Dwayne Johnson Red tries to add a new spin to the Christmas movie genre, but it repeats an old Santa Claus trope that never made sense. The world of The Rock’s 2024 Christmas movie is filled with mythological beings connected to various holidays, blending them into the real world through magical lore. This includes JK Simmons’ Santa Claus being a very real figure in this universe, as he uses magic and technology to deliver gifts to every child in the world on Christmas Eve. However, he doesn’t have much to do, as he is trapped by Gryla, the Christmas witch.
Even though Santa Claus stays out of most of it RedIn history, the figure of Santa Claus is something that Christmas films rarely ignore. Santa Claus is so iconic as a Christmas figure that he is almost always included in some way. This includes everything from Miracle on 34th Street to modern hits like Santa Claus or Elf operating in a world where Santa Claus is real. Red takes a similar approach to these other films by making Santa Claus a figure that children believe in and a “character” in public. Johnson’s Christmas movie falls into a confusing trap just like them.
Adults apparently don’t believe in Santa in red
Red One largely ignores whether people believe in Santa Claus
Although most children seem to believe in Santa Claus in Redthe film alludes to the idea that most adults don’t think this way. It’s a point in the story that is mostly ignored by the film in general, as the importance of believing in Santa Claus isn’t that relevant to the main plot. The opening scene shows Jack as a child, and he has already doesn’t believe in Santa Claus and wonders how he could be real. The adult he speaks to doesn’t give the necessary answers, apparently because he thinks Santa Claus is just a myth for children.
This idea that adults don’t believe in Santa Claus is nothing new to Red. It’s a common element in many of the best Christmas movies that include Santa Claus. Typically, adults who don’t believe in Santa Claus are the counterpoint to children who doand in the end, even some adults accept that Santa Claus is real. Red doesn’t use Jack’s son to explain whether it’s essential to Simmons’ version of Kris Kringle that children believe him. But based on the way the adults talk about Christmas in the movie, it doesn’t make sense that people would think Santa Claus is real.
Adults who don’t believe in Santa never make sense in Christmas movies
How do they rationalize gifts?
Christmas movies where adults don’t believe in Santa Claus may make sense from a thematic standpoint, but they almost always result in a strange plot hole. Santa Claus always exists as someone whose main goal is to deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve without them or their parents knowing. This means that every year adults with children would wake up and find gifts under the tree or in stockings they didn’t buy. Then, Where do the adults in Christmas movies think these gifts come from? Santa Claus is the only answer that makes sense.
This is why adults, or more specifically parents, should be the characters most likely to believe in Santa Claus in Christmas movies. It may be hard to believe that there is a magical old man who lives at the North Pole and delivers gifts to every house in one night thanks to his flying reindeer, but is it really so absurd when you consider that every family has surprise gifts? year? If this were really happening, surely adults would have to accept the fact that Santa Claus is real as he is. Red rather than denying its existence.