Maybe I'm sensitive to it because I'm a kindergarten teacher, but that song really creeps me out. Does it bother anyone else?
"If you sit on my lap today,
a kiss a toy is the price you'll pay." Scary thought there!
The song was done in a more innocent time, but I don't think it would fly today.
Strangers coming into a town square and enticing small children to sit on his lap in order to obtain a toy sounds more than creepy by today's standards.
He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again!
The ABC showing last night, totally cut the song...again.
He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again!
The song was done in a more innocent time, but I don't think it would fly today.
I copy&pasted an old post
OK, I have to lean towards the song being on the offensive slant. It pictures a grown man, dressed in bright red fur in a town square, giving out toys to children & inviting them onto his lap in exchange for a kiss. This is a very cute, loveable scene in REEL life.
But in REAL life, it would certainly be an arrestable offense that would probably draw 20 or so SWAT team members along with the majority of the towns' police force. And Santa would probably be taken out by a SWAT marksman as he reached into his bag of toys to retrieve a 'china-head' doll for the police officer who 1st approaches him.
You are a bit sensitive, but I understand. In our PC culture today and with so many incidents of child stalkers and pedophiles, this song makes people pause. Of course, as one previous poster wrote, this was made in more innocent times when people didn't think about this. How I long for those days...
shareThere aren't any more pedophiles today than there ever were. It's just that the media is making a bigger deal about it now. Fear drives up ratings, so make people scared as much as possible. Which is not to say that it isn't a big deal when it happens, but we have this culture of fear today where everyone sees something threatening around every corner now. There's no more crime of any kind now than there ever was, but people are more scared of it now than they ever were.
shareJust to play devil's advocate....
Don't parents still line up at malls in December to place their precious children on a strange man's lap...and commemorate it with a photo? Maybe in 20 years people will see that as creepy too.
Good point, Scott. Only time will tell...
shareI don't think the sitting on the lap is the creepy part. It's the "if you want a toy the price you'll pay is a kiss" part.
But in REAL life, it would certainly be an arrestable offense that would probably draw 20 or so SWAT team members along with the majority of the towns' police force. And Santa would probably be taken out by a SWAT marksman as he reached into his bag of toys to retrieve a 'china-head' doll for the police officer who 1st approaches him.
>>what if the special ended like that<< Gee, I just am reading this in December. And it actually&factually made me chortle out loud. Ya know, not the usual typing: LOL
So, I guess this could lead to the plot of another special 'Year Without A Santa Claus'. The song 'I'll Have A Blue Christmas Without You' would have kids drawings of Santa with Xs over his eyes
Excellent point. Lines just as long as they ever were. Back in 1970 no one thought it "creepy" at all.
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
"Tell the children to leave their doors open!"
shareWhat popped into my head was the Church Lady rearranging the letters of "Santa" to make "Satan". Hahaha
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Plus, I don't have kids, but I'm pretty sure people still let their children sit in the laps of department-store Santas. At least the guy in this animated special is supposed to be the real Santa (albeit a puppet). But yeah, we've gotten a little too hysterical about this sort of thing.
shareYup, it Reel Life, not Real Life. Just in case no one figured that out. Because if it were Real Life, we'd be making comments at an online news article, not IMDB.
BUT. Mother asks daughter that evening where she got her outlaw toys that day: As ordered by you, I went down to the town fountain in sub~freezing weather to wash stockings as the fountain apparently pumps anti~freeze. And a man dressed in red furs arrived in town with a big bag of toys was giving toys out if kids sat on his lap and gave him a kiss. It was totally awesome. He even sang to us while we took turns climbing onto his lap and kissing him, while receiving toys for our kisses. Miss Jessica, from school, showed up and he gave her a toy and she didn't have to kiss him or sit on his lap or anything. She could've sat on his lap. Miss Jessica is not fat or anything. I guess he doesn't like kissing adults. And then the Burger Meister showed up, you know the law giver that outlawed toys. And this new guy in the red fur gave the Burger Meister a Yo~Yo. And the Burger Meister played with the Yo~Yo! And the guy in the red furs looked like the man on Grandma's Rhinestone Cowboy CD.
It felt really good breaking the law today Mommy, I hope we get to do it again with this man in red furs. Oh yeah, the guy in red furs, since he's new in town, he doesn't have a place to stay, and since the law is after him, I invited him to spend the night here. I hope it's OK. Here's all the clean & wet stockings I washed in the town fountain. They're not frozen because they're washed in anti~freeze
I'm pretty sure we all understand that this story is make believe, but that doesn't allow you to invalidate any type of feelings that stir up at this song. I too found it strange and it may be only by today's standards that we see this. It's sad really, it makes me wish we were all much more innocent and kind, but the world is not.
shareFor what it's worth, I had the same feelings about that song.
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