#ChristmasMovieProblems

With Christmas movies, there’s one internal logic flaw that has always bothered me. And since I’ve now been given the forum to vent my overthinking of inconsequential matters in such a way, I finally have an opportunity to get it off my chest.

The flaw is as follows: In movie universes where Santa Claus exists as a physical presence, why are there adults (particularly parents) who do not believe in him?

Off the top of my head, this element appears in Elf, The Polar Express and The Santa Clause to name a few. In Elf, it’s even a plot point that Buddy’s dad, Walter Hobbs, finds the notion of the existence of Santa incredulous. The bell at the conclusion of The Polar Express can’t be heard by the parents because they don’t truly believe.

Am I mad in thinking this makes no sense? The reason people don’t believe in Santa in the real world is because (spoiler alert) he doesn’t exist. Parents have to buy the presents and place them as surrogate Santa. But if you translate that disbelief into a universe where he’s real, it’s complete nonsense. If the parents aren’t buying their kids the presents that they eventually receive on Christmas day, where do the parents think those presents come from? Does little Johnny receive two skateboards that Christmas? One from mummy and one from Kris Kringle? And what’s the explanation for the second one?

Even if Santa factors in the duplication, he is still shown in these films to be delivering something to every child- even to orphanages in Elf. If none of the staff purchase the bag of gifts and eat the cookies, what do they think happens?

And don’t you tell me that Santa magically influences parents to overlook this blindingly obvious proof of himself. In Elf, at least, it’s shown that he actively wants people to believe in him as their belief powers his sleigh. Therefore he isn’t using trickery or subterfuge to hide his influence like he’s New Testament Santa.

The fact remains then, that the parents, when noticing gifts that magically appeared overnight, dismiss the idea that some entity had to place them there. It’s the teleological watchmaker analogy, but instead of arguing the design of the universe billions of years ago, it’s arguing the appearance of a playstation since yesterday.

It’s possible I’m overthinking this. It’s very cold, I’ve not been outside in a while.