Now the whole courtroom case of proving Santa Claus is probably the most iconic part of the movie and the part I knew about before I watched the movie. So Mr. Gailey argues in court that Kris is Santa Claus and uses the letters people send to Santa Claus as proof for his case. The judge agrees with him and Kris Kringle is officially recognized as the real Santa Claus. By the end of the movie both Doris and Susan believe in Santa Claus and Susan gains a child-like imagination. Also Mr. Gailey and Doris start dating and end up getting a house together which Susan loves because she wants a large yard to play in. I would think that Mr. Gailey and Doris got married but I’m pretty sure that they were only dating for a month since this movie only takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyway, it’s a happy ending for everyone and Christmas is saved.

So what did I think of this movie? Altogether I really enjoyed Miracle on 34th Street and thought it was a pretty good movie. I can definitely see why some people hold it in such high regards and believe it is a classic Christmas movie that must be watched. I really enjoyed the characters and the sentiment that Kris Kringle wants to show up in New York City and fight against commercialism with his kind heart. It’s such a strange thing that this movie was made in 1947 when the idea of a woman who works for a big business and doesn’t believe in Santa Claus sounds like every Hallmark Movie made in the past 15 years. Like if Doris would have left New York City to visit her hometown in the country and then discovered the true meaning on Christmas, this movie would be identical to like a dozen Hallmark Christmas Movies. Also it’s good to know that commercialism and green surrounding Christmas has been a problem for over 70 years. Maybe that’s why this movie is such a big hit. The movie’s message is timeless and it’s always a good reminder that people need to believe in Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit. Another moment that stuck out to me is where a mother brings her daughter to talk with Kris at Macy’s but the daughter only speaks Dutch. The mother is worried that the daughter will be disappointed, but Kris talks to the girl in Dutch and they even sing a song together. It’s very touching. It reminds me of videos where Santa Claus signs to children that can’t speak or don’t hear very well. It warms my heart to see these children be able to talk to Santa Claus just like any other kid. The only knocks against the movie is that there were some odd cuts and cinematography which I’m guessing were standard at the time. It is also a movie from 1947 so I’m sure it has some problematic parts, but just watching it for the first time, I didn’t notice anything too bad that would need some sort of content warning beforehand. Lastly, the message of the story is that people should be generous and embrace the Christmas spirit but characters sometimes do good things for bad reasons. Mr. Macy and the other big store owners only pretend to care about the customer over their profits because it ends up boosting their own profits. Additionally, the Judge decides to declare Kris as the real Santa Claus because he fears that the public will not reelect him if he decides otherwise. So I’m not sure how those characters really fit into the message of the story. I guess they do the right thing in the end so it’s fine. Sure. Overall this is a pretty good movie and I really enjoyed watching it.

Hopefully you enjoyed that Weekly Blog and my discussion of Miracle on 34th Street. If you haven’t watched the movie before and still read through the Blog, I still think it’s a good watch. My plot summary didn’t cover everything and it’s still a feel good movie if you need one of those this holiday season. If you have seen it, this might want you to go back and watch it again. If you liked this Weekly Blog, feel free to give it a Like. You can also comment down below talking about this movie. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the movie or you can recommend any other Christmas movies down in the comments. I plan on watching a ton of holiday movies between now and Christmas so I’ll take any of your suggestions. You can also Follow me here on WordPress if you don’t already. I’m trying to build a positive and creative space on the internet and I’d love it if you were a part of that. I have a ton of stuff on here for you to read, even as the year comes to a close. I only have a few more pieces before taking my Christmas Break (which I will talk about next week). I’m going to have a wrap up of my favorite pieces near the end of the year and you can show your support for pieces by reading them and liking them. I really appreciate all the love and support and I’m going to try to finish this year off on a strong note for your sake and mine.

Thank you again for all the support and I hope you have a wonderful week!

-Allen_The_Writer

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Header Photo Credit to NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/11/29/503700215/miracle-on-34th-street-an-old-holiday-movie-for-modern-times