Do Miracles Believe in You?
No, not a typo...
Do Miracles Believe in You?
Three movies that my wife and I watch every year at Christmas time are “A Christmas Story”, the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol” starring Allistar Sim, and the 1947 version of “Miracle on 34th St.” staring Natalie Wood and Maureen O’Hara. Yes, the youngest of these movies was made over forty years ago, but these movies are timeless. You don’t have to be Christian or celebrate Christmas to appreciate the stories told in these movies. These days, it seems almost un-American to watch movies that stress the bonds of love within a family. And that’s a shame.
But this post is about one of these, “Mircale on 34th St.” If you have kids, watch it with them. If you don’t, watch it anyway. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again. It is a fun, happy, fulfilling movie.
But over time, I’ve seen that it is so much more than that. The writers had an agenda. In an entertaining family movie, they placed right in front of us, hiding in plain sight as it were, an indictment of progressivism. If you’ve seen the movie, perhaps you are thinking, no they didn’t. Well, yes, they did.
They even use the word “progressive” in reference to the main villain of the movie, the meddling psychologist. If you do more than just let yourself be entertained, and think about the writing, as I frequently do, you can see the mechanics of the story. When you get down to basics, the story is a comparison between self-determination as informed by individual belief, and socialist statism as determined by progressive ideology. And there’s also a healthy ridicule of politics, for good measure.
Are you “woke”? The reason I ask is, Alfred the young janitor, has succumbed to believing his is “woke”, convinced so by the progressive psychologist, Mr. Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer has made various “diagnoses” concerning Alfred’s buried psychological defects. Alfred observes at one point, “Gee, I didn’t know I hated my father, but I guess I do.”
And the “Miracle”? There are no miracles, right? Well, not in this movie there aren’t. Every miracle, culminating in THE miracle, is actually the result of human initiative. It is the result of individuals assessing the situation as it presents itself to them, as opposed to following the political and socialist mantra. If you’ve seen the movie, think about it in that context. It’s hard to not see, when you think about it.
Think about the issues that we see today. Think about terms like “woke”, and what they really mean. By my interpretation, “woke” means accepting progressivism’s judgement of you and others. Progressivism doesn’t know you personally, yet it presumes to know your hidden flaws, just as Mr. Sawyer presumed to know Alfred’s. Did Mr. Sawyer misinterpret Alfred’s mind, despite careful examination? No. He made no effort at interpretation at all. Mr. Sawyer made no effort to see Alfred as an individual. He instead saw him as just another person to be pigeonholed into the progressive agenda.
“Miracle On 34th St” is over 60 years old. Yet, it is more prescient and relevant than most of what is in theatres today. Near as I can tell, they knew themselves better then than we know ourselves today.
HAPPY THANSKGIVING!
The 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street is available on Hulu and Amazon, free to subscribers.
What do you think? Any miracles you’d care to report on?
Excellent piece. I am anxiously awaiting a miracle that will open some eyes. Thank you for what you do.
please make the play button operative at the top of your posts. I listen to substack while doing other things, going about my day: inthe gym, showering, cooking meals, commuting. I like your writing but frequently skip your pieces because they don’t play audio. It seems everyone else has it working. I was thinking of unsubscribing before I read this piece. At least you have comments open. Great piece. Thanks