Headscratchers / A Christmas Story

• Although he truly learned the F word from his father and blurted out the first name that came to mind, wouldn’t it make more sense for Ralphie to blame Scut Farkus instead of Schwartz? That way Ralphie would’ve had more of a legitimate chance of getting off easily while also confessing to the bullying he and others have been receiving.
  • Ralphie said that Schwartz was the first person who came to mind. The look on his face suggests that he regretted it instantly.
• Why didn't the powers-that-be use hot water to get Flick's tongue off the flagpole?
  • Maybe they didn't know about that.
    • Maybe they *did* But he was out there for so long his tongue still suffered enough damage from his struggling/exposure that he needed medical attention anyway. We never see how they eventually get it off do we?
    • Actually, we do. "Holy cow! It's the fire department!" The firemen employ the tried-n-true "pull until it comes off" method that they teach in fireman school. Poor Flick.
  • This may be due to Unreliable Narrator. Ralphie was only about 10 at the time, after all.
  • Did the fire department seriously think they needed four men and a truck to pull Flick off of that pole?
  • Rule of Drama. Also, having lived in several small towns where the rescue teams have little to do, this tropette can assure you, that kind of thing is what they live for.
  • As the above says, Unreliable Narrator.
  • Lukewarm water would do it and not burn the kid, and that's probably what ended up happening.
• What was with that weird kid that claimed he/she loved Santa but started screaming his/her head off once they were put on his lap?
  • Rule of Funny and Hypocritical Humor. Plus, the guy was pretty intimidating.
  • For some reason, Santas from the late Fifties and early Sixties were just terrifying. My mother has a picture from December 1960 (when she would have been about seventeen months old) in which she's sitting on Santa's lap. "Santa" looks like the Child-Catcher and my mother looks like the only reason she isn't screaming bloody murder is because someone behind the camera is telling her to be quiet.
    • Worked in a 'take your picture with Santa' affair at the local Mall in 2008. Kids *still* scream bloody murder once they get to The Big Man even after waiting with expectation for a long period of time!
  • Truth in Television, even today. Plenty of kids are thrilled at the prospect of visiting the guy who is going to give them free toys. It isn't until they get up close that they realize he's a big guy with a scary beard who is never as jolly looking as in the Coca-Cola ads. I've seen kids at the mall completely transfixed until they actually get on the guys lap, wherepon they lose it.
    • Yep. Kids are Fickle in general. They might ask for something to eat, only to refuse to eat it once it's set in front of him/her. Or they may want to watch a movie, only to be frightened of it a few minutes in. They're just like that.
    • As someone who works at a theme park, I can tell you for a fact that children can and will wait in line for an hour to see their favorite characters, and then cry and scream in absolute terror they're brought up to have a picture taken with them. Kids are just fickle like that, I suppose.
    • Fickle, nothing. Look at it from a kid's perspective: You think you're going to sit on Santa Claus's lap, and then when you get there, you realize that you're on the lap of a complete stranger who (most likely) has absolutely none of Santa's genial charisma or avuncular presence (and is probably stressed, exhausted and none-too-fond of children at the moment). Screaming is a natural reaction.
    • For the same reason teenage girls scream and cry whenever they get within four feet of their favorite pop star.
  • Can confirm—meeting someone with celebrity status can be super daunting, even as an adult. Kids lack the emotional know-how to describe their feelings, so "Oh my gosh, I'm sitting on THE Santa Claus's lap! I'm excited, but nervous, but in awe, but trying not to make a fool of myself!" becomes "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
  • Plus, there was a couple things about that kid that implied they weren't right in the head anyway.
    • He’s a kid who is possibly on the autism spectrum or has a mental disability who is in a loud department store all alone excited to see Santa but later gets the shock of his life when he’s faced with a Santa that looks like he came from hell. If that doesn’t turn him off of Santa, then he’s stronger then given credit for. This troper was terrified of heights as a kid, so he likely could have been too. Also, those elves are scary. There is I’m tired I want to go home and there is I’m tired so I’m walking you to hell. (This movie made me afraid to see Santa that year and I was usually the kid that had no issues provided my parents were with me.)
• When Ralphie is beating up Scut Farkus, Grover Dill yells "I'm gonna tell my dad!" and runs offscreen. I mean, you bully him for ages, and when he does something back, you tattletale? The bully got what was coming to him, but as far as the movie shows, Grover never does.
  • Yeah, my brother pointed that out. I'm pretty sure his dad isn't going to understand that the kid who he's constantly picking on is getting revenge on his tormentor.
  • Of course Grover is a cowardly little weasel who runs crying fowl at the first sign that his actions might have repercussions: he's a bully. He probably only became Scut's lackey so he didn't become a victim himself. In any case, given that no other adults stepped in to intervene and Ralphie never suffers any punishment, it would seem that Grover's tattling didn't do much good.
