The Santa Clause was released by Disney in 1994. The plot of the film is basically about how a man named Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen, becomes Santa Claus, because in the words of the elf Bernard, “You put on the suit. You’re the big guy.” Many fans of Christmas movies will have seen this one. I find it quite funny, which is why it is in the tradition, but I do have some complaints about it, and about movies that feature the theme of the belief in Santa.
Firstly I want to say, that even before this movie came out, I thought the name Claus was spelled “Clause”. If you look at the journals from my childhood I wrote “Santa Clause” many times. When this movie came out I didn’t see what the big deal about calling it “The Santa Clause” was. I wondered why they put the word “The” in front of the man’s name. As far as I knew it was spelled correctly. Then it finally came up that the name was spelled Claus. Even today the name Claus bothers me. I think the word “Clause” looks better. Every time I write the name Santa Claus, I always want to tack that “e” on the end.
I mentioned that I have some complaints about this film. Really I find several things annoying, but the biggest thing about this film, is that the character Neil was right. Charlie was far to obsessive in his belief in Santa. A major theme in this film is whether or not Santa is real. I personally believe it is wrong to teach kids that the myth of Santa Claus is true. I think teaching them that Santa Claus is real is an insult to their intelligence, and it sets them up for disappointment later down the road, as well as potentially looking foolish. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fine for children to experience disappointment, but in this case we are talking about the disappointment of finding out that their parents lied to them. Yes, I believe it is lying to children. I don’t think children are stupid. At least not as stupid as adults often treat them. Sure they may do silly things when they are young, and they may be willing to believe anything, no matter how ridiculous, but it doesn’t mean you should tell them ridiculous things. I think children should have gratitude towards their parents, and not some mythological figure who wears a red suit and supposedly lives at the North Pole. I could go on about how much I’m against teaching children that the myth of Santa is real, but I know that many parents will disagree with me. I won’t argue about it. I, however, will teach my children what I want them to believe, and I certainly won’t teach them anything that I don’t believe in.