0:00 – Intro
2:56 – Casting
8:11 – Characters & Story Arcs
32:14 – Dan Harmon Story Circle
35:15 – Themes
48:32 – Extra Fun Facts
55:48 – Where Does Elf Rank in Xmas Films?
1:04:28 – A Surprise!
1:05:39 – Outro

Intro

buddy de what’s your favorite color you did it congratulations world’s best cup of[Music] coffee don’t look at me get[Music]out the education lpodcast So today we’re rejoined by Andrew who uh joined us on our podcast some point last year I think yeah we’retalking about the film elf mhm now I’ve seen this film quite a few times how many times give us your numberoh a lot a lot a lot that’s that’s a big number it’s probably at least 10 10 Ithink I’m I think I’m half I’m five maybe five or six how about you two twotwo okay yeah I I rewatched it on Sunday okay and when was the first time youwatched it I don’t know I can’t even remember it was a long time ago like when it first came out probably I don’tthink I watched it when it first came out didn’t watch in the cinema no I didn’t even know about it I didn’t watch in the cinema no maybe I didn’t watch itthe C it wasn’t like a big well it didn’t have like it wasn’t no one knew what it was and we were probably bit wethought a bit old for this and then it came on TV yeah I think saw it a few years later yeah I may have even sawseen it just like the next year yeah I think I think I was fairly Young when I saw it no I think mine was a lot lateron oh okay well in the last episode we spoke about play and how sort of adultssort of lose that joy and that playfulness as they as they grow up andgo through go through life um so here is an adult that a joyful adult a joyfuladult that’s never experienced that no I’ve never experiencedthat well he’s he’s not grown up in the like you said the human world no so he’snot been put through that he does meet people along the way that have been put through that his father uh the people inthe mail room yeah um but growing up he’s in elfland what’s it called NorthPole I guess yeah North Pole yeah yeah North Pole lap lap land have you ever been uh no I’ve been to like well I’vebeen to part of Lapland because I think Finland is in I think we’ve both both been to part of well not not officiallyit’s it wasn’t all Christmasy but it is part of lap we did have reindeer there were reindeer they eat reindeer I sorrysorry kids yeah we did we try they take the red noses offyeah oh dear where should we start should we

Casting

start with the characters should we start with the overarching theme what’s the uh the I think characters theEnglish teacher what’s theak I think characters first so dealing with each because he’s such a big cuz he’s thehe’s the thing isn’t it yeah that’s the whole like he drives so much of the tone of the film I think yeah a lot of itunscripted as well I can imagine that he works that way doesn’t he very thoroughly cuz he was from SaturdayNight Live wasn’t he yeah so and they all all used to sort of thinking on thehoof live sort of stuff and he would have just you know in that kind of JimCurry Robin Williams sort of way just just done yeah yeah yeah yeah I think Ithink that’s what happened for quite a lot of it um he to start the characters okay so interestingly enough like theythey cast will feral in the end but it was originally offered to Jim Caryand yeah I wonder what you guys think about um well firstly did he did JimCary turn it down or because if I can see I can see he might have turned it down because he isalready theGrinch he he he did have that about him he said too many Christmas he said he’dalready done the Grinch he also if you think about it where Jim Ker’s career was at he was2003 well they recorded it in 2001 after 911 I think it was a bit of a that issuegetting permits for filming and stuff yeah it was I think he was he would havebeen shooting Bruce Almighty not too not too long after this it would have been around that time he was in a bit of afunny patch in his career where he was halfway between being a bit serious he you know done The Truman Show not thatlong before he sort of great film yeah great film but I think it would have been different cuz Jim Carrey in thesame way that um Will Ferrell just hadthey their whole tone is the tone of the film really I think it would have been a Jim Carrey film would have been interesting do you think you’d havepreferred it I prefer Jim KY over Will Ferrell yeah no I think that’s I think Iagree with that but is he better suited no no I kind of what do you think wellthere’s something there’s always something awkward about Will Ferrell I can feel that and that fits thecharacter of Elf really well yeah and he’s he he can play innocent in a waythat I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Jim Carrey play innocent even when he’s inlike Dumb and Dumber that’s the the equivalent the equivalent even then he sort of gets he’s like he’s sort ofclever in a stupid way or he sort of gets what he wants just like by accident it’s like it’s goofy But Not Innocentyeah whereas will Farrell’s got this like child like he’s like wide eyy he can do the whereas Jim Carrey is usuallythe smartest person in the he’s usually smart he’s usually plays like high status quite well maniacal yeah there’ssomething a little bit like that’s why he works for the Grinch cuz the Grinch is you know a little bit more it’s bit nyeah edgy he’s got an edge to he’s nasty sometimes and he can be a bit like mean whereas willfarell when he’s mean it’s only CU it’s only by accident he’s always just like achild I mean you’ve seen him get hard yes he tries to be yeah very differentH that’s terrible no that’s that’s horrible anger you got to show me angerwhy you smiling I’m not smiling I’m tense and I’m agitated come on man that’s your M that’s it yeah I don’tthink he could do he can pull it off I don’t I I think I think Will Farrell is perfect for this film because he is andhe’s right at the he’s like at the opposite ends of the spectrum from Jim Curry cuz he’s right at the start start of his career he’s at the start of likehe explodes just after this like yeah ankam man and all that and he donewhat’s that one about college there’s College it’s the one where that old school old he’s like the sixth in therebut he’s he’s like the sixth lead but he is his all his bits are the best bits of that fairly poorfilm but no I think I think he’s I think he’s great in this yeah and some peopleI I think some people hold this up as like annoying will frell like this is this cuz they find him annoying and hecan be my mom that my mom can’t stand him yeah I think parents I think it’sgenerational thing yeah yeah they’ve lost their sense of fun yes and that themeaning of Christmas I kind of get it I mean he does annoy me sometimes with a badscript yeah depends what sort of mood like this get hard all those sorts of films fine uh things like it is he insemipro or was that other other the one what’s the one Blades of Glory Blades of Glory that irritates me yeah that’s whenhis like a little bit of the Sheen has come off yeah it’s a little bit later yeah but in this magical it’s magicalit’s wonderful so what do we think of let’s let’s break down this character what do we think of the story arc the

