December 24th, 2017. Santa Claus is making the final plans for his
trip around the world. He made his
list. He checked it twice. Now he’s going to give presents to every kid
who was nice. It’s Christmas Eve and
Santa Claus is preparing his yearly breaking-and-entering flight.
Can you picture Santa standing there at the North Pole,
checking over his reindeer and sleigh before setting off? I bet you can. And I bet that most of the imagery that
everyone pictured is the same. Bright
lights with older feeling architecture.
A big factory for the elves to work in.
Snow everywhere. Pretty close,
eh? A lot of the Christmas movies that
feature Santa Claus use the same idea of the North Pole. It has been engrained in our minds.
Fred Claus was a
2007 film that told the story of Fred (Vince Vaughn), the brother of Santa
Claus (Paul Giamatti). He was jealous
that Santa was the more beloved brother.
Santa had always been caring. He
had always done crazy, inspired things, carving his own odd path instead of
being an average, normal person. Fred
was the average, normal person. Their
mother (Kathy Bates) loved Santa more and it turned Fred into a cynical adult. Now he needed money from Santa and the only
way he could get it was by working at the North Pole. The work would change him. Fred would become more compassionate. He learned about the spirit of Christmas.
Fred Claus was
“What would happen if Vince Vaughn was related to Santa Claus.” It had Vince Vaughn doing his normal Vince
Vaughn antics. The only difference was
that he was doing them around Santa Claus and the elves. The majority of the movie was set within the
North Pole. It was the standard looking
North Pole that you would expect. The
architecture was based on the medieval European homes of the
not-so-wealthy. There were bright lights
because Christmas has become about capitalism and stringing Christmas lights
around your house. It was the North
Pole, so there was obviously snow on the ground. Everything about it was the picturesque North
Pole that most movies depict, at least in part, if not as a whole.
Going a little earlier than Fred Claus, we have The Santa
Clause trilogy. As the series went
on, the North Pole that they depicted became more and more like that of Fred Claus. The first movie had an early 19th
century architecture feel to it. It
seemed to be going for the grandiose feel of train stations and churches
without the overall vibe of those places.
Big spaces and large, colourful windows.
Even the designs seemed like something you could imagine in the
brickwork of those buildings.
The major way that Fred
Claus and The Santa Clause shared
their North Pole was in how delicious the locations looked. I don’t mean that I would necessarily eat
either of the sets. That would be
ludicrous. But they both seemed to be
basing their design on food. Though I
could relate the architecture to different periods in time, they also felt like
different foods. The Santa Clause went for more of a candy kind of look. Some poles were like candy canes, others were
like licorice. There were colours that
seemed to fit a candy scheme. Fred Claus, on the other hand, was more
of a gingerbread house style. Sure,
there were candy elements to it, but the buildings seemed more in the style of
gingerbread houses than your average candy.
What is important is the food aspect of each North
Pole. They both shared a food style of
architecture. It didn’t matter if the
building style came from the same era.
As The Santa Clause progressed
into The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3, the cartoonish
nature of the North Pole became more pronounced. The buildings and their colours grew to
resemble icing that gets put on shortbread and gingerbread cookies. It became more akin to the North Pole of Fred Claus.
If we go back even earlier, 1985 saw the release of Santa Claus: The Movie. A movie called Santa Claus: The Movie was sure to feature the North Pole. The location ties into the history of Santa
Claus and the movie was all about Santa.
The North Pole that was depicted in the movie wasn’t quite as bright as
the North Pole depicted in the movies that came after. It had a similar feel to the old European
architecture of Fred Claus, but the
buildings were more wood based. Log
cabins and two-by-fours. That kind of
stuff. It had hints of the colourful
nature of later North Poles. There were
yellows and greens and reds throughout the wood, spicing it up. It was the ancestor to the North Pole that we
know from more recent movies.
One thing that each of the three North Poles shared was a
large workshop. That was something that
people decided on fairly quickly for the Santa mythos. If his elves were going to make enough toys
for the boys and girls of the world, there would need to be a lot of elves and
a lot of space for them to work in. The
small workshops of Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer and Santa Claus Conquers the
Martians would not suffice. Santa Claus: The Movie, The Santa Clause, and Fred Claus all featured large workshops
with many elves to craft toys. That’s
one definite thing in movie versions of the North Pole that everyone agrees
about.
As you can see, the North Pole evolved over the years. It started off small and muted through the 1960s. As time went on, colour was brought into the
North Pole. Reds, greens, and yellows
began covering the walls in the 1980s.
As the 1990s came around, the windows grew and the design of the
building became more influenced by sweets.
By 2007, when Fred Claus came
out, the North Pole was beginning to look like a gingerbread town that Santa
and his elves lived in. In general, the
image of the North Pole slowly turned into this. People see this image when thinking of the
North Pole. They imagine Santa living in
this world. This is the North Pole.
This entire post can be taken with a grain of salt. You might think I’m talking (writing,
actually) out of my ass here. I’m simply
basing my idea of the North Pole off of some of the major Santa movies that
have come out over the past few decades.
I’m assuming that people have
similar ideas of the North Pole as I do.
These movies support that idea.
That’s all. Thanks for reading,
even if you don’t agree. Have some good
holidays, guys. See you on New Year’s
Eve.
Before we all go eat some roast beast, let’s get some notes
in here:
- Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Santa Claus: The Movie were both mentioned in this post.
- Fred Claus was suggested by @LastFilmSeen, who also suggested Santa, Jr., Jack Frost 2:Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman, and Santa with Muscles.
- Frank Stallone showed up as himself in Fred Claus. He has also been in Terror in Beverly Hills and Hudson Hawk.
- Stephen Baldwin and Roger Clinton both made their return to the Sunday “Bad” Movies in Fred Claus after previously being featured in Bio-Dome.
- Two actors from Jonah Hex were in Fred Claus. They were Rio Hackford and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
- Fred Claus was the second Sunday “Bad” Movie for Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, who was also in New Year’s Eve.
- Rusty Goffe returned to the Sunday “Bad” Movies with Fred Claus. He was in Flash Gordon.
- Kathy Bates made her second appearance in Fred Claus. She was already in Valentine’s Day.
- The only mentioned right now Kevin Spacey has been in another Sunday “Bad” Movie. That was Nine Lives.
- Finally, one of the workers at the North Pole in Fred Claus was played by Elizabeth Banks. She was featured in Movie 43.
- Have you seen Fred Claus? Do you agree with my assessment of the North Pole? Let me know in the comments.
- If there’s a movie that you think I should watch for the Sunday “Bad” Movies, let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’m always looking for movies that I might not know. The crazier the title, the better.
- There are times when I’m watching bad movies where I like to share clips. I frequently do that through my Snapchat stories. Add me (jurassicgriffin) if that sounds interesting to you.
- One more thing has to be done before we part ways for seven days. It’s time for me to mention what movie I’ll be watching for next week. That movie is 54. I don’t know all that much about it, so I’m looking forward to this watch. Could be interesting, could be terrible. Who knows? I don’t. I’ll know in a week though. See you then.
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