It's well established that 80s children's movies are generally fucked up. I mean, really fucked up dark nightmare fuel that created a generation of permanent baristas.
However, I think Prancer might be the most fucked up, and no one really remembers it.
Prancers plot as I recall it as a child: Kid from a down on their luck family finds Santa's hurt reindeer Prancer injured, nurses it back to health, while no one really believes her, but in the end, Prancer joins Santas team and saves the day.
What it really is: Prancer is God, he is not real, but life is so shitty having faith is better than not so you should just go on believing in God.
Wait, what?
Look, I know fan theories on the internet and all that, but the thing is this one is right. If for no other reason than this thing is shot like a horror movie and the director used to hang out with and directed a number of Tennessee Williams plays back when he was a stage director.
1) Early in the movie there are lots and lots of little hints that this movie is about religion. She is told not to sing a christmas carol loudly by adults (hide it under a bushel, no!), and when a prancer Christmas decoration is shattered she starts asking the adults "aren't you going to fix it" and they are all like "fuck this shit, it's old and broken". We then establish that the girls mother has died, and the adults not fixing prancer becomes a pretty clear metaphor for adults in general not helping her.
2) Early in the movie it is established that the girls mother died. When her schoolmate tells her that Prancer isn't real and neither is Santa the girl has a fucking total freakout and then literally says "well you can't see god, and god must be real" to which her schoolmate shrugs and implies that god may in fact not be real. The main character then screams "well if god isn't real, what about my mom?" and runs off. Ah, the old 8 year old is already questing faith and.
3) The little girl loves Christmas. She sings and dances and everyone is happy. Her widower father has clearly become a mentally and physically abusive asshole who no longer goes to church.
4) There is an entire scene that is a one off in the movie about an angry old woman. This appears to be a trope on face value.. but after our main character helps her out and talks her into allowing Christmas decorations up at her house the old woman literally starts going to church again. I'm fucking telling you, the reindeer is god.
5) I'm going to skip over a bunch of shit, including a scene where the kid yells at a vet that doctors never help anyone (dead mom), a scene where the father twice tries to shoot the deer in front of the kid, and a scene where the reindeer remains hidden to the father (lack of faith), and then the community profiting off of the reindeer's notoriety without actually believing the reindeer is Prancer (father sells the reindeer to a Christmas Tree seller in town), and a scene where a preacher literally gives a faith-confirming speech about the little girl believing in Prancer.
6) Here is where everything gets really, really fucked up. The kid tries to break Prancer out of an enclosure late in the movie, by opening up the top cover of it to allow Prancer to fly away. Prancer doesn't fly away because its just a fucking reindeer. The kid hits her head and wakes up the next day in home. Prancer does break out of the holding cell and sits with the kid all night, but definitely doesn't join Santa Claus (God isn't real, but believing in him can comfort you).
When the kid comes to her Aunt asks her if she is still "not seeing right" and the kid alludes to the fact that her head is still sort of fucked up. There is then a long scene where the dad says that they might lose the farm, and shits going to keep getting tough, but that he'll be a better dad and she should keep believing in Santa Claus, which leads to them reading a very Jesusy passage from Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.
The father buys the reindeer back from the Christmas Tree seller and takes it up to a cliff for god knows what reason. The reindeer takes off into the Forrest, the child chases after it and then the hoof prints end at the cliff edge. The father says that he either fell off (and died) or flew away, and encourages her kid to believe in the latter by asking if she can hear the bells on Prancer. The kid starts to hear this, but it's clearly piped in bells. The kid then sees Santa fly over head and then Prancer joins in as a ball of light. The father at no point reacts to Santa Claus or the Reindeer flying away. Just the girl.
In short: This movie is super duper extra fucked up and dark. Also, Sam Elliot plays an abusive father really well which seems like a kind of waste here.
However, I think Prancer might be the most fucked up, and no one really remembers it.
Prancers plot as I recall it as a child: Kid from a down on their luck family finds Santa's hurt reindeer Prancer injured, nurses it back to health, while no one really believes her, but in the end, Prancer joins Santas team and saves the day.
What it really is: Prancer is God, he is not real, but life is so shitty having faith is better than not so you should just go on believing in God.
Wait, what?
Look, I know fan theories on the internet and all that, but the thing is this one is right. If for no other reason than this thing is shot like a horror movie and the director used to hang out with and directed a number of Tennessee Williams plays back when he was a stage director.
1) Early in the movie there are lots and lots of little hints that this movie is about religion. She is told not to sing a christmas carol loudly by adults (hide it under a bushel, no!), and when a prancer Christmas decoration is shattered she starts asking the adults "aren't you going to fix it" and they are all like "fuck this shit, it's old and broken". We then establish that the girls mother has died, and the adults not fixing prancer becomes a pretty clear metaphor for adults in general not helping her.
2) Early in the movie it is established that the girls mother died. When her schoolmate tells her that Prancer isn't real and neither is Santa the girl has a fucking total freakout and then literally says "well you can't see god, and god must be real" to which her schoolmate shrugs and implies that god may in fact not be real. The main character then screams "well if god isn't real, what about my mom?" and runs off. Ah, the old 8 year old is already questing faith and.
3) The little girl loves Christmas. She sings and dances and everyone is happy. Her widower father has clearly become a mentally and physically abusive asshole who no longer goes to church.
4) There is an entire scene that is a one off in the movie about an angry old woman. This appears to be a trope on face value.. but after our main character helps her out and talks her into allowing Christmas decorations up at her house the old woman literally starts going to church again. I'm fucking telling you, the reindeer is god.
5) I'm going to skip over a bunch of shit, including a scene where the kid yells at a vet that doctors never help anyone (dead mom), a scene where the father twice tries to shoot the deer in front of the kid, and a scene where the reindeer remains hidden to the father (lack of faith), and then the community profiting off of the reindeer's notoriety without actually believing the reindeer is Prancer (father sells the reindeer to a Christmas Tree seller in town), and a scene where a preacher literally gives a faith-confirming speech about the little girl believing in Prancer.
6) Here is where everything gets really, really fucked up. The kid tries to break Prancer out of an enclosure late in the movie, by opening up the top cover of it to allow Prancer to fly away. Prancer doesn't fly away because its just a fucking reindeer. The kid hits her head and wakes up the next day in home. Prancer does break out of the holding cell and sits with the kid all night, but definitely doesn't join Santa Claus (God isn't real, but believing in him can comfort you).
When the kid comes to her Aunt asks her if she is still "not seeing right" and the kid alludes to the fact that her head is still sort of fucked up. There is then a long scene where the dad says that they might lose the farm, and shits going to keep getting tough, but that he'll be a better dad and she should keep believing in Santa Claus, which leads to them reading a very Jesusy passage from Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.
The father buys the reindeer back from the Christmas Tree seller and takes it up to a cliff for god knows what reason. The reindeer takes off into the Forrest, the child chases after it and then the hoof prints end at the cliff edge. The father says that he either fell off (and died) or flew away, and encourages her kid to believe in the latter by asking if she can hear the bells on Prancer. The kid starts to hear this, but it's clearly piped in bells. The kid then sees Santa fly over head and then Prancer joins in as a ball of light. The father at no point reacts to Santa Claus or the Reindeer flying away. Just the girl.
In short: This movie is super duper extra fucked up and dark. Also, Sam Elliot plays an abusive father really well which seems like a kind of waste here.