Characters & Story Arcs

the the hero’s journey what’s the what’s the Hero Journey to for Buddy the elf sohe he starts off in it seems fairly happy in the North Pole yeah he’s in aand then he has a bit of an there’s little Clues here and there that indicate he’snot he’s over double height of anyone else little little tiny things littleindicators that that he is massive 6 fo3 or something incidentally they’re reallyum nicely nicely done they didn’t use CGI they they did the force perspective theyyeah um so using a they used a lot of large things for the elves and then wwar faral Would S on Small Things purposely and they’d also use and they’d also yeah they’d also they used that forlike the hobit and they use that for like Lord of the Rings with the Gandalf scenes yeah see buddy you’re not a cutandhe headed n muggins you’re justspecial kind of more Charming I suppose then using sort CGI well a lot of it wasJohn FAO didn’t want um didn’t want it to not feel Timeless yeah where if CGIyou watched see this like 20 years ago yeah if you watched a CGI film from 20years ago now Polar Express yeah horrible uncannyuny whereas having models there really like and they use stock motion animationas well and that that adds a sort of it’s B like wace and gr is still charmby Buddy take care bye-bye bye-bye bye-bye buddybye buddy hope you f your dad thanks Mr Narwhal the people that did the stop motion were the same people that did uhthe second Team America and Bob the Builder yeah okay sosame team okay different jobs Team America yeah can’t get those two mixedup um and then he he obviously so he’s got this little identity crisis when hefinds out that he’s not an elf He overhears some people talking youknow some of the elves talking about oh God he’s killing me this guy so slow at making toys with big fat fingers butthen he’s still the fastest when he comes to human land yeah yeah oh yeah yeah it’s just in elf terms that he’sreally yeah he’s also quite immature sorry he’s just also quite immature incomparison to the other elves as well a bit you you know I mean that like even though he’s not grown up even there he’snot grown even there he seems a bit stunted because like they’re a bit they’re quite serious they’re like ohlet’s just go oh let’s build another retro sket where he’s like you know very involved in the candy you know side ofthings they’re like that’s one of my favorite bits yeah the just yeah how many have you made85 they’ll look at him like oh my God so embarrassingI’m going to be a little bit short on today’s quota it’s all right buddy justhow many EX sketches did you get finished come on buddy howmany I made uh85 85 so yeah the character um so he hashis identity crisis and then he somehow goes to New York I don’t knowdon’t know what the plan is there and how he he he walks presumably yeah wellno he gets on the little he gets on the little what the big Iceberg yes floats across yeah by the time he gets therethe iceberg is like that big and he’s just standing yeah nice little uh like a visual gag yeah and he talks to a whalebefore he leaves as well he was also voiced by John Fabro yes he plays a couple of parts in this yeah and he’sactually in it for a bit as well isn’t he yeah as the dentist there is this the dentist doctor there is a theory thatbody is slightly uh mentally ill yeah he he play he plays he plays heplays stunted I think he’s fairly consistent yeah in fact maybe the problem withBuddy as a like as the character doesn’t necessarily learn anything does he hedoesn’t really learn anything he he he find he finds his father and he sort of and he falls in love butin terms of him changing the buddy that you see at the end is kind of like it’s everyone just learns frombudy yeah so the normal Dan Harman Story Circle thingdoesn’t really complete itself well he knows he knows who he is though and that’s the difference I guess yeah hefinds himself he’s not he kind of knows who he is in act like the end of act one doesn’t he he he like knows who fatheris he hasn’t got himself situated in that world the the in the same way with Mary Poppins I think it might be that heit’s it’s not about the kids it’s about the dad learning he’s the one who growhe’s the one who has to grow he’s like the satisfying plot Arc well I I find Ifind get the yeah I find his plot AR not the most satisfying no but it’s like themost traditional of like yeah I don’t believe in Christmas no I think there’s not enough development of the of thefather but I mean all the a lot of the the rest of the film I’m like you can’t really change it but I’d say a littlebit more development of father would have been nice yeah well we can come on to wecan come on to Breaking that down as well and then yeah let’s continue breaking down buddy so so yeah he hegoes to New York he finds his father initially but his father’s not acceptingof him or doesn’t even know that is he’s like who’s this crazyguy they call it a Christmas gr yes which I don’t know if that’s as big athing oh it’s not here yeah no I don’t think it’s not one of those things that translates necessarily but you kind of get what it is yeah someone sends athing as a joke a person as a joke to do whatever it is yeah he he sort of justhe finds himself in the toy was it the the department Department yeah and andthe elf area funny enough and yeah well he gets pulled into the elf area by theelf manager the elf manager um what who who’s sort of yeahwho like says you shouldn’t be here you know you should be up there working so he sort of can gets a job you know youknow yeah CU he’s dressed well he’s dressed he’s dressed like you know he’s got lovely elf clothes and he meets doymhm which is nice like yeah uh zo aition yep yep blonde it works I think it doesI no I don’t think it does I think I think much more of a and it’s quite afringeless performance by her usually is that a hair P or is that usually she dousually she has what they call itang bangs yeah bangs like his new girl yeah that’s like the classic Zoel look um Idon’t know they made Zoel look I think they made it look cute they like so soand it sort of works for the character yeah yeah so the elf so the elf um hefools uh for her quite quickly that’s probably part of his growing up art cuzhe didn’t he doesn’t know what it is like he’s not sure what he’s feeling and his little brother that’s like 12 years old has to teach him what that is that’spart of him going up into a yeah no he does adult human person