Yes, but what does the red nose mean?

My favorite comments of the season, courtesy of the good posters at The House Next Door:

http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/12/links-for-day-december-5th-2007.html

Todd said...
I watched Rudolph again Monday night, and man is that a weird piece of television. I hadn't seen it since childhood, and I had basically no memory of anything but the monster and the basic story (which only comes in in the last five minutes). Has it always been so episodic? Has Santa always been such an asshole?

12/05/2007 2:51 PM
TuckPendleton said...
I watched Rudolph again also, and was surprised by how much everyone was pretty much an asshole to Rudolph. Santa, Donner, the coach, the other reindeers, etc. So very dated, and so blunt, and almost brutal. (Not to mention the reasoning behind Rudolph et al deciding to return to Christmastown after Cornelius goes over the ledge with the Snowman -- because "it was time to get the women back to town" or words to that effect.)

However, I had to wonder why this cartoon was so blunt in its ostracizing Hermy and Rudolph. It really is hard to watch. I wondered if this was some sort of attempt to counteract racism (in 1964, it's still only a decade after Brown vs. Board of Ed) and/or homophobia. Or is it just bad, heavy-handed writing?

Happy holidays indeed!