Friday Favorite: Remembering The Snowman

Since it is the Christmas season, I thought I would fondly look back at an entry I wrote in December 2006 where I fondly looked back on a Christmas special I saw as a child.

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When I was a child, there was always the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman to entertain and delight me with holiday entertainment on television. However, it wasn't until my early teens that I saw a short animated film that brought something new to the genre to me.

That movie was The Snowman. Nominated for an Oscar in 1983, the movie tells the story of a boy and the snowman he created on Christmas Eve that comes to life at midnight and the explorations they share both in rural/suburban England of the boy and the world of the snowmen and the far north and after I had seen it, I was never the same person. Based on the children's book by Raymond Briggs, and introduced by him in some editions of the film(in others it is David Bowie).

If you've seen it, you know what I am talking about, and if you haven't, well, let's just say that for a Christmas presentation, it ends on a rather dark note, which is rare for an animated film for this season. It breaks my heart just thinking about it. But it is because of this quality that I am recommending it today.

It tells its story without words, and a single hauntingly memorable song, and that's all it needs. It is a fuzzy world given mirth and emotion by action, perspective and expression alone, and its unique look also makes it easy on the eyes.

If you've never seen this movie, and you notice it is on cable or television, you should give it a look. It will touch your heart without giving you a cavity.

Tags: the snowman, raymond briggs, bbc, oscar, james, north pole, rural england, loneliness, stage play