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Miracle on 34th Street (1947) *Reaction
🕑 Added 2024-12-22 00:29:59 +0000 UTCAfter a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.
Comments
BRT
You have a perfectly valid point. No right or wrong when it comes to what you like. There's some other Christmas films that other people fawn over that I don't like. So I get it.😉
Flix Talk
right & I get all of that but the fact that Wiz WAS 10 years prior and it was able to give me a sense like no other (one of my favorite movies btw) left that impression with me. I understand its more convincing the public in a logical way but that's not necessarily the point of Christmas movies. Santa is folk lore and a fairy tale in itself so why wouldn't it try to contain a sense of "magic" like others seem to do a lot better?
BRT
"I expected it to be more magical" It's interesting I am noticing a lot of debate about this story recently. I will say the production has nothing to do with lack of technology, because The Wizard of Oz was produced almost ten years previous. So the abstinance from special effects is a deliberate choice. I don't think there's a wrong or right opinion about the film, because everyone's takeaway is subjective. I do think that there us a lot of misunderstanding about the intended implication in the story, which imo is meant to remain ambiguous. Part of the "miracle" is based on a number of stacked coincidences, which themselves are ambiguous in nature but as a whole suggest that there is something remarkable and beyond the strictly material going on. This leads to the greater portion of the miracle, which deals with an inner transformation based on faith, and allows the broadening of perspective, idealism and even romantic love. I don't think the fact that Kris isn't objectively shown supernaturally creating a free house gifted to Susan diminishes the subjective magic of him giving directions to the perfect house that serves to solidify so much for them as a family. Sure they have to buy the house but that's the way it works in real life; kids write a letter to Santa, the parents read it and play their part in making it happen. If we were all waiting for a magical being to fulfill the entire process then we would all be waiting in vain for that aspect of Christmas magic.
