Find out how Elf (2003) uses Christmas nostalgia to warm our Grinch-like hearts.
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:04
but in the elf what’s your favorite
00:06
color for this now as we sit down to
00:15
watch elf with our everyday normal
00:17
real-world outlooks at first we can’t
00:19
take buddy at all seriously we’re a
00:21
skeptical looking at him as this
00:23
ridiculous madman you sit on a throne of
00:26
lies and thus we the viewers start out
00:28
as the real Scrooge’s of the movie as
00:31
the story goes on we need buddy to melt
00:33
our icy groan of hearts and make us
00:35
believe in magic again the way elf
00:37
manages this task is by tapping into our
00:39
nostalgia for classic Christmas movies
00:41
and then using that nostalgia to build
00:43
something creative and original Jon
00:47
Favreau’s modern classic rehashes the
00:50
holiday genre through many references to
00:52
beloved movies and the traditional
00:54
Christmas story arc from the start
00:58
the rankin/bass style stop-motion
01:00
animation is a nod to the classic TV
01:02
specials Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
01:03
and Frosty the Snowman the elf costumes
01:06
in the layout of Santa’s workshop at the
01:08
North Pole are based on those in the old
01:10
rudolph special an elf essentially
01:12
recreates rudolph snowman character
01:14
further pushing else nostalgic feel from
01:17
the beginning
01:17
director Favreau relies on practical
01:20
camerawork
01:20
he doesn’t use CGI to film the elves
01:23
instead forced perspective multiple sets
01:25
with varying platforms next to each
01:27
other and creative lighting were
01:28
combined with Will Ferrell’s natural
01:30
height to make buddies seem bigger than
01:32
those around him an uncomfortably large
01:33
in his environment the cartoonish
01:40
introduction to buddy’s character as if
01:42
he exists in a pastiche of beloved
01:44
Christmas traditions turns buddy into a
01:46
beacon of warm candy cane flavored
01:48
memories for the viewer brought to life
01:50
in the heart melt
01:51
innocence of Will Ferrell’s performance
01:53
someone need a hug buddy is the human
01:58
embodiment of the Christmas spirit
01:59
itself in buddy’s eyes everything’s
02:02
possible and the world is full of
02:03
wondrous delights the way we saw it as
02:05
kids as Buddy leaves behind the North
02:08
Pole to enter New York City for a
02:09
classic fish-out-of-water adventure he
02:12
still ends up working at Gimbels a nod
02:14
to what is possibly the most sentimental
02:15
Christmas movie of all time
02:17
vehicle on 34th Street that movie
02:19
features a running rivalry between
02:21
departments towards Macy’s 34th Street
02:23
and Gimbels which in reality went out of
02:26
business in 1987 yeah why don’t you go
02:28
back to Gimbels some of the movie’s
02:32
references to Christmas classics are
02:34
more subtle buddy’s trip to the bridge
02:35
in the snow is a reference to George
02:37
Bailey’s depressing bridge scene and
02:39
It’s a Wonderful Life
02:40
one of the elves is played by Peter
02:42
Billingsley the actor known for his role
02:44
as young Ralphie in a Christmas Story
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others are more abstract hidden Easter
02:48
eggs like when Jovi asks buddy you
02:50
messing with me did Krumpet put you up
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to this
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crumpet is the name writer David Sedaris
02:54
gave himself years ago while working as
02:57
a Christmas elf and macey
02:58
and his sister Amy Sedaris also appears
03:01
in Alf as Deb Mountain crumpet is also
03:03
the mountain where the Grinch lives and
03:05
How the Grinch Stole Christmas elf is
03:07
also informed by cinema classics outside
03:09
of the holiday genre as buddy eats
03:11
cotton balls is forced into doing a
03:13
split on the escalator and wrestles
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Peter Dinklage’s character after
03:16
mistaking him for a real-life elf
03:19
Ferrell slapstick comedy accentuated by
03:22
his lanky figure draws on the timeless
03:24
physical gags of Charlie Chaplin or
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Buster Keaton and when buddy stomps
03:28
through Central Park he’s meant to
03:30
remind us of Bigfoot the cheeky hilarity
03:34
of dropping the Christmas mashup into
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real life entertains us with just how
03:38
ridiculous the Christmas stories look in
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the context of our everyday lives but
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while we’re laughing at funny the movie
03:44
is reworking
03:45
formula to reach us on a deeper level it
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cracks through our cynical unbelieving
03:49
outer shells even more crucially than
03:58
it’s fun illusions on the storytelling
04:00
level elf draws on common holiday
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character tropes to deliver on the old
04:04
Christmas story arc and emotional payoff
04:06
buddies biological father Walter of all
04:10
ages Scrooge or the Grinch who hates the
04:13
holiday season and lacks compassion in
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his general life no I think we should
04:18
take a $30,000 bath so some kid can
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understand what happened to a puppy and
04:22
a friggin pigeon
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ship like Scrooge characters who came
04:25
before Walter has to experience
04:27
Redemption as he learns to empathize
04:29
believe in the existence of magic and
04:31
literally save Christmas
04:39
as modern-day real-world viewers who
04:44
find the idea of Santa’s workshop absurd
04:46
at first we see buddy or the Christmas
04:48
spirit from the outside Vantage of this
04:50
real world perspective essentially from
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Walters point of view buddy’s infectious
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enthusiasm is the good-natured but a
04:56
good joke I love you but through our
05:00
growing identification with buddy the
05:02
holiday spirit personified we release
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the inner children buried within us
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buddy’s unrelenting positivity and his
05:09
nostalgic Christmas movie world subtly
05:11
transform us The Grinch ly viewers and
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awaken our capacity for joy by the end
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the holiday spirit of brotherly love
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triumphs over the realistic Grinch view
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and good faith represents the deep
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wisdom of the story it said this
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reversal that elf proves just how
05:30
original that actually is it bundles up
05:32
all the Christmas cliches and Buddy
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invites our inner grinches to put him
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down with light-hearted mocking and then
05:38
gradually proves us wrong as it draws
05:40
out the simple jolly spirit within us I
05:47
know in I know him
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[Music]
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
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