Singing Christmas with Rankin/Bass

Growing up, the 25 Days of Christmas on ABC Family was an essential part of the Christmas holiday. Among my favorite films that were often shown were the stop-motion movies by Rankin/Bass: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and Jack Frost. The movies were charming, funny, and for a kid, energetic with their songs and dancing.

Looking back on those films, it wasn’t the magical stop-motion animation that made the films so good. What made them special was how they embodied the spirit of Christmas, the poetic and musical existence of life, and imparted an implicit Christian understanding of life though Christ is never shown or mentioned. Listening to the lyrics of the many songs sung and understanding the arc of storytelling, we find these films featuring protagonists who come into a world that is hostile or desolate and bring laughter and joy to the world at the end. That, of course, is the meaning of Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Jack Frost. We also find these films promoting perseverance in the face of hardship, Rudolph most especially but also The Year Without a Santa Claus. Many of the songs sung in these one-hour features also tell of how changing from bad to good brings new life. In Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Kris Kringle meets the dreaded Winter Warlock who, despite his mean and nasty appearance, is actually a good guy at heart. They sing a catchy tune:

Winter: I really am a mean and despicable creature at heart, you know. It’s so difficult to… really change.

Kris: Difficult? [chuckles] Why, why look here. Changing from bad to good’s as easy as… taking your first step.

[Chorus]
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking ‘cross the floor
You put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If ya never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowin’
A fast walking man is hard to beat

[Chorus]

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well, don’t be the rule; Be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

[Chorus]

Winter: If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn… [Kris: (Oh, you do.)]
You mean that it’s just my election? [Kris: (Just that.)]
To vote for a chance to be reborn? Woo-hoo!

When I was young, the lyrics didn’t mean anything to me. It was the animated singing and dancing on the television screen that was captivating. Cheery as the songs were, the music itself brought a sense of joy and carefree happiness watching the characters sing and dance together. Being a little bit older, and hopefully a little bit wiser, listening to the lyrics of those songs now reveals a profound wisdom that was being communicated. The animation may have targeted children, but the actual lyrics were targeting parents.

While our protagonists sing together and seek to bring joy to others, our villains and antagonists – like Burgermeister Meisterburger and Kubla Kraus – sing about their own desires to limit the happiness of others. They hoard for themselves. They seek power and control for themselves. They rule with an “iron hand,” as Kubla Kraus sings:

I rule with an iron hand
I get what ever I demand
I own the people and the land
So why is it I’m not happy? I don’t understand.

So why are the Burgermeister and King of the Cossacks so miserable? Because they do not have hearts of love for others. They have hardened hearts that seek power and control for themselves and only for themselves. They have no charity in their soul. Their songs of essentially monologues of their own woe, songs of their own loneliness, isolation, and hatred. In their loneliness, isolation, and hatred of things and others, we realize why they are unhappy.

By contrast, our heroes transform for the better. Jack Frost and Iggy Thistlewhite (The Year Without a Santa Claus) are the best examples of this. Iggy doesn’t believe in Santa Claus anymore; he has gotten too old and too intelligent for that make-believe “kid stuff” story. Yet this attitude lacks gratitude for what Christmas means and brings to others and all the land. Iggy is self-absorbed. As the film progresses and his story develops, he comes to learn about friendship and persevering with others as he ventures with Jingle and Jangle, and Mrs. Claus, to save Vixen and bring a white Christmas to Southtown, USA. Iggy learns that Christmas isn’t about himself – and that, too, is what Santa Claus realizes after reading a letter from a little girl about having a “blue Christmas” without him. We do not live as atomized, alienated, self-conceited individuals deliberately detaching ourselves from the world because we’re getting older, smarter, and too intelligent for “kid stuff” tales. We live in a web of relationships with others. Our actions, our attitudes, our way of looking at the world impacts others – for better or worse, so choose the better.

This is what Jack Frost learns in his eponymous special. He falls in love with Elisa, but she falls in love with her rescuer – Sir Ravenal Rightfellow. Jack, in the movie’s climax, is at a fork in the road. He can become like Kubla Kraus or he can be a good, self-giving, self-sacrificial hero. He eventually chooses to be a good, self-giving, self-sacrificing hero; letting go of his own desires, he blesses the love of Elisa and Sir Ravenal Rightfellow which acts as the final sanctifying spirit of their marriage.

The sacrificial hero, an archetypal reality made real by Christ, is what Frosty embodies when he saves Karen from freezing by warming her up in a green house before melting because of the evil scheming of Professor Hinckle. Santa arrives and, in a manner of speaking, resurrects Frosty. The trio return to Karen’s home with the promise that Frosty will appear every Christmas. Frosty the Snowman will come again to bring joy and cheer for those who await his return. Love cannot die. And since love cannot die, joy and cheer will always exist.

Part of the ancient Christian tradition of theology and cosmology is that we live in a poetic, musical, cosmos. In De Musica, Saint Augustine articulated the view that creation was sung into existence, that our very existence is akin to Psalmody. In the eastern tradition of cosmological theology, exemplified by Saint Maximus the Confessor, the relationship of the Divine Trinity is understood as a waltzing dance – perichoresis. Love and song are united. Rankin/Bass understood this as those famous lyrics in The Year Without a Santa Claus sing:

Santa: I believe in Santa Claus
Like I believe in love
I believe in Santa Claus
And everything he does
There’s no question in my mind
That he does exist
Just like love, I know he’s there
Waiting to be missed

Mr. Thistlewhite: I believe in Santa Claus
But there was a time
I thought I had grown too old
For such a childish rhyme
He became a dream to me
‘Til one Christmas night
Someone stood beside my bed
With a beard of white
“So you’re too old for Santa Claus?”
He said with a smile
“Then you’re too old for all the things
That make a life worthwhile
For what is happiness but dreams
And do they all come true?
Look at me and tell me, son
What is real to you?”

Both: Just believe in Santa Claus
Like you believe in love
Just believe in Santa Claus
And everything he does

Santa: Wipe that question from your mind
Yes, he does exist!

Mr. Thistlewhite: Just like love, you knows he’s there
Waiting to be missed

Choir Voice-Over: Just like love, I know he’s there
Waiting to be missed.

The unity of love and song is what those charming, animated, films by Rankin/Bass got so undeniably right. They sing the songs of love that bring good cheer and joy through the love of others, through serving others, through giving oneself up for others. While I was too young when I first watched them to realize that, now that I’m older and better educated I see the deep truths communicated in those TV specials. Sing along the next time you watch them, you are never too old to sing along with the songs of love that bring good cheer and happiness into the world.

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