Santa: The Character That Works in Any Type of Movie

With Thanksgiving safely behind us (except for the lingering calories) we can now set our sights on Christmas. The iconography of this holiday season is dizzyingly abundant, far more so than any other. Trees, gifts, various religious symbols, and of course, the jolly old fat guy from the North Pole. Santa Claus is a part of global pop culture and folklore and has been at the center of so many films in so many varying genres.

This week, he joins a team of other beloved cultural myths from our childhood to battle evil in Rise of the Guardians. What’s interesting about the assorted cinematic adventures of Santa Claus is that they supersede genre classification. As movie history shows us, jolly ol' St. Nick works with nearly any theme:

Santa: The Romantic Ideal

Most movies that feature Santa Claus as a central character take it for granted that Santa is a real entity. He is revealed to the audience in his arctic abode surrounded by elves and utilizing magic as routinely as we use a can opener. The opposite approach of course is to present a character that possesses all of the qualities of Santa, but the question of his authenticity becomes paramount for the audience as well as the other players in the film.

Miracle on 34th Street is the best example of this model. A kindly old man who engages in nothing but good deeds is faced with the threat of institutionalization simply because he claims to be Santa Claus. But is he crazy? To wit, many television shows have Christmas specials in which a mysterious, kind-hearted stranger enters the proceedings and is teased as being Santa himself. The quest to prove Santa Claus’ existence, when it is not explicitly revealed a forgone conclusion in the narrative, is a function of the pursuit of childhood wonder and the struggle to reject cynicism. We want to believe in Santa because he connects us to a simpler, more innocent time in our lives.

Santa Begins

Another interesting cinematic approach to the Santa myth deals with his origins. These are the films that seek to lend context to the multitude of quirks and tropes associated with St. Nick. In the grand tradition of Rankin and Bass, the animated Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town seems to be the standard for examining ol’ Kris Kringle’s backstory. We see everything from where he got his famous laugh, to the basis of his red suit. Therefore, like any great film prequel, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town identifies the roots of each of Santa’s recognizable features. The much-maligned Santa Claus The Movie similarly explores the origins of Claus, and also touches on the very specific notion of Santa’s immortality; a prophetic interpretation of the longevity of this whimsical myth.

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It’s a Living

The counter to the concept of Santa as an immortal being is the idea that Claus is a position rather than an individual. In these filmic instances, Santa serves his time as the wearer of the suit and the driver of the sleigh, and then hands off the mantle to a worthy successor. Sometimes this is the result of the current Santa’s incapacitation and the heir to the beard is chosen by happenstance, as with Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause. This suggests the potential for any and all to make a major altruistic impact on the world around them. However, the favorable scenario is examined in last year’s Arthur Christmas. In this film, Claus is not just a family name, but a family business. When the ambitious, more successful Claus son is revealed to be incurably cold toward children, the bumbling, but sweet younger brother presents the more viable candidate to take over when their father retires. That sort of family conflict harbors relatable subtext that resonates beyond this festive figurehead.

Horror Santa

Even if you claim Halloween as your favorite holiday, and even if horror is your genre of choice, there is no shortage of Santa cinema at your disposal. In fact, the number of evil Santa and killer Santa movies rival the more heartwarming, family-friendly entries. Silent Night, Deadly Night, Christmas Evil, and Santa’s Slay(starring professional wrestler Bill Goldberg) all cast the iconic old elf in a sinister light. As trashy, and at times possibly incendiary, as these movies may seem, some of them do serve a fascinating purpose. Rare Exports and Sint both delve into the existing darker myths of Santa Claus. These myths come from cultures wherein Santa is not a benevolent gift-giver, but a monstrous wraith who, along with his devilish minions, punishes naughty children and demands tribute; a demonic force whose visits are marked by terror, not joy.

