Elf Movie Analysis

The film I am basing my essay on is called Elf. The beginning of the movie is set thirty years ago in the 1980’s with the middle and end of the movie in the twenty first century. The beginning of the movie starts out with Santa Claus accidentally bringing a baby back with him to the North Pole. An elf names the baby Buddy and volunteers to raise him as his own. In the North Pole they have different norms and beliefs than anywhere else. They believe that reindeer fly, Santa is real and they can make enough toys for all the good children in a year. Buddy was raised with these beliefs and they became a part of his folkways. One of the values that they had was that if you believed anything was possible, they also believed in spreading good cheer and helping each other out. The culture in New York City is so different that Buddy appears to have suffered from some cultural shock when he first arrived. People are rude; they do not believe in Santa and do not help each other out.
Major Ideas and Issues …show more content…
One of the major issues in this film is the fact that even though Buddy was raised as an elf he is human and has to learn how to live, and act as one. All his life he was raised to be one thing, just to find out that it was all a lie and he was actually something completely different. The idea is that it doesn’t matter what you start out with but what you do along the way is what counts and makes a difference. One of the other major issues is that people don’t believe in anything unless they can touch it or see it for themselves. People have lost their faith in humanity, God and in Christmas. They no longer feel hope or happiness in all the busyness of the life they