Miracle On 34th Street - by Gina Wurtz
On November 27th, 1924, Macy's employees celebrated Thanksgiving by marching from Harlem to 34th Street, arriving at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square. The celebration garnered so much attention that it became an annual parade, first broadcast on Network television in 1948. While Macy's held a much smaller production in 2020 due to the pandemic, the only time Macy's didn't hold its annual parade was from 1942 through 1944 because rubber and helium were being used for World War II.
However, in my lifetime, the parade has aired every year on NBC. This year, the parade welcomed back Al Roker after an illness left him unable to host last year, and in my opinion, it just wasn't the same without him. The parade also featured a performance by Cher right before the Radio City Rockettes did their annual routine. However, the moment everyone waits for is when Santa arrives by sleigh to officially kick off the holiday season. In honor of Thursday's parade and today being the anniversary of the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I decided to kick off my holiday movie series with Miracle on 34th Street.
If you search online for which is better, the original film or the 1994 adaptation, you'll find a slew of contradicting opinions that are of no help. Instead, I chose to watch both films, and while I found many differences (like Macy's being changed to Cole's for the 1994 film due to the store not wanting to be a part of the remake,) the overall themes are the same. At the start of 1994's Miracle on 34th Street, it seems a lot sillier with the drunk Santa's pants falling down as he stands on his sleigh in front of all the children waiting for him to make his parade arrival.
“To me, the imagination is a place all by itself. A separate country”-Santa, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
However, other parts felt more somber, like the addition of Susan Walker's desire for a father. In the original, she only wants a home for herself and her mother, but the 1994 film adds another layer as Susan's lack of a father figure brings her great sadness. Luckily, the part both films effortlessly express is the importance of imagination and belief, especially at Christmas time.
Notorious for films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the National Lampoon's films, John Hughes decided to take on the Miracle on 34th Street remake, and his presence was very noticeable. The silly scene at the start of the film, when drunk Santa scars the children for life, is likely the result of John Hughes' writing and producing the film and wanting to add his sense of humor. Hughes has a very distinct style, even when he isn't the director on set, so it's easy to see the 1994 film was a product of the beloved screenwriter.
Something in its aesthetic and storylines felt connected to his 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. The scenes where Santa is sitting in Cole's meeting children remind me so much of when Kevin walks into the toy store where he's handed the turtle dove ornament. Like Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, there is a sadness and heaviness to the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street, but there's also an optimism that suggests even in the darker parts of the film, everything is going to work out for the characters.
Recasting Susan Walker couldn't have been easy, given Natalie Wood was a renowned child star who went on to gain massive success in her adult life. However, what Natalie Wood was to the late 40s and early 50s, Mara Wilson was to the 90s. Both actresses captured the spirit of Susan, but Mara Wilson had a lot to live up to. The film came two years before she'd go on to play the exceptionally intelligent titular role in 1996's Matilda, but Mara Wilson brought that same level of maturity and awareness that most kids don't have to her role as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street.
I found myself rooting for her throughout as I did with Natalie Woods' take on Susan Walker, and because Mara Wilson is basically a staple of the 90s, she's so easy to love through the screen. While she may not be acting anymore and has been vocal about the dangers of being a child star, Mara Wilson brought the magic to Miracle on 34th Street that the movie strived to create.
“I believe... I believe... It's silly, but I believe”-Susan, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Arguably, she had even more of a responsibility than Natalie Wood because she had the added pressure of playing a character suffering from the abandonment of her father and the loneliness of being an only child. While Natalie Woods' Susan also lacked a father figure and sibling, the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street skipped over the effects this had on her and solely focused on her desire for a house.
Like the adults in most Christmas movies, Susan's mother, Doris Walker (Dorey Walker in the 1994 version), doesn't believe in Santa Claus. However, she projects her lack of belief onto her daughter as she doesn't want her ever to get her hopes up only to be let down. Unlike the other kids who are excited to see Santa Claus at the parade and at the Macy's store, Susan is unenthused and assumes that Santa Claus, who turns out to be real after all, is just a nice old man dressed in a red suit.
"If you can't believe, you can't accept anything…on faith, then you're doomed for a life dominated by doubt."-Santa, Miracle on 34th Street, 1994.
In the original film, Santa teaches Susan to pretend to be a monkey in order to strengthen her imagination. However, the moment Susan really questions her mother's insistence that Santa isn't real comes when Susan sees Santa speak Dutch to a young girl at Macy's (1947) or when Susan sees Santa speak to a deaf girl using sign language (1994.) This seems like more than what the average store Santa would be capable of, and despite her mother's doubts, Susan begins to trust in Santa and her imagination.
However, the true epitome of imagination and belief is Miracle on 34th Street's Fred Gailey (Bryan Bedford in the 1994 movie.) The attorney represents Santa Claus in court to prove he isn't insane when he insists that he's the real Santa Claus. While the character has no proof of this and doesn't fully believe Santa himself, he uses his faith to make the judge rule in his favor.
In the 1994 film, Bryan uses the American dollar bill's message of "In God We Trust" to win his case. The judge immediately understood that if people can put their faith in God without needing proof of the existence of a God, then the same can be said about Santa Claus. I believe we should apply this revelation to everything we believe in in life.
By the end of both Miracle On 34th Street movies, Susan's wishes come true. In the 1947 film, Susan sees the very house she asked Santa for, with a for-sale sign in front of it, and she knows that it's for her. Doris and Fred then see Santa's cane left by the fireplace, proving he delivered the house to Susan. A similar scene occurs in the 1994 film, but instead, Susan also got a father when Dorey and Bryan decide to get engaged. She then lets them know she'll be expecting a baby brother soon, as that was also something she asked Santa for.
“Just because things don’t turn out the way you want them to the first time, you’ve still got to believe in people”-Doris, Miracle on 34th Street, 1947.
What both films share is that Santa never confirms he will give Susan what she wants but instead suggests it may not be possible. In order for Susan to get what she wanted, she had to believe without seeing any evidence of her desire actually coming true. To me, this is the most powerful message of the film.
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