It was bad enough when ultra-conservative American Christians were confronted with the notion that Jesus, as a Middle Eastern Jew, almost certainly would have had olive skin, brown to black hair, and brown eyes.
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| Despite his big heart and can-do spirit, Chris (center) can't help feeling out of place amid a sea of lily-white Santas and Mrs. Clauses. |
(I’ve always felt that composer Alfred Burt’s poignant seasonal song, 1951’s “Some Children See Him,” states the case quite eloquently.)
But broadening the appearance of Santa Claus?
That’s an even tougher sell in this country.
Nick Sweeney’s delightful documentary would have been a charmer had he solely detailed the traditional activities of the annual “Santa Camp” that takes place each August in the New Hampshire woods: a two-day “crash course” devoted to helping professional Santas, Mrs. Clauses and elves learn the tricks of their trades, in order to become the best possible version of the characters who populate malls and department stores every year.
He also opens with a hilarious title credits montage, which will be familiar to any parent.
But Sweeney’s film dovetailed with the New England Santa Society’s decision that this would be no ordinary year, after a pre-event discussion that revolved around the increasingly obvious possibility that the Jolly Red Elf might have a “diversity problem.”
This wasn’t an overnight decision. As Sweeney depicts in brief archive footage, the Mall of America faced considerable wrath when retired Army captain Larry Jefferson became the venue’s first Black Santa, back in 2016. The online rants were bad enough, but they were encouraged by the racist, bloviating talking heads at (where else?) Fox News.
Which continues to this day, spearheaded in great part by television journalist Megyn Kelly’s stubborn declaration that Santa “must be white.”
Although casual myth-making generally credits the American Santa to England’s Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklass, actual history traces the legend back to the monk St. Nicholas, born roughly around 280 A.D. in — wait for it — Patara, near Myrna in modern-day Turkey. (Care to guess what color his skin likely would have been?)
The “whiteness” of our American Santa results from two much more recent sources: political cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose January 1863 illustration for Harper’s Weekly established the mold; and Coca-Cola execs, who in 1931 hired illustrator Haddon Sundblom to paint Santa for Christmas advertisements. Drawing inspiration from Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem, commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” Sundblom firmly established Santa as a warm, happy, elderly white guy with rosy cheeks, a full beard, twinkling eyes and laugh lines.
The nascent Hollywood film industry jumped on this depiction, and ran with it for more than a century: beginning with 1890s silents and perhaps most famously climaxing with Edmund Gwenn’s Academy Award-winning performance in 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street.
But times change.
And that change is what elevates Sweeney’s film from “merely charming” to deeply moving and profoundly inspirational.
As depicted, the New England Santa Society’s decision to embrace this enormous challenge is driven both by current events, and veteran member “Santa Richard’s” insistence that “God created no junk” (meaning, we’re all equal in God’s eyes).
And, so, this year’s “class” includes Chris, a Black homeowner who received a racist letter after placing a 7-foot inflatable Black Santa on his front lawn in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Levi, a trans Santa accompanied by his queer partner, Dr. Heidi; and Fin, whose childhood diagnosis of spina bifida could have resulted in a life sentence at a care facility, but through the love and determination of his mother Suki and younger sister Rose, has achieved functional adulthood to an astonishing degree.
Chris, who began dressing up as Santa as a means of “representing” for his then 4-year-old daughter Emily (utterly adorable), is determined to one-up his anonymous hater by becoming an official Arkansas Black Santa. In one of this film’s many poignant moments, archive footage shows many of Chris’ predominantly white neighbors — in the immediate aftermath of the nasty letter’s arrival — putting up their own inflatable “solidarity Black Santas.”
Levi’s journey is no less profound, and perhaps more dangerous, given how the trans movement has been hijacked and demonized by dog-whistle Republican politicians, since this film was made.
Fin’s story, finally, is the sweetest: He never has lost what must have been a childhood fascination with the very essence of Santa. Fin loves to chant an endearingly soft “Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho,” and he dreams of being an appropriately costumed Santa Claus in a holiday parade.
Of equal interest: Dianne, a retired engineer and feisty Mrs. Claus, who encourages the “Mrs. Claus delegation” to demand equal billing and payment, for those mall gigs. “Mrs. Claus is coming up in the world,” Dianne insists. She’s a total hoot, and Dr. Heidi is just as defiantly determined to move the needle. More power to both.
What follows, during the two turbulent days of Santa Camp, is both amusing — as with “reindeer games” that involve assembling toys in a “blind box” — and clumsily revealing. Many of these veteran white-guy Santas genuinely try to welcome these “variant” newcomers, but some of their efforts — particularly when attempting to interact with Chris — are wincingly tone-deaf.
Sweeney doesn’t shy from such moments, particularly during one heartbreaking moment when Chris, trudging past a cheerful group that ignores him, admits that it’s “lonely and awkward” to be the only person of color.
On the other hand, he achieves redemption during an emotional late-night campfire get-together.
Only the first two acts of Sweeney’s film take place during Santa Camp. The crucial third act concerns the aftermath, during which two of these three new “graduates” achieve satisfaction and their heart’s desire … but the third, not so much.
Even so, the essential message remains paramount, as oft-repeated throughout Sweeney’s film: People need to see themselves in role models.
“Santa is the color of the child holding him in their heart,” one Santa observes.
Truer words never were spoken.
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