“Miracle on 34th Street”
“A Christmas Carol”
“The Santa Clause”
There are always “Scrooges” and “Grinches” in our favorite movies. Those who do not believe or are just plain enemies of the Christmas celebration. This is part of the formula. An equally important ingredient, as we said yesterday, is the transformation that takes place by the end of the story. This is why we watch and wait for the moment when a life is changed and Christmas triumphs. Yes, it’s predictable and even a little corny…ok…a lot corny, but we love it. It is the message of hope that reminds us that anyone can change! No matter how terrible a character’s backstory…they can be transformed!
This brings me to another important element in our movie formula…”backstory”, more specifically…”tragic backstory”. What could have possibly happened to our unbelieving Christmas “Grinches” that could have stolen their childlike wonder of the season? How could they have become so jaded to the generous and caring spirit of Christmas?
Well, most of our movies give us some reason or another. In the 1947 classic, “A Miracle on 34th Street” Doris Walker is an employee at Macy’s Department store and oversees the holiday parade as well as the store’s Santas. She is a hard working single mother who has pledged to raise her daughter with a secular cynicism that denies the existence of anything that cannot be factually proven. Therefore, she has vowed to not expose her daughter to “fairy tales” or any other work of creative imagination…including Christmas. Why? What could cause a person to become so cynical? As the story is played out we discover that Doris was deeply hurt by her ex-husband and father of her daughter when he abandoned them. Her response…never trust anyone. If they say they love you…never believe it. Tragic. No wonder she is miserable.
It is the same in most of our other favorites. As a small child, Scrooge was sent away to boarding school by an uncaring father. In the popular “The Santa Clause”, Scott Calvin’s ex-wife doesn’t believe in Santa because she didn’t get a certain gift as a child on a Christmas long ago. Or according to Dr. Seuss, we may not know exactly the reason for it all, but “it may be that his heart was two sizes too small”. No matter the specifics, a tragic event in the past or a biological deformity, there is a reason for this “Yuletide Grumpiness”.
Likewise in the true Christmas story there is a “tragic backstory”. The Bible tells us that the life of joy and fellowship and peace we were intended to have was tragically interrupted by sin. Some have blamed God or the church or religion in general and Christmas is just a reminder of that hurt. But, the message of Christmas is just the opposite. Jesus said I came (Christmas) to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10). He also said, “Come unto me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The messsage of Christmas and it’s movies is that no matter how tragic your backstory…no matter how badly you were treated in the past…no matter how far you have wandered…you are loved and invited into the presence of the One who came into our world that first Christmas.
There is always hope.