Frohe Weihnachten von Ostberlin!

So it's a tradition in my household and social circle to watch Rankin Bass claymations. One of my favorites is Santa Claus is Coming to Town, a 1970 animation which depicts the early years of the Santa character. It can also, without much effort, be seen as a social commentary about communism in East Germany.

What surprises me is not the glaring propaganda built into a Cold War era children's cartoon, but the fact that apparently no one else seems to notice it. The internet has no information on the comparison, and only one person I've talked to has ever realized what the cartoon is actually about.

Well internet, I'm here to help.

First, let's examine the setting. There's Sombertown, a dull, gray village where everyone works and no one is allowed to have any toys or fun, whose Burghermeister (mayor) is the aptly named "Burghermeister Meisterburgher," the antagonist of the story. Sombertown is separated from the next town over by a tall mountain.

Tell me this isn't about Germany.
Look at this guy's helmet!

Given the clearly German setting (Santa calls his aunt "Tante" for Christ's sake), Sombertown's separation by a mountain becomes an analog for the separation of Berlin by the wall which stood in that city from 1961 to 1989.

The composition of the animation supports this view. Sombertown is flat and gray; all the children look the same. The town over the mountain is inhabited by Santa's family, and is bright, cheerful, and industrious.

However, what really makes the film suspect is the continuation of the plot, which involves Santa flying over the mountain into Sombertown delivering toys. I mean, really...

Berliner Luftbrücke anyone?

Santa's flight over the mountain to deliver toys can easily be looked at as a reference to the Berlin Airlift, but even disregarding that, the film has already made its intentions obvious. However, I'm okay with that, because I'm a dirty capitalist pig.

In any case, I could probably write this post better, but I won't right now, because Year Without a Santa Claus is on. Either way, now that the idea's out there on the internet, other people might pick up on it eventually. Until then, keep the commie bastards at bay, and Frohe Weihnachten!