Santa the Absurd

If you thought the horror iterations were the height of weirdness for St. Nick, you are in for a treat…a rotten, unpalatable treat. Some of the most bizarre Santa films are those made for children in the late 50s/early 60s. The oddball exemplar of course has to be Santa Claus Conquers the Martians in which Santa... well, that title is pretty self-explanatory. Many of the strangest of the Kris Kringle kids flicks involve him going toe-to-toe with some unusual adversaries. Along with Martians, there’s the 1959 Mexican film Santa Claus in which he wrestles with the devil for the souls of children. Finally, there is the mind-liquefying The Magic Christmas Tree in which a talking tree kidnaps Santa at the behest of a greedy child with a magic ring. Suddenly flying reindeer and an workshop full of elves don’t seem so out of the ordinary.

[Photo Credit: Oscilloscope]

Life of Pi': Does the Movie Shy Away from the Book's Darker Parts?

“A story that will make you believe in God.”

This is how Piscine Patel’s journey, both in the novel Life of Pi and in Ang Lee’s film adaptation, is introduced to an aspiring writer who comes to visit an adult Patel in Canada, years after his treacherous affair through the Pacific. In the movie, Pi’s story excites, enchants, and bewilders — it is wholly uplifting all the way through. If you enter the tale ready and willing to accept any piece of incredulity as proof of a higher authority, you’ll walk away from Pi’s thrill-ride ensconced in a bolstered faith. But there is something otherwise necessary to really instill the majesty and power of Pi’s story that the movie seems to overlook: the negative. At least to the degree it is served in Yann Martel’s classic novel.

In the book, we see a good deal of Pi’s life prior to his seafaring voyage, mostly confined to his perspectives on his father’s zoo. We meet several figures who had a hand in shaping Pi’s mind and philosophy — teachers and holy men (of the Hindu, Catholic, and Muslim faiths) who are understandably cut from or reduced within the film, presumably in the interests of time or precision.

A character to whom the movie does uniquely introduce us while on dry land is Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger who’d eventually become Pi’s comrade through his death-defying journey from India to Mexico. In the film, Richard Parker is adorned with Pi’s reverence as the most wonderful animal in the zoo, while a literary Pi affixed a good deal of his attention on sloths and rhinoceroses — another understandable institution by Lee: if we’re going to spend an entire adventure with this cat, we should probably get attached to him from the get-go. But a small inkling of the dreamy, Disney-like attitude that Lee’s Life of Pi would be taking throughout.

Once the Patel family sets sail, the story begins — the book jumps immediately to the disaster that sends Pi stranded on the open waters, while the movie gives us time to build tension on the ill-fated ship, eventually exploding into the most beautiful, vivid, and terrifying ship-sinking scene in the past 15 years of cinema. When Pi awakens on the bow of his lifeboat, skies clear and animals in tow, a state of tranquility sets in to soften the blow of the horrible tragedy that has just befallen our hero. In the movie, this tranquility becomes the standard: Pi is lonely, sad, frustrated, and scared, but we hardly ever see him (or his wild friends) suffer. In the book, suffering drips from every one of Martel’s increasingly mad words.

The real culprit here is the MPAA rating. Branded with a PG, the movie doesn’t have the free range to exhibit Pi’s physical anguish, nor the brutal killings of his orangutan and zebra friends at the hands of that vicious pest the hyena. The deaths of these animals are heavy and dense in the literature. They are not just low points, they are ghosts that haunt the boat from thereon out. Pi’s sickeningly descriptive illustration of the hyena’s consumption of the zebra and beheading of the orangutan help to institute just how dastardly his situation is. The same can be said for literary Pi’s indulgent explanations of his own physical turmoil: his thirst, his starvation, the torture being imparted upon his constitution and his frying, blistering skin. Pi reserves no detail, allowing us to experience fully every bit of agony that he and Richard are enduring. In the movie, be this a case of censorship, time sensitivity, or simply an artistic choice by Lee, such suffering is not felt. Instead, we’re treated to a wild, free-wheeling, magical journey — sometimes sad and sometimes scary, yes, but never emitting the true sentiment of hopelessness to which the book so vigorously attends.

In this vein, the movie opts to omit some of the film’s darkest, grittiest scenes: the intestinal issues facing Pi and Richard Parker; the decay of the dead animals onboard the ship; Pi’s dispirited killing of various sea turtles, and the consumption of their blood; and, most notably, a scene in which Pi goes completely blind (temporarily) and happens upon a fellow waterlogged survivor who attempts (an idea never fully acknowledged by Pi) to kill and eat him… before facing the violent wrath of Richard Parker.

