Miracle on 34th Street and C.S. Lewis

Last night Vickie and I watched Miracle on 34th Street; this time I saw the movie. I’ve watched it before; this time I saw it.

The script was written by Valentine Davies. He wrote the script for one of my favorite movies, The Glenn Miller Story (Miller is looking for a particular “sound” – his destiny). I would love to know more about Mr. Davies, but since a quick Internet search yielded little I’ll have to move ahead with this post.

C.S. Lewis could have written much of this script; it reminds me (in part) of That Hideous Strength; The Abolition of Man; and The Silver Chair. 

Consider: Doris Walker (played by Maureen O’Hara) is raising her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) not to use her imagination, which includes not believing in Santa Claus. Doris is teaching Susan that only what you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands is real. Now if you’re just watching the movie you’ll probably think (like I thought) that the issue was not believing in Santa Claus, but Santa Claus is simply Valentine Davies’s point person for the world of imagination; the real issue is imagination, and the issue behind imagination is whether there are things you can’t see that are more important than things you can see.

There is a scene with Susan and Kris Kringle in which Susan describes not being able to play with other children because sometimes they pretend to be animals (using their imaginations) and since Doris has taught Susan that imagination is not to be used she can’t enter into the fun. Kris engages Susan in a wonderful dialogue concerning imagination.

Throughout much of the script Doris strives to protect Susan from imagination by repelling Kris and apartment neighbor Fred (played by John Payne) away from both Susan and herself.

Also, note the scene when Fred asks Susan what grade she is in; she is in one grade above where a typical child would be; the reason? She is in a “Progressive” school. Note the look on Fred’s face when Susan tells him this. Shades of the school that Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb attend in The Silver Chair. 

In That Hideous Strength and The Abolition of Man materialistic “science” rules the day and the powers that be are on a mission to excise imagination from the human race. In The Abolition of Man Lewis writes of us becoming a society of “men without chests”, people without hearts and souls; alienated from the transcendent. We are reduced to seeing ourselves as machines. In That Hideous Strength we also see the marriage of “science” and evil; as opposed to true science and the God of order that provides the basis for true science.

The courtroom scenes in The Miracle on 34th Street are instructive. Mr. Macy testifies that Kris is Santa Claus; not because he believes it but because he realizes it means economic ruin if he doesn’t affirm that Kris is Santa Claus. Christians should remind themselves to temper their excitement when political, judicial, and economic leaders give them a nod of the head.

Fred, who as a lawyer defends Kris in the mental competency hearing, calls the DA’s young son to the witness stand. The son is asked if there is a Santa Claus; he replies “yes”. Then the son is asked who told him there is a Santa Claus. The answer, “My Dad.” This puts the DA in a tough spot, after all, up until then in the hearing he has been denying the existence of Santa Claus.

The father – son scene in the courtroom is a scene played out in the lives of  many families in the West; we teach there is no God, we teach that all values are the same, we teach that we are the products of time plus matter plus chance; but in our individual lives we don’t treat our children like that; we really can’t bring ourselves to believe what we insist our schools teach; just as the DA was hypocritical, many parents are hypocritical – in fact, virtually anyone in any meaningful relationship is hypocritical who rejects the notion of one true God; otherwise they have no logical basis for caring what happens to those they love – after all – they are simply matter, no more no less, just matter – let’s be consistent. It should make no difference whether a car runs into a light pole or a child – they are both matter. Do  we really know anyone who believes this?

Since a society cannot function in a mechanistic straightjacket it turns to touchy-feely spirituality for relief; hence the popularity of the New Age.

Well, there is more that can be done with the movie but that’s enough for now. Next time you view the movie, don’t just watch it; see what you can see.