We’re All Misfits:
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the Age of Cultural Transformation

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved the stop-motion animated classic, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. As a kid, every December 1, I would begin nagging my mother to check the TV guide section of the paper to make sure we didn’t miss the annual screening of the holiday classic. My penchant for Rudolf continued into my adulthood; thirteen years ago, for my son’s first Christmas, I bought him the Rudolf video and every year since we’ve watched it while we decorate our Christmas tree.

Despite my infatuation with the tale of the ostracized reindeer, by the time I reached high school age, I began to note some rather disconcerting elements in the storyline. These days, as my husband, son, and I recite the lines by heart we also recount our many mordant criticisms of the characters, especially Santa, the ultra-fascistic patriarch of Christmas Town.

As a cultural artifact of 1964 Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is indicative of a point in time when the nation was recovering from McCarthy era repression, but on the verge of a cultural revolution. The United States was at the dawn of its involvement in the Vietnam War, and at home the civil rights movement was gaining ground, as President Johnson signed the comprehensive Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, and nationality, and gave the federal government the power to implement desegregation. This threshold of societal transformation produced an overarching anxiety among middle class whites, for since the 1950s they had settled into an alcove of comfortable homogeneity in suburbia. Desegregation and the prospect of “defending” others from the mid-twentieth century’s version of “evil” – Communism – in a far away land, forced once contented whites to conceive of America as a complicated land where difference could be the norm. The very idea of the “misfit” would be quashed in the age of integration. It is, therefore, not surprising that the misfit is the central theme of “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The fact that creators Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass even chose Burl Ives two-minute song into an hour long epic is in itself indicative of the early 1960s cultural obsession with difference.

The audience is first introduced to Rudolf’s “nonconformity” shortly after his birth. As Dawner and “Mrs. Dawner” admire and become acquainted with their newborn buck, Rudolf’s nose lights up a bright, fire engine red. As any understanding parent would, Mrs. Dawner acquiesces to the fact that the couple will just have to “overlook” their offspring’s exceptional facial feature. Yet Dawner contests this by stating, “How can you overlook that? His beak blinks like a blinkin’ beacon.” At that moment, Santa enters the reindeer family’s cozy cave to meet the new arrival. After Rudolf perceptively greets him with an awkward, “Santa?” His nose lights up, startling Santa, who replies, “Great bouncing icebergs!” After Dawner assures him that Rudolf will, no doubt, outgrow his luminous muzzle, Santa replies, “Well let’s hope so if he wants to make my sleigh team someday.” Santa, you see, only accepts reindeer with “normal” noses to pull his sleigh. In this scene Santa lays the trajectory for a tale that is rife with fear, anxiety, and loathing for those citizens of Christmas Town who not only look different, but also think differently.

The symbolism of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer is quite blatant and, again, indicative of the early 1960s. First, the color of the young reindeer’s nose could be linked to “red” Communism. Rudolf, who was as sweet and innocent as any young reindeer, was labeled a “nonconformist” based on something that was out of his control. Rankin and Bass had just witnessed the McCarthy era repression; it was common for any kind of dissent – be it political or cultural – to lead one toward the Communist label.

Repressive conformity pervades Santa’s workshop, where Santa serves as a production driven, patriarchal CEO of the toy making “factory.” But, as is the case with all corporate CEOs, Santa has a despotic foreman to drive his workers to produce, produce, produce in time for Christmas. But Hermey, an all-too-pretty, and all-too-well-coiffed elf, who wants to be a dentist, foils the foreman’s plan for assembly line efficiency. The fear of nonconformity is perhaps most humorous here, as in the real world, the desire to be a dentist is about as normal as one could get. But in Christmas Town – an imaginary embodiment of the simulated “reality” of Disney World – the desire to be anything other than an elf in Santa’s toy factory seems unimaginable. Yet, as with Disney World, which employs hundreds of mostly white college students and low-wage workers, the labor always sucks despite the mythically phony joy and fun that are supposed to pervade the work environment.

Frustrated by the foreman’s oppression and lack of acceptance of his career dream, Hermey sneaks off to be “independent,” where he runs into Rudolf, who was ostracized by his peers after his bright red nose was revealed during sleigh-pulling try-outs. But as they traverse the cold terrain of the North Pole alone, they encounter the dangerous abominable snow monster. The message here: being different is problematic in itself, but leaving the group that oppresses you for your difference is even worse. Ultimately, individuality breeds peril.

