Page 3 - 2015 Holiday TV Guide

HolidayTV | Feature: Holiday Villains
Potter’s cruelty, though, is essential to the devel- opment of George’s character. The film would not be as revered as it is today without Potter’s badness, as his dark character serves to make George’s heart of gold shine ever brighter. Even now, almost 70 years after the film’s release, audiences clap and cheer when the town rallies to help George, the underdog, beat this rich monster. It’s a reminder
to all that the good in this world — specifically the Christmas tenets of peace, love and generosity — can overcome the bad.
As for the “jaded grown-ups” category of Christ- mas villains — well, there are so many films with characters that fall into this group, it’s hard to choose just a few. The Grinch himself and Ebenezer Scrooge both qualify; both of them start out crotch- ety and mean, but redeem themselves in the end because the love and kindness of others touches their hearts. However, I think the best example
for this category is “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947). Most of the grown-up characters we meet are hard- headed and in need of a major dose of the Christ- mas spirit, but the real antagonist in this classic film is society as a whole.
Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn, “Foreign Corre- spondent,” 1940), who claims to be the real Santa Claus, encounters disbelievers everywhere he turns, but by the end of the film, by virtue of his un- flappable optimism, generosity and good cheer, he has changed the minds, hearts and lives of almost everyone he’s met (the exception being psycholo- gist Granville Sawyer, who tries to have Kringle committed and totally fits into our first villain category).
The action culminates with a courtroom scene. Santa Claus is literally on trial, and as jaded adults take the stand one by one, Kringle wins them over with his imperturbable character. The joy of seeing these world-weary men and women light up with Christmas spirit is marvelous, and it’s this magical feeling that has kept audiences coming back to the classic for decades.
A much newer take on this villain type is seen in “Elf” (2003), a film that is carving itself a place in the realm of holiday classics. Buddy (Will Ferrell,
James Caan in “Elf”
“Zoolander,” 2001), a human who’s been living as an elf his whole life, departs the North Pole for New York City to find his biological father. He encoun- ters many jaded people along the way, and buoys each one up with his innocence and exuberance.
It’s his cranky and discontented real dad, Walter (James Caan, “The Godfather,” 1972), who Buddy must win over, and the film’s ending does not dis- appoint. Not only does Walter quit his job in order to focus on his family, the residents of New York gather to use the collective power of their belief in Santa to help power the jolly man’s broken-down sleigh. It’s largely this hilarious and heartwarming moment that marks the film for greatness along-
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side the likes of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.”
Using the disillusionment of age and experience to underline the magic and beauty of believing in things that may not seem practical, the baddies
in these films do not remain bad — they redeem themselves and go on to spread Christmas cheer of their own.
The Christmas season is chock full of movies
and TV specials that will warm the cockles of your heart. When you snuggle up to your loved ones, hot chocolate in hand, to enjoy these timeless classics, take a moment and think of the villains — there would be no Christmas classics without them.
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