yeah I supposeat the start you it’s not like you can’t imagine him feeling love cuz he’s already feels like love for his parentsyeah but like a romantic interest yeah no no that’s true that that is that’s the way he treats it is the way hetreats everything though is a bit like oh my God it’s so amazing you know everything is you know Wonder yeah whichis kind of important for the film I think yeah yeah so once he’s once he meets what’s her name Jo joy joy Jo Idon’t is her name even because I’ve seen the film a few times yeah where is the name mentioned it is you mean it’s notlike it’s not front and center no no she doesn’t she doesn’t get a lot todo you know she pops up here and there she sort of pops up here and there and seems to be fine with everything seemsto be right into him to be fair it is a very short film so I feel like you can’t really you got to focus on the D yeahit’s like there’s a main there’s a main Arc and it’s a side side questessentially and so he meets meets her and then he obviouslythe he meets up again with his father and then he’s like oh maybe he gives hima well he gets chucked out of the building and then of the Empire State Building yeah funny enough yeah by theway one of those um the guards one of the guards that kicked him out he wol ‘s brother is that right I didn’t got alist of random fact yeah on the right the guy on the right is Wolf’s real life brother might be a fun dayit’s okay it’s I just have a gift for my dad okay I’ll take this okay we just make sure he knows it’s from me buddyhis son okay okay and I love him so much and I think he’s the greatest D in the world you guys are so strong yeah so hehe gets kiic he gets kicked out of the building but then he obviously comes back from the Department Store gives apresent and then the photo and the lingerie yeah um that he hefound um for someone special um and he and his father opensup and he’s like like he finds the photograph and he’s like what there’ssomething like this he remembers that you know this girl was significant tohim in his past and there must there’s some sort of connection but he still doesn’t quite believe him he he doesn’tknow yeah he has to take him to is that then he has to take him he forces him to take a DNA tests basically very quickDNA tests you know that’s funny why he’s got the the the needle in there yeah theprick test yeah finger prick it’s cold yeah just please sitstill please okay can I listen to your necklace no you can’t can you just sit still I don’t know Walter could youpleas you please have him sit still do this no he has got a name I’m sorry please sit still please he got mad at meyes he did he did the sooner you sit still the sooner we can get this mess over okay then can we eat sugar plumsyou bet you we’ll eat sugar plums gingerbread houses and we’ll even paint eggs well paint eggs that’s easierand he keeps eating the he keeps eating the cotton I think he’s candy floss I likehe did actually apparently apparently he ate like a lot of thestuff I don’t e thoseoh he had to do two takes for the vom for for the scene where he eats all ofthe candy and all of it because the first time he he vomited he you know he couldn’t cuz of it’s disgusting you knowwill farell when he’s eating the maple syrup and he’s also eating the breakfastI think he puts loads of stuff on he has to have like a bite of it yeah like marshmallows and chocolate sauce M&M’syeah and he the first time he did it I think it like turned his stomach or whatever yeah you would do yeah the foodhere is yeah he did um he apparently suffered headaches throughout the wholefilming because of all the sugar um yeah so he go he he obviouslylike gets his he find like the father figure is like all right so he’s my sonand then he tries to sort of mold him a little bit take him to work and go okayhe’s kind of forced into that by the Yeah iseverybodyy tried to force him to be be an adult but he’s kind of liked quite universally by everyone at work everyoneseems to really like this character you know everyone regardless of what he doessort of apart from the store manager most people rep pretty positively and and his dad obviously initially well thestore manager was um the mom just like yep cool he’s Liv he’s living living here now yep we have an elf yeah oh sureI’ll grow up help son of course can’t question it too much no no no no yeah and she says to her husbandthat’s great that you’ve got a son I’m not sure if that’s the reaction thatmost that’s what I mean the side character development is kind of weak inthat sense because yeah they don’t have time well you’ve got to get all his adlibs in don’t you you’ve got to get all of will frell’s funniest bits in and that’s was probably at the expense of alot of development of the yeah I think the main characters are probably yeah obviously Buddy the elf um the dad and Ithink the little brother as well is quite an important one yeah um cuz his relationship with the dad is alsostrengthens that but think the women in the film don’t seem to have a lot of what the mom has like she’s gotessentially nothing to do she sort of smiles she smiles and sort of gently chides her husband a little bit and sortof is sort of his better nature of just like oh no we’ve got to you know she sort of allows the plot to move alongyeah she is essentially a plot device of just like oh no we’ve got to let him in the house he cuz we there’s no way we’dbelieve that James KH you know the dad would let in that elf without his wife being there so come even shorter filmyeah no no no just closing the door yeah I don’t think uh but I I’d say like ingeneral even though Side characters don’t get development the only one that I’d say probably deserved a bit more wasthe dad I I think of everyone else cuz he’s the he’s the second most important character the most traditional story arche’s the instrument of change and it’d be interesting to see like why is he like this and that kind of thing but Iguess the whole implication is that it’s the corporate culture and and that’s whole thing of children’sliterature yeah I love that I love that I’ve got news for you even if those twopages were in there the book still would have sucked have you seen the numbers for this quarter uh they’ll be heretoday they’re in that fraking puppy and pigeon are tanking hard hops my people estimatewe’re going to post a minus8 for this quarter minus8 that does not happenbasically the uh buddy sort of messes up uh I can’t what