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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: An Analytic Profile
by Dr. Will Miller, America\'s Pop Culture Analyst
A toxic story of an abused, victimized forest animal, this song
is actually harmful for people, especially children. It appears
to be a simple, innocuous little jingle, but in fact, it has a
very ominous message. It defames the reputation of Santa Claus by giving the message that he was a neglectful, selfish demigod, embodying the very opposite of the true Santa qualities we admire. It says that being different is bad, unless you do something useful. It says that if something is wrong with you, you only have value if your handicap somehow becomes useful.
Rudolph is someone with low self-esteem. He allows Santa to
shamelessly use him. This is a depressed, compliant reindeer. He is codependent and from a dysfunctional herd, who needs to enroll in a Twelve-Hoof program. If we go through the song line by line, the meaning is quite clear.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
had a very shiny nose
It is clear from the outset that we are dealing with an abused,
handicapped little forest creature. Rudolph is a youngster who
has a severe physical challenge, in this case, a deformed nose.
Now we are not talking about a little blemish here, but a significant and prominent facial mistake.
And if you ever saw it,
you would even say it glows
This serves to emphasize the horror of the nose, the staggering size and prominence of this unusual facial feature. In essence, the writer is saying that even you, a human, who would only catch a fleeting glimpse of this creature flying through the sky at night, even you would notice this incredible nose, this epic proboscis. In other words, any right thinking person could no help but to participate in the cruel ridicule of this beleaguered little reindeer. Pathetic!
All of the other Reindeer,
used to laugh and call him names
Rudolph was obviously subjected to vicious taunting and outright rejection by his work peers. Now if these were adolescent, school aged reindeer, the taunting would be somewhat understandable. But in fact these are adult reindeer, full-time employees on the Santa sleigh. These were not kids, but working bucks supporting families. This makes their teasing all the more horrible.
They never let poor Rudolph,
join in any reindeer games
Rudolph was ostracized from the herd because he was different. The most obvious question to ask is where were Rudolph\'s parents?One can only suspect that they were at best indifferent and perhaps even neglectful. Why didn\'t they arrange for corrective surgery?But even more than this, what does this scenario tell us about Santa himself?He let the abusive ridicule go on right on his work premises. Clearly he did not come to Rudolph\'s rescue, or step in to defend Rudolph. This gives us an uncomfortable insight into Santa\'s personality, a different look at his capacity for cruelty. At the very least, why didn\'t the other reindeer receive sensitivity training or education about Rudolph\'s condition?
And this makes sense. Think about the legend of Santa Claus. The reality of Santa\'s role in Christmas is that those from rich
families wake up Christmas morning and have a lot of gifts from Santa. Those from poor families wake up and have very little. Where is the justice here?Where is Santa for the kids who really need him?What the song tells us is that the real Santa is the white man with an eating disorder who serves the rich establishment and ignores the poor and disenfranchised. So are we really surprised that he did not come in to defend Rudolph from the cruelty of the other reindeer?
Then on foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won\'t you guide my sleigh tonight
Here is where the real personality of Santa is revealed. He
finally steps into Rudolph\'s life when it suited his own needs.
Using Rudolph\'s glowing nose as a headlight became the
justification for Santa to finally support Rudolph. The message
here is clear: people will give to you, but only if it serves
their own purposes. If you have something that I can use, I will endear myself to you, even giving gifts to you, in order to get what I need.
If the nose could have glowed by itself, the implication is that
there would have been little hesitation to kill Rudolph and
simply take the nose for a headlight, to be held by the lead
Reindeer. He was not really valued for his innate leadership
abilities, or his flying prowess.
Then how the Reindeer loved him,
as they shouted out with glee
How do you imagine Rudolph felt about his new found
popularity?Surely he must have known how truly resentful the other reindeer were toward him. These alleged warm and loving feelings for him were in fact quite shallow and feckless. At some level, Rudolph must have known that the others secretly hated him. And why wouldn\'t they, just because he now had the approval of Santa?They knew full well that Santa was merely using Rudolph. No, they hated him. They were now dependent on Rudolph and believed that he would lord his newfound authority over them. The cold fact is they held Rudolph in deep, bitter contempt. And this gives the real meaning and power to the last line.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
you\'ll go down in history
You will indeed go down in history, Rudolph -- literally. The
other reindeer would seek the first opportunity to cut Rudolph loose from the reins and watch him crash and die in frozen tundra below on Christmas Eve. This is the inevitable end of Rudolph, destined to be murdered by his peers. A very bitter story. A story of pure evil. But before he died, Rudolph did have some measure of satisfaction, as the hated other reindeer had to look at Rudolph\'s butt for thousands of miles.
by Dr. Will Miller, America\'s Pop Culture Analyst
A toxic story of an abused, victimized forest animal, this song
is actually harmful for people, especially children. It appears
to be a simple, innocuous little jingle, but in fact, it has a
very ominous message. It defames the reputation of Santa Claus by giving the message that he was a neglectful, selfish demigod, embodying the very opposite of the true Santa qualities we admire. It says that being different is bad, unless you do something useful. It says that if something is wrong with you, you only have value if your handicap somehow becomes useful.
