A different kind of Christmas movie
This is my Christmas post -- it's about a Finnish fantasy/slight horror movie Rare Exports. The movie is about five Finns (all male; there's one woman in this movie, and we see her for a fraction of a second or something like that) discovering the origins of Santa Claus. The real Santa is a good deal more like Terry Pratchett's Hogfather than the kind, jolly American Santa. I couldn't find a good trailer that would show this online, but here's one that captures the movie pretty well: 'Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale' Trailer. You can watch it in case you're interested in the movie but I'm not really going to be talking about it here.
The Finnish word for Santa Claus, joulupukki, is literally a 'yule goat.' There's no name of Christian origin for Christmas in Finnish. Apparently there used to be a celebration or a rite of fertility and light in Finland in mid-winter where the goat was the symbol of fertility. Someone dressed up as a goat and visited houses, sometimes bringing children either gifts or twigs (for spanking), depending on how they'd behaved. These days the Finnish Santa Claus looks like the American version, but children can still be told that they'll get only twigs at Christmas if they don't behave -- or if that doesn't actually happen, at least it's familiar from stories and folklore. This is what Rare Exports draws inspiration from.
The movie is probably not available elsewhere at least right now, but there are shortfilms about the same subject that are on YouTube. I had to sign in to see these two because they'd been flagged for inappropriate content, but you may be able to find versions that don't require this (or maybe you have an account and don't mind signing in, anyway).
Rare Exports Inc. (NSFW, male nudity and some blood and violence; narrated in English; 6:30)
This is the first shortfilm. The idea is fascinating, in my opinion -- simple but weird enough to be interesting.
Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions (some blood and talk about violence, actual violence; narrated in English; 9:30)
This one expands the original idea and explores the implications. How to be safe when you're dealing with Santa Claus? In case you want to skip the gore (nothing heavy, but still) or don't have time to watch the whole thing, 2:55-5:05 is the essential and, imo, the funniest part.
The Finnish word for Santa Claus, joulupukki, is literally a 'yule goat.' There's no name of Christian origin for Christmas in Finnish. Apparently there used to be a celebration or a rite of fertility and light in Finland in mid-winter where the goat was the symbol of fertility. Someone dressed up as a goat and visited houses, sometimes bringing children either gifts or twigs (for spanking), depending on how they'd behaved. These days the Finnish Santa Claus looks like the American version, but children can still be told that they'll get only twigs at Christmas if they don't behave -- or if that doesn't actually happen, at least it's familiar from stories and folklore. This is what Rare Exports draws inspiration from.
The movie is probably not available elsewhere at least right now, but there are shortfilms about the same subject that are on YouTube. I had to sign in to see these two because they'd been flagged for inappropriate content, but you may be able to find versions that don't require this (or maybe you have an account and don't mind signing in, anyway).
Rare Exports Inc. (NSFW, male nudity and some blood and violence; narrated in English; 6:30)
This is the first shortfilm. The idea is fascinating, in my opinion -- simple but weird enough to be interesting.
Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions (some blood and talk about violence, actual violence; narrated in English; 9:30)
This one expands the original idea and explores the implications. How to be safe when you're dealing with Santa Claus? In case you want to skip the gore (nothing heavy, but still) or don't have time to watch the whole thing, 2:55-5:05 is the essential and, imo, the funniest part.