Santa Claus needs no introduction, on the night of Christmas Eve he flies down on his reindeer and gives gifts to children, right? Santa Claus means something different to everyone and his appearance has changed through all of the people’s different lenses.
In film one of the most iconic depictions of Santa is “The Santa Claus” directed by Steve Pasquin and stars Tim Allen. The film is about the divorced father Scott Calvin, who on Christmas, has Santa fall off his roof. Scott is then told he has to become Santa Claus. This film does a good job of the basic, commercial Santa. What makes this movie interesting to the Santa Claus mythos is the process of becoming Santa. Santa is not an immortal being, but a role that gets passed down through the generations. That and the process of becoming Santa where Scott’s hair grows throughout the movie and his hair whitens.
Another film that shows a different perspective of Santa Claus is the animated movie Klause, directed by Sergio Pablo. It centers around the spoiled son of the largest mail delivery service. His father sends him to work at a post in Smeerensburg, a rough, cold, and violent island in the middle of nowhere. There he meets a strange man in the woods named Klaus, a toymaker. Together, they give out toys to the children and slowly bring out all of the stereotypes of Christmas. At the movie’s end, it is revealed that Klaus becomes Santa Claus. This film does a great job of setting up the beginning of Santa. It also makes jokes about the stereotypes of Santa and how it is amusing.
The main perpetrator of Santa’s stereotypes is the Coca-Cola company. Coca-Cola had a large string of Santa and Christmas-related advertising in the early 1900s according to Coca-Cola themselves. Their advertising was so successful that they created a brand new mascot named Sprite-Boy (The drink was not yet created.) The most influential figure in designing Santa design was Haddon Sundblom. He was the main artist for Coca-Cola’s early Santa advertisements. Many of his early advertisements are actually in museums. The first Santa, however, was not fictional but a real man named Saint Nicholas. He was known for his generosity. He was an early Christian bishop. He lived from 270 to 340 A.D!
Overall, Santa has been a prominent figure in our culture for well over a hundred years and has existed much longer than that. He means something to everyone, there’s a reason he’s the face of Christmas after all.
