Dann Gire’s Take on Santa Movies

Posted on December 15, 2013 at 12:00 pm

My friend Dann Gire writes about Santa Claus movies, from the naughty to the nice.

Traditional Christmas movies showcase St. Nicholas as a generically sweet, generous fellow with a belly filled with jelly and the gentle disposition of a giant stuffed panda.

Popular Santa Claus movies such as “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Santa Claus — The Movie” perpetuate the pop-culture image of a highly industrious bearded saint who dispenses Christmas spirit, delivers toys on time and treats his reindeer like family pets.

But then, there are those other Santa movies. You know the ones, featuring alternate, even subversive views of the beloved holiday icon.

Some are naughty — ranging from mildly frightening to downright homicidal. And some are nice — ranging from paternalistically caring to sweetly ineffectual.

My favorite movie Santa is still Edmund Gwenn in “Miracle on 34th Street.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDC5H2MdtEw

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The Spiritual Foundation of ‘The Company Men’

Posted on February 3, 2011 at 8:00 am

Be sure to take a look at this excellent interview by Dann Gire with John Wells, writer-director of “The Company Men,” about the lessons he learned from his clergyman father and how they influenced the film.

When you grow up as I did in a very socially progressive, Episcopalian household, there’s a great deal of importance placed on the teachings, the parables and the notions of Christianity, teaching a certain generosity and kindness and understanding and empathy for others.
I think that colors all of my work. It would be impossible for me to separate that out from what I write, what I think, and how I hear things. Everything I hear is filtered through that moral framework I grew up with.

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