The difficulty in pulling off a scene effectively delivering Pi’s newfound visual impairment, from his perspective no less, might well have been the reason for this scene’s omission — especially since the book intentionally left the identity of the cannibalistic survivor (a Frenchman, suggesting that he might have been the cook from the same ship that doomed Pi) unconfirmed. This is perhaps one of the strongest and most memorable scenes in the novel, during which Pi deludes himself into believing that Richard Parker is the one speaking to him, and likewise, into believing that his new friend had nothing but the purest of intentions for joining Pi on his lifeboat. It is, in truth, a dark and somber scene — the dangling of hope and humanity in front of Pi and the reader just to snatch it away in all forms. It represents some of the lowest depths to which the book drops; the movie, however, doesn’t dare dive so deep.

There is indeed something wonderful about Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. It not only lives up to some of the most wonderful, uplifting imagery of Martel’s writing, but far exceeds it — a visual spectacle unprecedented in cinema, Lee’s camerawork does have the flare of poetry. But unfortunately, the director only applies his skills to the “bright,” the wondrous. For reasons presumably to do with attracting a young audience, the PG community, Lee strays from the dark and the morbid, with which Martel’s novel is riddled. And without the low points, the torture and the suffering, the delusions, we cannot truly understand the peaks and valleys Pi’s unbelievable journey. And without these, this isn’t quite a story that has earned the claim of making its audience believe in God.

[Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox]

Daniel Craig Jokes That Kristen Stewart Can't Be A Bond Girl Because Of 'Twilight'

While Bella Swan sounds like it could be a Bond girl name, but don't expect aTwilight/James Bond crossover anytime soon. At least, not if Skyfall star Daniel Craig has his druthers about it. During a recent on-camera interview with the incredibly Australian morning radio duo The Kyle and Jackie O Show, the co-hosts asked Craig about his feelings on Didgeridoos and if he knows if he's played Knifey Spoony before. Okay, not true. They actually asked him about whether he'd like for Kristen Stewart, who recently said she'd entertain the idea of being a Bond girl, to be his next leading lady. "No," Craig answered quickly, adding, "She's in Twilight."

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Relax, Twihards, he kids, he kids. (Come on, didn't you see him on Saturday Night Live?) Craig promptly returned with a very devilishly Bond-like smile, "I have no problem with Kristen Stewart being in Twilight; I'm being nasty. I'm only saying that because [The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 is] coming out this weekend, so we're in direct competition with them. I'm sure she'd make a great Bond girl." Well, she's definitely got a look that could kill. 

Stewart's franchise flick Breaking Dawn — Part 2 bested Craig's Skyfall at the box office last weekend when the vampire drama bumped Bond from the top spot with a staggering $141.3 million intake. To date, Skyfallhas brought in $161.3 million at the U.S. box office alone. 

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The Stewart-as-a-Bond-girl exchange starts around the 2:20 mark, but you might want to stick around to hear Craig say "I wouldn't know a One Direction song if it sat on my face" a little later in the clip. This guy loves him modern pop culture, doesn't he? Watch the interview here. 

Do you think the two massive franchises should cross-pollinate and consider having Kristen Stewart as a Bond girl? After all, Jennifer Lawrence has pulled off double franchise duty with The Hunger Games andX-Men. Or should Stewart, who clearly grew weary of doing Twilight promotion over the years, stick with smaller projects for everyone's sake? Share in the comments section below. 

[Photo credits: WENN.com, Summit Entertainment] 

Warner Bros Responds to 'The Hobbit' Animal Abuse Claims

Fans have long been anticipating the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 14, but before the release could happen, negative news about the film has spread around the internet like wildfire. Earlier this week, Hobbit producers and director Peter Jackson were accused of animal abuse while working on the movie, and reports surfaced claiming that 27 animals died while the production of the film was underway. On Monday, Jackson released a statement saying that none of the production team was responsible for the death of these animals. And now, Warner Bros and New Line Cinema are also standing up to support Jackson and deny the accusations. Warner Bros. released a statement Tuesday toDeadline.com.

"Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema join Peter Jackson and the producers of THE HOBBIT in vigorously refuting and condemning accusations of animal abuse on the films," the statement says. "The production acted swiftly and responsibly in addressing any incidents involving animals in its care throughout the long filming process, and in fact, measures were taken to protect all farm animals, including those uninvolved with the films."

The Huffington Post reports one horse had to be put down following a crash-landing off a bank during shooting. Another horse reportedly fell off of a bluff and was submerged in a stream. It has also been suggested that goats and sheep were falling into sinkholes.

While the American Humane Society has expressed its outrage about the death of these animals, Warner Bros finds it odd that these accusations would surface just weeks before the movie is scheduled to drop in theaters. "We question the timing of this misinformation — given THE HOBBIT’s imminent release — and have no recourse other than to reveal that the primary source of these new allegations can be traced to freelance animal wranglers who were dismissed by the production over a year ago for cause," Warner Bros' statement says. "We are immensely proud of our association with Sir Peter Jackson, his dedicated film crew and the people of New Zealand."

New 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Poster will Spark Your Excitement — POSTER

The folks over at Lionsgate set the bar for digital marketing high with the first Hunger Games movie campaign, but that hasn't stopped them from pushing beyond that for the next film. The company j...

'Paranormal Activity 5' Will Haunt Halloween 2013 — Ready to Be Scared?

1980's Cannibal Holocaust took the mockumentary mold for horror, 1999's Blair Witch Project invigorated it for modern audiences, and 2007's Paranormal Activity blew it up into a Hollywood phenomenon. Now "found footage" horror is in its Renaissance, every no-budget filmmaker utilizing the lo-fi aesthetic to put audiences in the middle of the terror without needing a crazy slasher or dozens of special effects.

But is it still scary?

Paramount must think so, as they've just locked down the fifth entry in their defining PA franchise for a 2013 release date. In a press release, the studio announced that Paranormal Activity 5 will creep into theaters on Oct. 25, 2013, just in time for Halloween. It follows Paranormal Activity 4, which arrived on Oct. 19, 2013 and has since grossed $53.5 million domestically.

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A spin-off of the series was previously announced for Spring 2013. The film, which focuses on Latino-American family (a demographic important to the PA series' success), was teased at the end of Paranormal Activity 4.

The conclusion of PA4 was ambiguous and striking enough to set up for a sequel — another family, another encounter with possessed Katie, another complication of the mythology that may not make any sense if you pick it apart but looks pretty cool on the big screen. With four entries under their belt, the filmmakers who sign on to helm PA5 will have a tricky task. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman returned fromParanormal Activity 3 to tackle the fourth entry and still found ways to be innovative within the format, through new technology and crazy plot twists. Whether they will return or producer Oren Peli (director of the originalPA) will recruit a newcomer is unknown, but like all franchises, audiences become desensitized to the gimmick. Mining something new is an obvious challenge.

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So what will scare you? Where does the Paranormal Activity franchise need to go, or has it finally stalled? The Saw series ran a solid seven entries, one a year from 2004 to 2010 before the money didn't make sense and producers called it quits. PA could (okay, more like "will") follow suit, churning out installments until they wear out the audience. But is tradition more important than quality? Will you see a Paranormal Activity every Halloween for old time's sake?

Leave all your thoughts on the future Paranormal Activity in the comments. With less than a year to develop the movie, you can be sure ears are open for suggestions.

[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]

switch to whole grains

Whole grains contain a lot of fiber, which is important for reducing arterial aging and cancer risk. The problem is that unless the bread, cereal or pasta you’re eating is made from 100 percent whole grain (and says so in the number one spot in the ingredient list), it’s not much better for you than white flour products. When you eat breads and pastas made with enriched, fortified, bleached, or unbleached flour, your body quickly converts this carbohydrate to sugar in your bloodstream and you end up with the same health problems you get from consuming added sugars. One-hundred percent whole grains, meanwhile, take longer to convert to sugar and also stay in your intestines longer, which means you stay fuller longer.