American Greatness By A.J. Rice
published originally on December 4, 2018.
It was the Parkers and their neighbors the Bumpuses with their 785 smelly hound dogs that made America great.
I triple-dog-dare social justice warriors to sit through the 1983 classic “A Christmas Story” this holiday season. The movie about a kid at Christmas, his 1940s family, and a fragile but sexy leg of lamp is so perfect that Hollywood would not make it today. Hollywood could not make this film today, and it’s only a matter of time before its banished from TV.
First, the film’s subject is politically incorrect. It’s not about “the holidays” or myths of elves or Grinches. It’s not socially conscious. There is no preening and no one is “woke.” Two key songs bookend the story in the film. The first in the opening sequence is “Go Tell it On the Mountain,” the next line of which says “that Jesus Christ is born.” Today, “Jesus Christ” is a movie swear word, or he’s removed from his own birthday all together. The film closes with “Silent Night,” another song explicitly about the meaning of the season. Without irony, “A Christmas Story” is really about Christmas.