what happens exactlyso he messes up in in the mail room or what what’s yeah no with uh when thewriter comes uh what’s his name oh well he that’s the the bit where he sort of calls it’s Peter Dinklage is the actorbut I can’t remember the name of the miles miles finches Finch yeah um so sobecause because he cuz he messes that up the father’s angry even though his ideas weren’t very good turns out yeah yeah umit’s about Peach Tomato’s too vulnerable Tomato’snot quite vulnerable um that was a funny thing andum I got this idea that I’m incredibly psyched about that slams the table he’s mad inthis five or six great starts here I got one idea that I’m especially psyched outof my mind about you know it’s one of those ideas where you’re just likeyes and you have you have he thinks he’s an he’s an elf and that yeah he’s anangry elf yeah so I suggest you wipe that stupid smile off your face before Icome over there and smack it off you’re feeling strong my friend call me elf onemoretime he’s an angry [Music]elf look at you ow hey what but then I meanobviously the father rejects the son that’s whole thing you have got that bit bit of a an an sort of a break in therelationship yeah and and then well buddy has a bit of an identitycrisis cuz he’s like I don’t fit in in either World in either world that sort thing so classic sort of plot elementand then you have uh Father Christmas or Santa comingin on his SL and and oh yeah and then the son I guess son makes the fatherrealize at the board meeting yeah that it’s sort of like a you or me like themor me choice choice between the family and and your your your job essentiallyin this case and he chooses his family he makes the right choice as it were and he he he already has a handshake withhis son who he seems quite a strange from he’s like yeah let’s do the handshake we always do a I can’t imaginethat character doing that handshake before that moment you know maybe they did it well when he wasreally young when the kid was really young yeah or it’s just a it’s not like a crazy handshake it’s just no but it’sjust like a it’s like a it’s like feels like the sort of thing that father and son would do all thetime that sort of time in that sort of time that was probably been done by a lot of people probably no it’s more thatI don’t think that he would have done it at all yeah I don’t like he really neglects his family like yeah he’sreally just involved in his work his really important work at a children’sit’s like death yeah and then yeah obviously theygo looking for Buddy and then they happen to me while Santa’s havingproblem with his slay because of the the engine yeah um and reindeer power wasn’tit thousand reindeer power or something yeah and that’s kind of like a crucial plot point isn’t it that um that wholeit w they put a motor in because Christmas cheer was at an all low wasn’t it yeah and then you have the the parkrangers yeah you are demons yeah they’re not a real thing in New York they’rebased on uh what was it no I know they’re not demons in York they not have any sortofur they’re sort of just presented as menacing stock menacing figures but theyremind me a lot of the nasgo in Lord of the Rings oh okay apparently they’re based on them I not that I not massiveLord of the Rings I’ve not really seen it but I don’t even think they are I don’t even are they all right yeah sothat’s why as soon as I saw them I was like yeah it reminds me of the nasalso wouldn’t they have been shot at similar times oh no maybe like a year apart cuz Lord of the Rings wasn’t that2001 first one no yeah maybe I think it was so yeahthey would they might have just seen they might have just seen it it might have just come out as they were filming maybe maybe h they were filmyeah 20 they were filming in 2001 towards and that’s when Lord of the Rings came out they must have gone in and gone yeah let’s get the maybe yeahoh no it’s the Central ParkRangers and then obviously they they bondover a common enemy mhm I guess like andS I got to get his s up in the air and uh buddy gets to work like fixing fixingthe um not the person I choose to fix my feel like Santa would be betterequipped Santa yeah it’s his machine elf is just an elf who can’t make extrasketches a very quick rate yeah yeah so Joy starts singing and park they’recovering it on the they’re covering it on the news the news and uh and theneveryone singing together oh everyone but the father but eventually getsconvinced somewhat begrudgingly to join in and then yeah yeah and then thattakes it from 500 reindeer power to a th apparently just him which is crucial yeah yeah you need because he was thatmiserable yeah he’s like hold he’s like pagging a nation down Christmas yearthere’s a lot of responsibility the world yeah um it fasts forwardsto the the next Christmas and they’ve got that Family scene and you can seethe father playing the piano old line and the Joie singing and then you’ve gotuh buddy walking around I can’t remember what going oh yeah that important plot Pointum and yeah so it s of resolves essentially but we’ve learned nothingbuddy Having learned maybe some he’s learn a bit as you say he’s learned a bit about romance um that never feltthat Out Of Reach for him as a character like he’s learned a little bit he’s learned a few like how to but he’s not like he’s Street wise and Savvy afterliving in New York it’s not that has it hasn’t like impacted him in that way which is like where he becomes a bitmore Street wise and has to like yeah and then adapt he doesn’t really adaptto the human world other films he might have like he might have gone well I’ve got to dealyou know I’ve got to actually or he gives it up for a bit and like becomes cynical and then comes back to it yeahstill implied that it’s still implied that never cynical it’s still implied that he childlike because he sits on hisyeah his father yeah at the end so so it still implies that he’s still a bigManchild essentially yeah but fair enoughbut apparently it can raise a baby and don’t know what it lives on like does it live on things maplesyrup I would I wouldn’t want the Elf character next to me while I’m you knowgiving birth be terrible at that be like taking all the gas and air and just likedancing on the place saying how excited he was and how this is like apresent maybe we need more terrible fatherno it’s a kid going to be like you raise selfish yeahyeah so yeah that’s the character AR essentially so there was the The Dan

