A New Take on a Classic – Fatman and Santa Claus

Title: A New Take on a Classic – Fatman and Santa Claus

Description: Today Chris and I talk about the 2020 twist on the classic Santa Claus and Christmas movie – Fatman. In this movie, Mel Gibson stars and a very different version of Santa Claus. The movie still takes on the important themes and conversations of any Christmas movie. Chris and I will see if it measure up!

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Begin Transcript:
Fatman
Steve: [00:00:00] Thank you for your listening to beyond the big screen podcast, we are a member of the Parthenon podcast network, including Scott writes history, unplug James Earley’s key battles of American history and Richard limbs. This American president, of course a big thanks goes out to Chris for joining me today.
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So I am thank you for joining us today on behind the big screen. Now to day, we have a Christmas present for you. We are going to talk about a very different version of a Christmas movie, though. We’re talking about the 2020. New Christmas, classic. I dare say Batman, this movie stars, Mel Gibson as Kris Kringle, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Ruth Kringle and make the great character actor, Walton, Goggins as skinny man.
This movie is a serious departure from the CRA the classic Christmas story, but it makes some interesting points on the genre and the idea of Christmas and Santa Claus in general. As usual, we’ll be giving you some spoilers in this episode, but this episode can be the gift that keeps on giving. Watch the movie and listen to this episode, watch the movie and listen to the episode again, it’ll be your new Christmas classic.
Also join the [00:02:00] conversation with your thoughts, comments, and questions, and feedback. We’d love to hear from. Now this movie plays with genres. It’s a dark comedy it’s action drama. It’s a Christmas movie. It is a true Christmas movie with Santa Claus, the naughty list and the nice list Mrs. Claus elves, but with a twist.
So Chris, why don’t you start off by just telling us an overview of the title character Batman also referred to as Chris who’s actually Santa’s.
Chris: Yeah. So, yeah. Uh, Chris or Sante is, uh, played by Mel Gibson who. I believe it was, yeah, he was perfectly cast for this role, in my opinion. And he plays a, uh, a different kind of Sante. So he’s not the Santa that you see in the Tim Allen movie or your typical Christmas movie, the first shot you see, he’s shooting a gun at doing target practice and the middle of Alaska.
Um, you find out later. [00:03:00] That’s where he is, but, um, yeah. And he’s, he’s, he’s, uh, not so happy and jolly, he’s kind of down about the state of the world, basically. There’s, um, he, you know, he drones on about how kids are just acting so terribly now and how the naughty list keeps on growing and growing and growing.
And he’s, he’s not too happy cause he. You know, at least to him, it seems the Christmas spirit is dying. Right. Um, yeah. And yeah, so he’s almost kind of a, almost kind of an antihero version of, uh, Santa Claus. He kind of reminds me , I’m trying, I’m trying to think of a comparison, if.
Clint Eastwood, a Clint Eastwood character from my, his fist full of dollar series was Santa Claus is the best way I can, would be the best comparison I could make. Does that, what does, does that make sense?
Steve: That’s what I was thinking with with the way he’s portrayed even right upfront it pretty early in the movie, they show him going to a bar and [00:04:00] drinking, hitting on. The bar tender or a character who comes in, she’s not a huge character, but she comes in and out of the movie at key times. He’s definitely an antihero when you, I get the sense from him right off the bat, that he’s really just sick of it and he’s had it and he just has no interest anymore.
And being Santa Claus.
Chris: Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I think he there’s different scenes in the movie where uh, when he was really down on himself at one point a roof leaves a bunch of, uh, I guess are files on the good kids, right? Lightens right up, right away. Right. I guess in a sense, they’re trying to go for kind of a more realistic approach to how Santa would be figure if you’ve been doing this job for, I don’t know, let’s just say Santos thousands of years old.
And it’s the same thing every year event, eventually, um, it would, it would, it would wear you down, right?
Steve: So let’s weave, [00:05:00] we blade down a bit about Chris. Maybe we talk a little bit about the skinny man character who we’ll we’ll revisit. But let’s maybe just introduce him.
Chris: Yeah. So skinny man is played by a Walter Goggins, who is a me and you were talking about this, but, uh, I’ve seen a lot of stuff that he’s done. And I think he. One of the gems, a Hollywood, this guy’s a phenomenal actor, the way he’s able to take kind of ridiculous characters and make them believable.
So skinny man is, uh, basically is a contract killer, um, who also buys a gifts that have been stamped by Madan Santa Claus. Right? So In a sense he’s trying to, uh, he’s trying to buy the gifts that he never got from Santa. Right. And we start, you know, you learn later on that he he’s had a pretty tragic, uh, life himself.
Right? We’re uh, his parents were pretty abusive [00:06:00] to him. Uh, put cigarettes out on him and it’s hinted at, uh, some of the other stuff that happened in his life. And he’s also been on the naughty list, his whole life. He only ever got one present from Santa Claus and there’s this, the little toy car. Um, so I guess so he buys the gifts thinking , it will give him happiness.
Right. But to get a gift from Santa Claus, it’s not something you can, at least in this, in the way they presented in this universe is it’s not really something you can buy. Right? To not be on the naughty list is a, it’s an achievement that you can’t just buy it’s. Um, it’s something you have to earn.
Steve: So that’s a, that sets us up with skinny man. Again, we’ll get into him and a bit more of his character as the, we develop the movie. Now the other major character is Billy and he’s really interested in.
Chris: Yeah. I mean, you were talking about, uh, Billy and we, so he’s he’s a kid, right? Who is a, [00:07:00] he’s a height high-achieving kid that lives with his, uh, grandma. And, but he has issues, right? Or some serious issues. Um, his, his dad’s not around. Right. We find that we find that out in the movie and it appears that his dad’s really not part of his life at all, because he gets a Christmas present from his dad.
And it’s a Teddy bear, which is I mean, it’s fine. But the kids I’m guessing, what would you guys he’s .
Steve: 10, maybe 10, 12. Yeah, probably.
Chris: Yeah, he’s a little old for a Teddy bear. Right? Um, it, all of a sudden, which I interpreted as his dad doesn’t even really know his age. Right. Uh, he doesn’t even doesn’t he refers to his dad by his first name. And yeah. So you get the sense that he, yeah, his parents, his parents, he doesn’t even mention his mother.
Right. So either she’s just completely out of the picture or, um, he just has no relationship with her at all. So he’s [00:08:00] with his grandmother who’s I guess is looking over him, but I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem, I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem they’re very close. It’s the it’s very formal their relationship.
Um, and Billy, yeah, you could argue is pretty much, he’s straight up psychotic. You know, easy. Uh, we find out he hires skinny man to threaten a, a girl who, uh, won first prize at a science fair contest. Right. And Billy just, he can’t handle it. Right. So she, he hires skinny, man, the threaten her.
Her entire family and basically say I cheated on my science fair so he can end up winning first prize. And he writes a letter to Santa Claus and you know, he’s thinking, oh, I’m going to get a gift, you know? And then Santa Claus sends him a lump of coal instead, obviously. Right. Cause he just hired a Hitman threatened to kill this little girl’s family.
And um, then he swears revenge on. [00:09:00] Uh, to get fat man as he calls them. And, um, this is then he hires skinny man to get to do the job, or who’s more than willing to do it because he already doesn’t Santa Claus to begin with.
Steve: So they start to set things up that Kris Kringle, Chris fat, man, whatever it’s Santo, whatever you want to call them. They’re losing money on the operation. Presumably the government is paying them to deliver the toys to the children. And because there’s l