3 posts tagged “christmas”
It had been a few years since I had last watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the claymation classic from 1964 that airs every December on CBS. While watching Rudolph and crew battle everything from the Abominable Snow Monster to the mean bastard reindeer who made fun of Rudy's nose, I was struck by the importance of one of the main characters: Hermey, the elf who didn't want to make toys, but would rather teach children the lesson of flossing.
Hermey was a monumental elf in that he was the first openly gay character on network television, which was pretty crazy for the early 1960's when the only gays were still unhappily married to their wives (and vice versa). Throughout much of the film, Hermey claims to be a "misfit" that doesn't "fit in." Yet, through it all, he finds his way and maintains his independence, eventually becoming a dentist at the end of the film.
"Dentists" was 1960's lingo for homosexuality. I can't believe it took me 20 odd years to realize this. The message of Rudolph is still to be true to yourself, but suddenly, it has taken on a stronger significance for me. If not for Hermey, there would be no Ellen. No Anderson Cooper. No Tom Cruise Top Gun volleyball scene.
Each year, entertainment commentators count how many openly gay characters there are on network television. Since the demise of Will & Grace, these numbers have dwindled. However, recently Grey's Anatomy fans gained an openly gay character (Dr. Hahn) to embrace, only to suddenly lose her when she was let go from the show for reasons unknown (perhaps because she was not a dead character from two seasons ago). Some message boarders lamented, "Another gay character off of network television." Well, my friends, Hermey fills that void. Maybe not on a weekly basis, but at least for one day a year, spreading Christmas joy and the message of tolerance. Score one for CBS.
Okay, so Holiday commercials are in full swing. But do JCPenney and Old Navy really have to use the same song in their ads?? It's driving me nuts. The leader singer in this song sounds like a genetic experiment between Bob Dylan, Tori Amos, and Feist. Can anyone tell what she says besides, "You've got yours and I've got mine." And what does she have exactly?
I'll admit it. I watch the Lifetime Network. But only because of reruns of Will and Grace.
But recently, while too lazy to get up and change the channel, I came across the Lifetime Christmas movie from 1997 called On The Second Day of Christmas starring Mark Ruffalo and Mary Stuart Masterson. The movie tells the story of two pickpockets (Masterson and some kid) who get in trouble at a mall and the security guard who catches them (Ruffalo). I don't quite understand how the title relates to this storyline, but I digress. It ends up that Ruffalo's character falls for Masterson and he doesn't send her and her niece to jail because he loves them. Oh and he writes jingles. How adorable is that. Sorry to ruin the ending for you.
Anyway, "TV movies" like these seem to have the same formula: bad person + good person + kid who needs family (when applicable) = cheesy crapfest that you can't turn away from.
I also watched Holiday in Handcuffs. I stumbled onto this movie thinking it was some kind of soft core porn flick, instead I was surprised to find that Mario Lopez is still getting work other than Dancing With The Stars. Good for him. But with this film (and I use this term loosely), Melissa Joan Hart's Trudie (bad person) kidnaps hot guy Mario Lopez (good person) and takes him home with her for the holidays because her family views her as a disappointment. The twist is that her family is even more disappointed when she doesn't bring home Zack Morris.
These sugar cookie-cutter movies are a dime a dozen each season. People worry about packing on the pounds with food during the holidays; I worry about fluffy, junky mindfood like these movies.
