ELI NATINSKY PORTFOLIO
  • Homepage
  • Writing
  • Video
  • Blog
  • Recommendations
  • About Me
  • Contact

It’s beginning to look a lot like “A Christmas Story”

12/11/2018

0 Comments

 
“Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved.” -Adult Ralphie narrating in “A Christmas Story” 

Everyone has a favorite holiday movie, TV show or song, and a piece of media that’s particularly meaningful to me is 1983's
“A Christmas Story.” Film critic Leonard Maltin describes it as “perfect in every way” – and I agree. 


The film has become such a staple that for more 20 years either TBS or TNT has aired it for 24 continuous hours from Christmas Eve to Christmas Night. The TBS website offers this overview: “In the 1940s, little Ralphie tries to convince his parents to get him a Red Ryder range-model BB gun for Christmas.” ​
Picture
I first saw the feature when I was a child. I enjoyed it then, but it resonates more now that I’m an adult and have some perspective on my younger years. There were times as a tyke that I also fixated on a toy or game. I can relate to Ralphie Parker, the lead character, and his obsession with a BB gun. The Atari 2600 was the hot item when I was about Ralphie's age, and I begged my parents to buy me the console. When I finally received it, I said it was the “happiest day of my life.” 

Another aspect of the film I identify with is the fact that adults act as barriers between children and their youthful whims and desires. Throughout the movie, Ralphie makes his way from one grown-up to another and asks for the toy. He approaches his mother, then his teacher, then a department store Santa – and he's rejected by all. They each tell him the same thing: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” I did eventually get that Atari, but there were months of pleading.

But what makes the film so special and unique is that much of it is the vision of
Jean Shepherd, the radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. “A Christmas Story” is based on his 1966 collection of short stories “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash,” as well as tales he told on his WOR radio show. He and Bob Clark, the film’s director, wrote the screenplay with Leigh Brown. 

Shepherd also narrates as the adult Ralphie and the device creates a wonderful intimacy. It helps the viewer relate to the boy and his life in small-town Indiana. This device of an adult guiding the audience through his childhood was used similarly on TV’s “The Wonder Years.” Shepherd even has a cameo in the movie, playing a shopper at Higbee's department store when Ralphie and his brother, Randy, visit Santa. (Ralphie refers to Kris Kringle as 
​“The Big Man.”)

Shepherd, as the narrator, has several witty and well-phrased lines. On his father (“The Old Man”) and his propensity for foul language: “He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.” Or, Ralphie and Randy open their presents on Christmas morning: “We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice.” And, on wearing a ridiculous pink bunny suit, a holiday gift from his aunt: “Word of this humiliation could easily make life at Warren G. Harding School a veritable hell.” 

The film is essentially a series of vignettes taken from Sheperd’s book and radio program. Here are two of my favorites: Flick, one of Ralphie’s friends, is pressured (“I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!”) to stick his tongue to their school’s frozen flagpole during recess. Ralphie and his classmates abandon Flick when the situation gets out of control, and the boy is rescued by the police and fire department. There are also several fantasy sequences imagined by Ralphie. At one point, he saves his family from a group of bandits with the Red Ryder rifle he’s nicknamed “Old Blue.” Ralphie is clad in full on western wear, and he spits from a jaw full of tobacco. “He's a dead-eye, ain't he?” The Old Man says proudly. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm Eli Natinsky and I'm a communication specialist. This blog explores my work and professional interests. I also delve into other topics, including media, marketing, pop culture, and technology.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Homepage
  • Writing
  • Video
  • Blog
  • Recommendations
  • About Me
  • Contact