Growing up, watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a given in my home each December. While the show appears to be an innocent, fun time, it’s really an average story with a terrible message.
As a child, I never liked the show. As an adult, I saw the trauma Rudolph experienced and how terrible everyone in his life was to him. As a young girl, I understood his pain. I just didn’t know how to express it.
Let’s skip the scientific inaccuracies, such as Rudolph would probably have been a girl because only girls have antlers in the winter and that reindeer actually have fantastic night vision, including ultraviolet vision, so they wouldn’t even need Rudolph with a glowing nose, and get to the heart of the show we were forced to watch as children.
The show is full of terrible examples of how not to treat others. Everyone makes fun of Rudolph because he is different. He is only ever accepted after his deformity – his red nose – is useful to them.
Santa is the biggest jerk in the entire thing. Until Rudolph serves a purpose – to save Santa’s ass – Santa doesn’t want anything to do with him.
From the start, Santa is taken aback because Rudolph’s nose lights up. Rudolph’s father, Donner, assures Santa it will go away and Rudolph will be part of the sleigh team. Donner then tries to change who his son really is because he doesn’t see Rudolph as normal.
Donner, shames him. His parents are embarrassed because he is different. This eventually leads to Rudolph running away. Children watching the show are then exposed to some good old sexism.
It causes Rudolph to question why he’s different and makes him feel guilty because he’s not the same as everyone else.
The reindeer’s P.E. Teacher, Comet, was a bully who encouraged his students to bully and alienate Rudolph. Santa joins in by telling Donner he should be ashamed of himself for having Rudolph as a son.
When Donner goes to find Rudolph, Rudolph’s mother wanted to go, too. Donner says, “No. this is man’s work.”
In the end, everyone only cared about Rudolph after he rescued his parents with Hermey. They didn’t want anything to do with Rudolph when they thought he was just a regular reindeer with a shiny nose. They just wanted to be around a hero.
Other characters in the story are also treated terrible.
Santa’s elves, who are more slave than assembly line worker, gather to sing to Santa, who doesn’t even want to listen and insults the elves when the song is over.
Hermey, an elf, is treated like crap and run out of town because he wants to be more than a slave on an assembly line. He aspires to be a dentist. Hermey, however, isn’t the greatest example you want a kid to follow, particularly for what he did to Bumble, The Abominable Snowmonster of the North.
Bumble gets shafted by everyone. No one wants to be his friend, but they sure as hell enjoyed yanking out all his teeth. No one seems to care much when Bumble is shoved off a cliff. What kind of shitty message is that to send to a kid?
The bird who can’t fly is tossed out of Santa’s sleigh. All the other birds have an umbrella/parachute. This bird got to watch his own death coming at him because he couldn’t fly and no one seemed to care.
How can you not be sad for Dolly when she said, “I have no more dreams left to dream.” There is nothing physically wrong with her.
The special’s producer, Arthur Rankin Jr., said that her problem was in fact psychological, caused from being rejected/abandoned by her mistress and suffering depression from being unloved.
Dolly is tossed away on the Island of Misfit Dolls because she’s different from everyone else. Stigma much? Also, why the hell is there a depressed doll in this story?
Why do we even have an island of misfit toys? Santa designed them that way and then they get banished for being created as something they had no control over. They are shunned for being different and simply existing. I guess the lesson here is, “They’re weird and different, but, hey, at least we didn’t kill them.”
What happens next year when it isn’t foggy and they no longer need Rudolph? Will he be tossed away and forced to live on the Island of Misfit Toys?
The elves, the reindeer, and Santa are assholes. These characters are ones pointed at for children to look up to and emulate. They never really change. They just find a way to exploit Rudolph.
Children’s stories teach life-shaping lessons. I hope no child ever watches this show again. It’s a story about how terrible the characters are to each other. I wouldn’t want any child to be near any of these creatures. It teaches them that people only need to be useful to others like Rudolph when they are useful to themselves.
Even after being treated like garbage his whole life, Rudolph still thinks it’s an honor to serve Santa, a tyrant who is using Rudolph because he needs to get his packages delivered. Rudolph should have told Santa to shove it.
In reality, Rudolph is the only one who seems capable of true forgiveness. He is still that little kid looking for acceptance and willing to try to see the better side of all the people who have wronged him.
The show’s lesson seems to be that you have to earn the love of others if you were born different or want to do something other than what is thought to be acceptable for you. Those kind of people don’t deserve an awesome person like Rudolph.
It’s time to ditch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and its terrible message. It’s not uplifting, is outdated and kids don’t need to see a world where you are considered garbage unless you fit in.