However, individuality for the sake of conquering the frontier is another matter, altogether. Yukon Cornelius, the self-ascribed “greatest prospector in the north,” is the embodiment of the rugged explorer of the frontier. When Rudolf and Hermey run into Cornelius in the wilds of the North Pole, their naivete is contrasted by his masculine insight into the ways of the uncharted frontier. His practical dominance of nature is underscored by his knowledge of the most untamed element – the abominable snow monster, which he affectionately calls the “Bumble snow monster.” Cornelius knows, for instance, that the snow monster sinks in water and prefers “pork” to deer meat. The three misfits are chased on to a floating iceberg by the snow monster and ultimately float to the Island of Misfit Toys. The island serves as a sort of offshore Guantanamo Bay for toys who suffer from deformities, including a water pistol that squirts jelly, a choo-choo with square wheels, and a cowboy who rides an ostrich. It is less clear why some toys have been defined as misfits to begin with; the doll appears completely “normal” – perhaps she spoke out over the color of her dress or the work conditions of her elf-worker creators – and one wonders what is so problematic about a spotted elephant (though it is interesting to note that the spots, like Rudolf’s nose, are red). Hermey and Rudolf ask the lion monarch of the island, King Moonraiser, if, as misfits themselves, they could live on the island with the toys. But Moonraiser rejects them, as they are not toys, instead asking a favor of them – to tell Santa about the toys in hopes that he would pick them up on Christmas Eve and deliver them to children who would love them.

After a series of events that all lead to the snow monster’s cave, where Rudolf, his family, and girlfriend Clarisse are nearly eaten, and Yukon Cornelius and the snow monster fall off the edge of a cliff, the gang of misfits – sans, of course, Cornelius – are safely returned to Christmas Town just in time for the Christmas Eve preparations. Yet a final nature-made drama ensues as a snowstorm causes Santa to cancel Christmas.

The final scene of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer may be the most symbol-laden, as Yukon Cornelius emerges from the storm with the snow monster, which he has fully conquered. As the two enter Santa’s castle cum factory, Cornelius urges the elves not to fear the monster, for he can now perform a useful job within the civilized human world; he can put a star on top of the Christmas tree. Nature has become so tame that it can even perform a useful task, one that is linked to the patriarchal, production-oriented world of Christmas Town.

But the most disconcerting moment comes as Santa gathers the elves and reindeer to announce that he must cancel Christmas due to the storm. As Rudolf’s nose light simultaneously goes off in Santa’s face, he is irritated and says, “Rudolf, can you tone it down a bit? I mean, that nose of yours...[a light then goes off in Santa’s head and he goes on to say,] Rudolf, that beautiful, wonderful nose!” Rudolf responds, “My nose, sir?” To which Santa, ever the authority, says, “Everyone, Christmas is not canceled and Rudolf, you’re going to lead my sleigh team.” It is this moment when there is hope for dissent, as Rudolf’s response suggests a hint of defiance: “I am?” Santa then backtracks, deciding that after treating Rudolf like dirt for several years he should ask, rather than demand, that Rudolf help him deliver toys: “What I’m trying to say is, Rudolf, with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” At this moment my family and I sarcastically implore Rudolf, “Say ‘screw you, Santa!’" But, of course, he says, “It would be an honor, sir.” The moral of the story: even the biggest freaks in society can fit in if they submit to and endure discrimination, abuse at the hands of their boss, ruler, and friends and family members, and eventually serve a useful purpose within the dominant power structure.

Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer ends with Burl Ives singing the song that inspired the film. Santa and his team pick up the toys from the Island of Misfit Toys and as the credits roll the elves outfit these toys with umbrellas and drop them from the sleigh. At my house we always assume that the misfit toys go to children in urban poor, “dangerous” neighborhoods, hence the drop from the sleigh technique; after all, Santa and his band of white elves wouldn’t want to land in the 'hood to deliver conventional toys using his standard down-the-chimney technique.

But this year, what is most disturbing about the underlying theme of Rudolf – the message about conformity, and the cultural fear of dissent that must have inspired the 1964 production – is that these elements are again present in the age of Bush 2. The lack of clarity behind the motivation to invade Iraq, the clandestine business deals and government contracts for Haliburton, the conflation of politics and religion under before, during, and after the November election, the lack of information on women’s issues, and the threat to women’s reproductive rights – all of these things make me feel very, very paranoid, indeed. In country that is now led by a “moral” majority, I plan to follow Rudolf and Hermey’s path toward nonconformity; however, unlike Rudolf, I’ll say, “Screw you” to the patriarchal ruler of our real life version of Christmas Town. from Cool Cleveland contributor Lyz Bly Lyzbly@ameritech.net

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