30 Feminist Christmas Movies, Ranked
By Emily Scott
The Santa Clause, Screencap via Disney/Buena Vista Pictures
The Santa Clause
Scott Calvin is a divorced ad executive who is spending Christmas with his young son, Charlie. After going to sleep on Christmas Eve, Scott and Charlie both hear a strange noise in the middle of the night. When they go outside to investigate, they discover that Santa has fallen off the roof of the house, leaving his reindeer and sleigh. After the man disappears, leaving behind only clothes, Charlie convinces Scott to put on the Santa and finish Santa’s work for the night. The next morning, what Scott assumes is a dream is proven to be real when an elf appears to notify him that by accepting the suit, he has accepted the Santa Clause and agreed to take over the job.
The Good
- I really appreciate how they never demonize Laura, Charlie’s mom, in this movie. The protagonist, Scott, is divorced from Laura, who has remarried Neal. It would have been pretty easy for the movie to make Laura and Neal into villains and paint Scott as the hero for Charlie. Instead, they incorporate a relatively realistic co-parenting subplot. While Scott thinks Neil is goofy and is bitter about the dissolution of his marriage, he comes to the understanding that Laura and Neil are both good people whom he respects.
The Bad
- There are pretty much only two female characters in this movie: Laura, Scott’s ex-wife, and Judy, an elf at the North Pole.
- Neither of the women really seem to have an interior life. Judy’s job is to help Scott acclimate to the idea of being Santa, and Laura’s life is consumed by her husband Neal, her son Charlie, and her ex-husband Scott. Both pretty much exist for the men in the story.
The Ugly
- Laura’s court order against Scott, which she enacts because she thinks he’s harming Charlie psychologically, is treated as unreasonable. It is not unreasonable to be worried when your ex-husband encourages your son to believe he is Santa Claus. It happens that it is true in this context, but seriously, how could she have known that?