Based on the book by master storyteller and radio legend Jean Shepherd, A Christmas Story follows young Ralphie Parker as he convinces his parents, teachers, and Santa Claus that the Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB Gun is perfect for him. This is a story about trying to Christmas present.
Funny, quirky and timeless, this film is a beloved Christmas classic. But what many may not realize is that hidden within the charm of this story is a fable and a life lesson.
glenn beck We would like to invite Quentin Schulze, author of “ “I'll shoot you in the eye!'' Life lessons learned from the movie “A Christmas Story'' On the show, she shared her memories of hearing the stories behind these parables from Shepard herself.
From the leg lights to the oft-quoted phrase “I'm going to shoot you out in the eye,” Schulze unravels the hidden messages and metaphors Shepard hid in his films.
“As far as I know, no one other than Bob Clark, the director of A Christmas Story, has any idea what Jean Shepard was doing, how he told the story and what he did in the movie. He's the only person still alive who knows what was going on in “The Christmas Story,” Schulz says. He learned the art of storytelling from Shepard after he realized that his formal training as a communication professor left him with nothing to do.
“The biggest thing I learned from him is that all his stories are fables,” he added. “In other words, it works on two levels.”
For example, consider leg lamps. While perhaps one of the film's most entertaining subplots, Mr. Parker's beloved leg lamp also functions on a symbolic level.
When Schulze asked Shepard about this quirky aspect of the film, Shepard replied, “That foot lamp is a trophy wife.”
“immediately [Mr. Parker] He's into it and in love. And he said he wanted to put it in his front window. What is the reason? To revitalize the neighborhood! ” Schultz laughs.
“Gene believes that in his worldview, men are hopelessly romantic toward women, and secondarily toward other things, such as cars, rifles, and other technology; explained that he falls in love and becomes obsessed with those other things. It interferes with their relationship. So when Mom saw what was happening with the old man and his foot lamp, she knew she had to do something. She broke the lamp and committed the affair. It had to end, and she did it.”
However, the parable of the foot lamps is deeper in that it also depicts a Biblical theme.
“The reason the leg lamps are placed among the plants is because Gene said those plants were the Garden of Eden, where mommy was watering them… so the old man made up this vile, ugly, humane thing. In “The Garden of Eden,'' Schulze says, “in a sense, it represents sin because it's an incident.''
But on Christmas night, after the boys had gone to bed, Mr. and Mrs. Parker sat affectionately side by side, looking out the same window where the leg lamp had once stood, and a rift arose between them. Ta. But now their landscape is a picturesque snowy night.
This represents a process of reconciliation, Schultz explains.
Another symbol of the film is Mr. Parker's furnace, which frequently breaks down, causing Ralphie to weave a “tapestry of obscenity” that he claims still hangs in Lake Michigan. Many times in the film, Mr. Parker hears the sounds of impending failure and panics as black smoke rises up the stairs and descends into the basement where the furnace is located.
“The old man runs down the stairs because he is heading to hell,” specifically, “to the seventh level of Dante's hell, where all the soot and all the heat and smoke and everything swirls. “He's going to look Hell face to face.” “The Furnace Devil. He's not going to win the fight,” Schulze recounted Shepard's words.
The furnace, he explains, is a metaphor for the pitfalls of technology.
“Sooner or later you'll find that they don't work as well as you thought, and you'll have problems,” he tells Glenn.
Mr. Parker's 1937 Oldsmobile Six touring sedan (“freezing at the equator in the middle of summer”) also serves as a metaphor for technology, as does the fuse he keeps blowing.
But perhaps the most notable fable hidden in “A Christmas Story” is the one related to the famous line, “I would shoot out my eye.”
Ralphie fails to convince his mother and teacher that a Red Ryder BB gun is the perfect Christmas present, but his last resort is Santa. At the mall, Ralphie climbs a makeshift snowy mountain to plead with Santa, but Santa agrees with Mrs. Parker and Miss Shields, much to Ralphie's dismay.
“I'm going to shoot you out in the eye, kid,” he says, sending Ralphie and all his hopes and dreams down the slide.
Not only is the scene akin to “going to beg God,” Schulze said, but the phrase “you're going to get shot in the eye” is similar to “a lack of human humility.” A life that you should really be careful about. ”
This quote is a reminder to “be more humble, be careful and careful about what you do in life.”
To learn more about the meaning behind “A Christmas Story,” watch the clip above.
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