Dan Harmon Story Circle

Harmon story The Dan Harman Story Circle which we brought up in the Home Alone one last year um I don’t rememberthere’s like eight different steps to it it’s very small yeah it’s printed very small oh okay right so you’ve got youyour characters in their comfort zone mhm but they need something they go to an unfamiliarsituation which is so far so good that’s New York they search and try and adapt toit he’s searching he’s searching he’s definitely not adap I don’t think that’s ever a word you can use for wolf’scharacter maybe comedy a slightly different well test and challenges he tries to yeah tries to bond with water he struggles to understand humans he’slike trying to figure it out y uh then the fifth one on that circle thing isthey find or they get what they want like they get temporary success so he’s found his father yeah and he’s livingwith them found it’s not like where he wants to be and he’s going on dates with z now yeah bit so DNA test basicallyfinds it but it’s not like a it’s a false resolution basically yeah yeah uh and then because of that they get to thelowest point and they have to pay a heavy price this is where they sort of separate and Buddy’s not sure whether he’self yeah that’s his lowest point yeah um then they return back to the unfamiliarsituation yeah and uh then they have the final transformationchange so they’re back to the beginning of and that’s the step that I think that again is I suppose that whole Arc worksway better for the dad even though even though it’s done in two shter time frame I think that that would describe italmost perfect a lot of it yeah so ESS Dan Harman guy that did uh community andRick and Morty Rick and Morty it’s um essentially what every story is yeah every story has that kindof those steps yeah he he’s I think on this one buddy’s got six out of eightmaybe I think there’s a couple way like that actually doesn’t I think a big change is the fact that he has a fan he’s a family so he goes from nothaving like understanding who he is and and that that’s really yes that’s reallythe change even though he doesn’t change nothing about him really change as aresult of that but he does he does go through those things that you know would change somebody would change a normalperson you know yeah the sort of having a child he seems as you say he sits on his lap he he seems the same same oldbuddy really MH but those sorts of characters often do because they’re suchpowerful forces you’ve got to have them being fairly consistent otherwise the tone of the film gets quite Dr yeah you can’t he get reallyupset into not an elf anymore cuz yeah he can’t give it all up and come back to it he’s sort of always got to be he’sjust an elf who’s high on life or downtrodden a little bit but he’s always an elf so we’ve looked at the character

