Jeff Gillen, "A Christmas Story."
It's a neat bit of irony that the greatest Christmas movie ever made—eat it, "It's a Wonderful Life"—features such a cruel Santa Claus. As protagonist Ralphie waits to tell Santa how much he wants the Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, he watches each kid, post-Santa lap-sit, get booted down a long slide. The sequence is shot and edited to mirror Ralphie's anxiety as he waits to speak with Santa, and not only that, ...
more Jeff Gillen, "A Christmas Story."
It's a neat bit of irony that the greatest Christmas movie ever made—eat it, "It's a Wonderful Life"—features such a cruel Santa Claus. As protagonist Ralphie waits to tell Santa how much he wants the Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, he watches each kid, post-Santa lap-sit, get booted down a long slide. The sequence is shot and edited to mirror Ralphie's anxiety as he waits to speak with Santa, and not only that, when he does ask Santa for the BB gun, what does Santa say? "You'll put your eye out." Just what Ralphie's teacher told him. Way to ruin the kid's Christmas wish, Santa. (Of course, that eventually leads to the beautifully understated way in which Ralphie learns the true meaning of Christmas, but that's another story altogether.)
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