Post 8.

Well, it's Christmas. So, here it is.

Santa Claus: The Movie from 1985.

This is an add-on bonus to the last post on origin stories.

When I was 5 (or something), I thought this movie was fantastic for all sorts of 5-year-old reasons.

So, this year, I dug up this old gem and watched it again.

In the process, I found this movie has some very divided reviews ranging from great to “one of the worst Christmas films of all time”

Probably just nostalgia, but, I still think it’s a great film. I tried my best to not do a film review here. But, I couldn’t find any good online review that takes a serious look at what they were trying to achieve. So here is a quick attempt at, well, something.

The film is this weird and compressed mashup of ideas and philosophical points. It also has some emotional nuances in the characters that make it interesting. But, since it's a kid's movie, I think these things too easily are overlooked. Perhaps it is better to have developmental psychologists review them. I don't know.

Anyway, this film was a key influence on my life when I was very young.

Particularly the story of the elf ( or Vendegum ?!) named Patch. Here, he introduces factory automation to Santa’s workshop. The goal being to, more or less, stay relevant and to keep up with the demands of the modern world.

Of course, things go predictably wrong.

In any case, it introduced me to the idea that you can build things that, in turn, build things themselves.

It also makes a statement that being inventive may be something a little special in its own right. He's basically an excited maker who wants to show his worth. He’s highly capable, yet rather naïve. It’s particularly noteworthy that the people around him treat him differently (he even sleeps away from the others). It’s no surprise he casts himself out to pursue greater things.

So, I guess in some way that might be the true origin story for this project.
And none of the rest of the film needs to be discussed at all.

The end.

…

…

AND, then there's all this.

So, then there’s the whole thing about using your tech advantage and media muscle to manipulate the world of 1980’s consumerism.

Lots of lessons here for kids on the ethics of trying to realize ones grandiose dreams.

Anyway, In a quick summary of spoilers, they put magic stuff in the reindeer’s food to make them fly. So Patch starts putting it into lollipops to give kids the ability to fly for a few minutes. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing... nothing goes wrong. It actually works out just fine. He gets super famous and realizes his goal of getting the attention of his hero.

Grandeur achieved.

They only get into dangerous territory when the business partner has to inevitably scale and monetize the operation. Obviously, to recover the extreme investments it took to get the project off the ground.

Just like <pretty much every modern scale-up since>.

Except of course Santa (who operates with a more traditional quality control model from a zero-cost-of-labor state.... wait what now? It's a non-profit, and those are volunteers! )

Anyway, it’s the classic march-of-progress story. It’s just as much Metropolis (1927) as it is Superman (1978) that the critics like to compare it to.

It’s about the continuous existential fear of tech-empowered individuals abusing their advantage for personal gain.
And this film, like many others, exaggerates it ironically for profit as a warning to not take things too far.

Which, in the end, serves an important purpose, because, if you are going to start playing with automation, these things will need to be discussed. Just as we have been doing, for at least 100 years.

And that's why society knows what it's doing today and we don't have any existential tech crisis to think about any more. 😉

Finally

Oh yeah…and half of the film is still this kind of thing.
Don't listen to the critics.
It's gold.

The end.

Stay safe these holidays and remember.