Themes

development of well the main characters I think maybe the themes would be a gooduh thing to move on to next mhm so what yeah what do we thinkthemes of Elf what do you reckon they are Joy what what do you think I thinkit’s the father learning his you know the meaning of Christmas and the meaning of his family I think familybeing yeah I think family is a big one same again same as Home Alone same as last year’s one family with a lot ofChristmas films they need to like redover what their family means to them a little bit and Christmas as sort oflike a super narrative on top of that being sort of you know Christmas is the thing that brings them together yeah Ithink play playfulness again it’s a lot of what we spoke about last last month is the it’s the playfulness like you seebuddy and Michael the younger brother they still have the playfulness they do the snowball fights and all that sort ofstuff um and the dad is just work yeahnot time no time family doesn’t do any no Hobbies no like you know I I thinkthe the ch’s the position of both of those together and also I think thatbalance between the two essentially the snowball fight is probably quite important for those for those twobecause he doesn’t really like him at the start the the the young the brother he’s he’s sort of he’s not like fullyagainst him like the dad like you’re too weird he’s he’s like you’re weird and you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends and that’s like the moment wherethey bond through play is yeah you know Snowball yeah cuz he makes um Michaelmakes one snowball yeah oh made a couple of extra sketches inthe middle of that as well just start making as many snowballs as you could you ready let’sgo but he does purposely you know that the last snowball throw where uh hetakes out the the kids enemy or whatever it is he uses Michael snowball for thatah so he’s made like all of his snowballs but he purposely uses that’s a nice I can’t even remember that[Music] yeahwow where did you say you were from so yeah I think you’re right that is the point where they sort of yeah okay we wewe understand each other on some level you know cuz he’s rediscovered a little bit about his childhood there yeah youknow that snowball fight without Buddy the elf there would have been really horrible yeah him just getting you knowbeaned by uh snowballs the whole time and ELF S you know buddy sort of yeahsaves the day there’s a big critique of corporate America in throughout thewhole film yeah so then that starts in the North Pole with the sort of pressesthat budd’s under to produce EXT extra sketches well the elves stressed aren’tthey yeah yeah like they they have like figures that they need to hit or elsesome of them are working overtime they have a joke about like oh I’m working over time for this guy I’m workingnights yeah I think there’s an Outsourcing joke in it about gnomes we got to Outsource Outsourceproduction to gnomes yeah there’s a really funny bit where I think they’re talking about he like elf was it buddiesin a classroom with the children and they’re learning which again is like why is hestill learning I guess he’s he’s slightly behind everyone else he’s struggles with toy making generally uhbut also the age he’s yeah similar Age and and they’re talking about like microchips like producing microchips andthat sort of just takes me back to my childhood CU I think I I asked my mom like how does Santa make or how doesFather Christmas make like Electronicsthat’s a tough question I know feel I feel for your mom not for the firstyeah yeah I I remember having that thought I remember having that thought as well yeah cuz it cuz it Doesn’t asyou say like wooden toys or things yeah you can make snakes and other board but how did you make a Game Boy like yeahyeah and I was like also The Branding didn’t make sense either like I was like what why is it branded like surely thisis the company that mean anyway that’s by the buy they El sourced theirmaterial from many different companies yeah yeah but it’s it’s interesting becauseit’s like if if it like I like the element of realism in it in it becausethere’s a sense that if Santa’s Workshop really existed it would have to be in this sort of form itwould basically like temu or like Amazon like yeah it probably would be like massproduction and all all of things Things That Go highly recognized and in a lot of these Christmas films there’s alwaysa sense that it’s getting a harder and harder job that’s like a theme in a lot of Christmas fil of like oh this year’sthe wor because population’s growing people are more like consumerist and thethe toys are getting more complicated so I think that that that is like a common theme and it does feel like it’s gettingworse like it feels like Santa is is almost like yeah you know in anotherfilm he he’d be retiring he’s he feels like he’s nearly there and and then the company that the water Hobs is at thefather is um is obsessed with corporatism and making profit over thequality of the product so they don’t so they and they have no sense of joyand they’re they’re a children’s company where you need you need a playful element they read like Bankers or theyread like investment something they read like hedge fund people they read really like super corporatethere’s nothing like a fun work with breakout areas it feels like they still called the company greengreen way Greenway so still a little linked to Christmas even in that but the sign is like when you see the sign ofGreenway it looks corporate yeah it looks really corporate yeah so there’s aa lack of playfulness there in the corporate landscape and it actually until buddy comesin the end flirts with the um secretary it feels like he has more of a sparkwith them Chanel he’s constantly like a you’re looking great she’s like thank you you’ve just made my day yeah the onewith seems just Falls flat a little bit yeah yeah yeah that’s just lack ofcharacter development I think but the interesting thing is there’s this sort of Illusion to sort of independentpublishing and businesses uh when the cuz at the end the fathers clear set upyeah his own publishing company like an independent publishing company andobviously the the books about yeah buddy the book yeah at which also this thewhole story is that book yeah a nice little uh cyclical yeah the story you’vebeen watching the whole time is the book that he’s written in that final which is yeah it’s him discovering his heart andhe realizes that it’s not about just like coming up with a random idea about peaches oratoa weird drawing of a hen which they seem to think was great um it’s asparagusasparagus that was a great joke why is everything so his reaction there go whatdo you think just spitballing him yeah oh we better find that clipwhat about this uh a tribe of asparagus children but they’re self-consciousabout the way their peace smells yeah so I like those littlelittle Illusions to uh to the the subtle critique of corporatism it also showslike an overreliance on it cuz you got Santa’s sleigh been powered and it’sfail failing at crucial Time Shows the over and and that got he said like itwas installed in the 60s or something he it was or in the 50s he said that was installed early on in the film yeah hesays something like that he said we got this installed back in the 60s or back in and that is sort of miror was when America really turbocharged its cor yeahwell when was um when was commercial start when was commercial flight sortof I mean it would have been really it would have been made cheaper throughout that decade yeah more access because thething that’s on the Sledge is a jet engine well it makes sense it would be yeah the postwar boom yeah post boom andthere’s that like mirroring the elves workshop and then the mail room yeah yeah the mail room is quite a fun oneyeah that’s really yeah yeah cuz he just got sent down there for just to get out of the dad’s wayyeah yeah mail room was kind of fun you get you get to drink there you sort ofchat with your mates they they seemed I mean the people in there seemed quite Miserable as you would you undergroundthere’s no natural light all this stuff going on and it seemslike they had to use alcohol to get through it syrup to no no like actualalcohol the I know but he thinks it’s syrup doesn’t he I going cuz I think I think they drink because they they’velost their sense of playfulness it’s all dull and whatever else and that was their way of having fun which is samefor a lot of people but when buddy comes in yeah they he reignites the fun in allof them yeah with his fun dancing yeah yeah and yeah he is drinking and thinking eat syrup aswell but it kind of works I think I think it just re yeah basically reignites the umlost fun in in the [Music] [Applause] [Music]adults it also shows that well when when he’s doing the department store andgetting it like nice and stuff like that that also shows how the sense of fun and creativity is so important in if youwant to succeed in the corporate world you also need the playful elementbecause but the thing is he got punished for that yeah yeah he got punished and they thought that that was as you saythey thought that was cor head office coming in bringing in like you know to compete with rival stores he’salso he’s always disappointed with the corporate world especially in this um inthis setting of the department store because he’s always like that’s a fakeSanta that these decorations aren’t good enough he’s sort of he’s going they’re not doing Christmas right you know whenthey’re saying this is you know Lapland this is the North Pole he’s like no it’s not it’s there’s nothing like it youdon’t have this you don’t have this you don’t have this and he’s you sit on the throne of Lies yeahfantastic you smell a voice you smell of like beef andchees she such a horrible s so uh how old are you son four you’re abig boy what’s your name Paul and what can I get you for Christmas don’t tell him what you want he’s a liar let thekid talk you disgust me how can you live with yourself just cool it Zippy you sit on a throne of Lies lookI’m not kidding you’re a fake I’m a fake yes how’d you like to be dead huh he’skidding you stink I think you’re going to have a good Christmas smell like beef and cheese you don’t smell like Santawasn’t that wasn’t that one of the three um elf things what’s that an elf can’t lie was that one of cuz they the threeuh yeah rules oh okay so it’s like they’re robots there’s something about Iknow there’s something about sugar is is one of them something so spreading Christmas Christmas cheer forall that’s theight uh not not being able to lie and one other one but then theybut then they lie to him to like early on they’re like oh good job now you’redoing great and then behind the back behind his back they’re saying a I’m having to cover him so you know bitinconsistent rules but it doesn’t matter I it’s not a big point it needs to Happ whole whole film for innow that’s it I’m done with it if you start picking like there’s so many holes to pick and in all of these cuz theyneed it the most important thing is to for him to get out of that but then was it s was it if Santa says that he’s thethe truest represent like in he he Santa gets it yeah yeah yeah yeah the the