Rudolph is someone with low self-esteem. He allows Santa to
shamelessly use him. This is a depressed, compliant reindeer. He is codependent and from a dysfunctional herd, who needs to enroll in a Twelve-Hoof program. If we go through the song line by line, the meaning is quite clear.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
had a very shiny nose
It is clear from the outset that we are dealing with an abused,
handicapped little forest creature. Rudolph is a youngster who
has a severe physical challenge, in this case, a deformed nose.
Now we are not talking about a little blemish here, but a significant and prominent facial mistake.
And if you ever saw it,
you would even say it glows
This serves to emphasize the horror of the nose, the staggering size and prominence of this unusual facial feature. In essence, the writer is saying that even you, a human, who would only catch a fleeting glimpse of this creature flying through the sky at night, even you would notice this incredible nose, this epic proboscis. In other words, any right thinking person could no help but to participate in the cruel ridicule of this beleaguered little reindeer. Pathetic!
All of the other Reindeer,
used to laugh and call him names
Rudolph was obviously subjected to vicious taunting and outright rejection by his work peers. Now if these were adolescent, school aged reindeer, the taunting would be somewhat understandable. But in fact these are adult reindeer, full-time employees on the Santa sleigh. These were not kids, but working bucks supporting families. This makes their teasing all the more horrible.
They never let poor Rudolph,
join in any reindeer games
Rudolph was ostracized from the herd because he was different. The most obvious question to ask is where were Rudolph\'s parents?One can only suspect that they were at best indifferent and perhaps even neglectful. Why didn\'t they arrange for corrective surgery?But even more than this, what does this scenario tell us about Santa himself?He let the abusive ridicule go on right on his work premises. Clearly he did not come to Rudolph\'s rescue, or step in to defend Rudolph. This gives us an uncomfortable insight into Santa\'s personality, a different look at his capacity for cruelty. At the very least, why didn\'t the other reindeer receive sensitivity training or education about Rudolph\'s condition?
And this makes sense. Think about the legend of Santa Claus. The reality of Santa\'s role in Christmas is that those from rich
families wake up Christmas morning and have a lot of gifts from Santa. Those from poor families wake up and have very little. Where is the justice here?Where is Santa for the kids who really need him?What the song tells us is that the real Santa is the white man with an eating disorder who serves the rich establishment and ignores the poor and disenfranchised. So are we really surprised that he did not come in to defend Rudolph from the cruelty of the other reindeer?
Then on foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won\'t you guide my sleigh tonight
Here is where the real personality of Santa is revealed. He
finally steps into Rudolph\'s life when it suited his own needs.
Using Rudolph\'s glowing nose as a headlight became the
justification for Santa to finally support Rudolph. The message
here is clear: people will give to you, but only if it serves
their own purposes. If you have something that I can use, I will endear myself to you, even giving gifts to you, in order to get what I need.
If the nose could have glowed by itself, the implication is that
there would have been little hesitation to kill Rudolph and
simply take the nose for a headlight, to be held by the lead
Reindeer. He was not really valued for his innate leadership
abilities, or his flying prowess.
Then how the Reindeer loved him,
as they shouted out with glee
How do you imagine Rudolph felt about his new found
popularity?Surely he must have known how truly resentful the other reindeer were toward him. These alleged warm and loving feelings for him were in fact quite shallow and feckless. At some level, Rudolph must have known that the others secretly hated him. And why wouldn\'t they, just because he now had the approval of Santa?They knew full well that Santa was merely using Rudolph. No, they hated him. They were now dependent on Rudolph and believed that he would lord his newfound authority over them. The cold fact is they held Rudolph in deep, bitter contempt. And this gives the real meaning and power to the last line.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
you\'ll go down in history
You will indeed go down in history, Rudolph -- literally. The
other reindeer would seek the first opportunity to cut Rudolph loose from the reins and watch him crash and die in frozen tundra below on Christmas Eve. This is the inevitable end of Rudolph, destined to be murdered by his peers. A very bitter story. A story of pure evil. But before he died, Rudolph did have some measure of satisfaction, as the hated other reindeer had to look at Rudolph\'s butt for thousands of miles.
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