Extra Fun Facts

whole um department store thing was quite interesting because um they asked Macy’s to do it okay who are like reallyfamous for that thing yeah they declined oh because they didn’t want a filmsaying that their Center wasn’t the real Center oh I see they they didn’t wantthat to go out they like the miracle you know on yeah so what they did the only one of the only bits of CGI they theyput in a store called gimbals mhm which used to be in New York yeah and it was there for over 100 years okay so theyCGI that back in and gimbals was Macy’s rival at the time as well Ah that’s alittle a little little easteregg yeah yeah that’s interesting I like that yeahthose are the best facts no I really didn’t know that no I didn’t know that either till I started researching for this yeah well we can go through a fewmore I did get a few few more I’ve been sprinkling them yeah you like a little Christmas dust throughout Christmaschair oh the race Pizza thing yeah that was a little joke wasn’t it yeah aboutraised Pizza John what John John favro likes a particular raay Pizza on 11thyeah on 11th yeah and and he considers that the that’s the original and the best and there’s an illusion to it whosays it though I can’t remember it’s um Santa maybe is it Santa when he’s giving him ad or or yes he’s giving him theadvice about like New York about what don’t eat gum off of the oh shecompletely IGN yeah I think that’s one of them the gum is the one that I remember and thenyeah the ra Pizza yeah the rais pizza’s also he also put it in Iron Man ah there’s a scene where they openthe pizza and start eating raised Pizza in Iron Man because because of John yeahyeah John fav’s fingerprints are all over this butm he a lot of the animal voices yeah he’sin the film and he’s and the he really is very good the thing that he’s very good as a director is like getting atone because the tone that he got for say Iron Man yeah that’s that Cinema for the next 20years yeah that’s that’s that’s that’s how Marvel universe is based aroundRobert Downey Jr and how he you know Chef is one of my favorite films yeah I love that film and that’s a film aboutJohn favro being sick of what he created and just going I like food you knowthat’s the real the real John favro is I like pizza I like raised pizza and I like you know I want and the whole thingabout that is like him moving away from that corporate giant that he kind of helped create yeah he’s an interestingguy yeah yeah and this is a great film yes definitely we think it’s a great film yeah it does exactly what it’smeant to do so in that sense yeah not not too not too thinky but it’s yeah ohno it’s not thinky thinky but I like that no do you have any more stats to make us thinky think what do we have ohone of my favorite scenes is the uh we going to re jumps off the safe onto the tree yes yeah yeah that’s really good doyou know how that’s done I found out yesterday was there a crash mat or something was it wasn’t a real Tre wasit a real tree yeah uh I don’t know if the tree was real I mean M they theythey put a trampoline in the sofa oh so you jumped off the trampoline it’s allone take I like that trampoline sofa somebody behind the tree to to startpushing it yeah and then uh electrician to like flicker the lights as it falls down oh that’s clever all in onetake yeah there’s a lot of practical stuff in this and a lot of stuff to get good reactions from people because ifyou did that with a green screen then people’s reaction probably wouldn’t be as good if you just like if youdidn’t have it being so physical um what’s the thing the Jack in theBox well that’s my favorite part of the you know how that’s done yes go on go that one is uh I’m just stealing yourF no that one it’s too small to read that PR I um that one’s John favro witha remote control yeah because he wanted the comedic timing yeah he wanted thelike the ver micit due of it being an actual like it is actually will Ferell reacting these days you know the thingpops up when he least expect [Music]it they’re timing on that final one yeah yeah like spot perfect it’s perfect yeah[Music]that’s probably my favorite favorite scene it’s a really good Vision yeah it’s really really[Laughter] funny um yeah that was one of themyeah him walking around New York it was just him one cameraman andno one else no one knew what they were doing they just random people werejust Saturday Night Live guy in an elf costume walking around yeah and justrunning through doors zebra Crossings and all that Stu was he was the red guywas he he just happened to be there that wasn’t he just went up to him was likeand the guy was like he was not planned he was just literally a guy in a red track suit thatwas just timing was just perfect did you do you have the other fact on top of that which is about what happenedbecause of him just walking around town uh good cars there were a decentnumber of minor accidents because of that people sort of looking and thenbumping into other cars really like low level stuff nothing serious no one got hurt but there was a lot of like peopleyou know gridlock traffic just really like staring at just like bumper tobumper just like dinging other cars or like swerving towards him a bit so like four or five accidents because offilming cuz you would if you saw will frell you know jumping up and down and yeah think do you think many people knewlike who he was at this time SNL’s big in New York but was he was he that big at that time well he would have been bigto anyone who watched SNL so like well yeah a certain early internet time is New York that wouldhave been a big show maybe 20% yeah and of Comedy fans they’ll be like you know they would really know who hewas in the same way that they know who the current cast are I’m sure but then he might be hard to it would be I thinkinitially they’ just be thinking what an elf yeah six foot something elf yeahwill the will feral of it all is kind of beside the point because there’s just a big elf doing things you know one thing

Where Does Elf Rank in Xmas Films?

I would like to talk about yeah is where it sits on the sort of Pantheon ofChristmas films because Christmas films because of the nature of them they get played every year and there is you knowpeople have definitive rankings of what a what is a Christmas film Die Hard Etc all that yeah and you know let’s not getinto that um it is but no is it is it is it is but but anywayaside from that maybe next year yeah we can watch it next year there’s there’s like a sort of people have ideas whattheir favorite Christmas film is and I think I think it’s probably fairly safe to say that this is the last this isactually the last great Christmas film yeah I don’t I can’t think of anything since it’s also in a year where two ofthe the last great Christmas films came out I think this is the same year as canyou name the other Christmas film that is like considered a stone cold Classic 2003 2003 it’s not big Britishcast Harry Potter big br it has someone from it has a couple of people from Harry Potter in it hm M it hasSnape and it has professor trone and they are acouple and the holid 2006 actually love actually loveactually probably you know a lot of that was like almost like the grown-ups film Choice that’s the thing I’m I’m thinkinglike yeah that’s that level but that is the sort of last I mean since then youname one where it’s like that really hit the holiday probably the holiday Bad Santa people like as a sort of cultclassic but it’s not joyful no there’s more yeah it’s bit like a bit of a cult one I don’t knowthere’s just that it feels like elf might be the last elf and why do you think that is cuz in my mind I’m justthinking same with like Christmas song I’m just thinking internet yeah because that would have been the around themwould have been the Turning Point wouldn’t it where people started to like like most people would get computers in their homes and maybe the the rise of uhrise of the internet and cable as opposed to terrestrial more like more of like a less of a sharedculture more of a divided individual and you streaming things starting a bitlater than that but I wonder whether like the themes have changed a lot andand yeah it doesn’t work as well because Christmas has very definitive themesthat don’t don’t change much no they seem to be timeless but well this was Imean the elf one was made specifically to be timeless yeah no like very very little CGI and all the perspective stuffand it it was and I think it worked I think it is it is timeless but I think there’sthere’s no how do like Santa based films I guess you’d put it cuz people were just youknow kids they just Google and it’s kind of ruined so yeah yeah no find out thathe’s real a lot of them still believe a lot of them still believe early on but II think it might be something to do with like you said the the changing cultureso away from the family yeah yeah I think that actuallyhas a corrosive impact on the film produce especially at Christmas time wealso especially at Christmas time have like a real nostalgia thing so it’s hardto tell as well like there might be a like one that was made last year or the year before that hasn’t become a classicyet because obviously you know it does take time for these things to bed in umI think yeah I think it could be a bit of all of those things a bit of degradationof family a bit of yeah a bit of a bit a bit of the fact that we do we would rather switch on afilm from our childhood at Christmas time than necessarily take a punt on something new you know that you’dprobably rather you know people are set in their ways that they’ll always watch you know die hard cuz it’s a Christmasfilm they’d always watch Home Alone they always watch you know proba watch similar films around Christmas timedon’t you home alone yeah uh recently um Daddy’s home another W feral one Daddy’shome very christmy okay is that just a film sort of set around Christmas yeah there’s two of them set around Christmasyeah family uh similar sort of story arcs for yeahthe different dads and whatever in the in the film um so that Ithink after yeah like you said it takes takes some time to set in right so after a few years it could be a a staple formaybe not our generation but the generation underneath yeah yeah they could have their own elf but we just don’t know about it yet yeah and alsothe whole Nostalgia thing I think probably hasn’t kicked in yet no for a lot of people no and the Nostalgia isdifferent because our Nostalgia is like 2000s but then the Nostalgia of the nextgeneration is also are Nostalgia friends is still one of the biggest watchedshows on Netflix and it’s not just our generation it’s the generation below us which is interesting because that’s nottheir culture yeah you know not not we’re not being G gatekeeper about these things but that well but you know it’s asimilar thing though they they they also didn’t want it to be they want it to be timeless they there’s very very fewpoints where you see how it’s whenever there’s like apiece of technology and they’re not shown that often but like you know when they’re on their phone it’s a flip phoneyeah it’s not too much of a part of the plot or it’s not or if it’s uh I know Rachel in a restaurant saying can Iborrow your phone cuz she doesn’t have her own phone yeah or when they get the TV and it’slike it’s a tiny TV but like to us to us now but back then a big CTR nonf flatscreen TV appears out thing those moments show its time but everythingelse broadly it’s just about the relationship yeah and that’s kind of and that’s what elf elf doesn’t rely toomuch on technology you know a big Corporation is a big Corporation isn’t it and it’san anal it’s quite an analog Corporation because it’s children’s books one of the biggest most evil corporations um but like that’s we canimagine we can almost put any corporation on on that couldn’t we they could be could you know as long asobviously it doesn’t work for the plot because they’re children’s books yeah but uh yeah I think that makes it Timelessbecause it’s not really too reliant on any particular modern day thing it mightit might be to also that like typically you’d expect something more elfike tocome maybe from an independent producer if you were to look for something a bit like that andmaybe I I don’t know much about corporate finances and the film industrygenerally but maybe there’s some shift in terms of they’re risk averse soputting a decent amount of money asse this had a decent budget maybe 30 million or something like that puttingthat sort of money into a you know a something that you watch a Christmasyeah or something that could be cheaper and something that could I think he would have taken a lotyeah I don’t think it’ be a massive budget kind of he’s kind of an unknown no not a huge budget but but it films inNew York and it does you know doesn’t film in Canada for example and make it look like New York um so it does a fewthings which would have cost a bit of money um and to do that with like an emerging SNL star you kind of gone ofthe days of uh what’s his name Bill Murray that this is kind of the billmarray Jim Carry sort of Arc pretty much where they take the SNL star and they go you you be you you’re the film andyou’re the everyone wants to come to see you whereas I don’t think that really exists in the same way more about IP andmore about existing IP so it’s like we were talking about on the way here the about how music is now so much moredisposable and again down internet streaming you can rip the film fromanywhere you know and it’s so much more and so it means that there’s less a highlight of that one person and lessmoney put into it cuz you make some money at the cinema but nowhere near what you used to yeah something like elf

A Surprise!

is not like you can probably franchise toys and stuff out of it like you could with Toy Story um and they wanted tomake a sequel they they wanted to do one in 2014 so they they had that idea theythought oh you know they got that 10 year itch and went maybe we could push this and they probably had an eye of asyou say toys oh as it’s Christmas timeyeah got a little what’s this got a little present very poorly wrapped it’s for both of you you know it’s only alittle [Music]cool okay we’re doing an unboxing guys yeahif you’re listening to this it is a Buddy the elf pocket pop keychain yeahit’s kind of cute isn’t it yeah that’s cool can fight over it so I didn’t no it’s it’s going to remain on the on theshelf behind us I think on the Shelf on a shelf should keep it boxed yeah keepthe value yeah keep the value that is going to go up and up we’ll keep it on that sh thank you that was very nice noworries Merry Christmas so thanks again for joining us this month if you are watching us on

Outro

YouTube don’t forget to subscribe like and maybe can you leave a comment down below let us know what film you want us to break down next year for Christmas uhwe’re thinking maybe maybe Die Hard maybe Toy Story The Ultimate Christmas may maybe Harry Potter um if you’relistening to us on Spotify or apple podcast don’t forget to give us a follow and a rating and if you want to watch Home Alone breakdown from last yearclick over here we’ll see you again next [Music]month the education Lounge podcast[Music]