  • Odds are the dad either didn’t give a damn, or thought the kid deserved it. He’d also hope his son would learn being a bully has consequences.
    • In many cases, bullies like Scut and Grover come from unhappy homes. The parents probably wouldn't care either way. If confronted with their child's bullying behavior, they'd laugh it off... if they'd pay it any mind whatsoever.
• On a related note, why were Ralphie and Randy so worried about how their father would react? The Old Man seems like someone who would throw a parade for his son for beating up a bully.
  • They likely heard their dad yell and complain about things so much that they were a little afraid of him. Likely not realizing most of what goes on has little or nothing to do with them. Also he’d likely see this as Ralphie finally giving that kid a taste of his own medicine (after his wife told him the whole story) and take his family out to celebrate and insist Ralphie tell him the story. But after dinner he’d tell Ralphie that he hopes it’s a one time thing while also telling him never to start a fight.
  • Violence Is Disturbing. This is an era where kids eat soap or catch whipping just for saying a bad word. Dishing out a barbaric beatdown feels like a horrible transgression to them, so surely their father will see it as the worst crime they've ever committed, even though to us the viewer we may see it as perfectly justified. Their concern is apparently not completely without merit, as their mother feels it necessary to tactfully downplay the incident to their father.
• This story takes place circa the 1940s, but the hair on Ralphie's mother is CLEARLY a product of the 1980s. Does this bug anyone else?
  • Yes, it always bugged me. Also bugged me that they used circa 1980s Disney costumed characters. Ever see what Mickey looked like when Disneyland opened in 1955? And this took place approximately 15 years before that!
  • When the kids are turning in their themes, Miss Shields clearly says "Thank you, Heather." A very feasible name for a 9-year-old girl in 1983. World War II, not so much.
  • The Disney thing, I got nothing for, but the mother's hair could either be pin curls or... you know, her actual hair type. Also, my grandmother's name was Heather. She would have been born in at least the 50s if not 40s.
    • Agreed with the above. While not terribly common, the name Heather was around in the 1930s. Perhaps her parents were Scottish.
  • Keep in mind we're being told a tale by a grown up who's remembering things from his childhood. Over the passage of time, some details get fuzzy. And some details are supplied by the imagination of the listener.
    • It's probably more likely that the filmmakers either didn't prioritize researching the period, believing that it wouldn't be noticed by most audiences in the 1980s, or deliberately left some details more modern because they thought that the period-appropriate versions would be alienating or distracting.
  • Also she does the best she can to manage what could be very difficult hair, being a busy mom with no salon time or money, she has to do what she can to her hair and get on with her day. As for Mickey and friends they likely wanted kids of the day to recognize the characters. (Have you seen those early Mickey Mouse costumes they are nightmare fuel and the movie already scared most kids already). Also Heather wasn’t a common name back then sure, but maybe her parents wanted her name to be sort of unique (while keeping it relatively easy to pronounce and spell), or they were Scottish, or maybe they were Scottish and wanted a unique name for a kid.
• I can't be the only one who's taken a ricochet from a lever-action Daisy Red Ryder air rifle as a kid and not even really had a bruise to show for it, let alone broken glasses and the need for a good cover story.
  • If I remember right, the BB hit him and just knocked his glasses off. Ralphie stepped on his glasses and broke them when he was stumbling around blind.
  • They just got blown off his face and then he stepped on them to crush them. He was standing stupidly close to a metal sheet he was shooting at, not even ten feet away. From that range, a direct ricochet back could probably do some damage... such as the nick on his face where it actually hit.
• Speaking of the ricochet, how the fuck did that happen? He shoots straight ahead at the target and somehow the BB does a perfect 180 and comes right back at him.
  • It appeared that the backing he put his target on was made of metal. Metal doesn't absorb impact like wood does. A projectile can go through metal if it has enough velocity and shape, but a round BB is not going to penetrate a metal sheet. It's going to bounce off. It would have been a dangerous thing to do with even a low caliber firearm, especially as he was standing so close to it.
    • It ricocheting makes sense, but the BB wouldn't ricochet in the exact direction it came from. It would glance off to the side.
  • To be fair, it's never really stated that it was a ricochet. I've watched it dozens of times and I've always been under the impression that Ralphie, as a 9-year-old who's never handled any kind of firearm before was just knocked over by the kickback and only thought he got hit. Even if a BB gun doesn't have the kind of kickback, it might conceivably knock over an unprepared, first time, 9-year-old who was too into the moment to really notice what they were doing.
    • Most BB guns, especially low powered spring-air types like the Red Ryder model, have no perceptible recoil at all. They couldn't knock over a two-year-old.
  • Well, even then, the shock of actually shooting the thing would probably spook him, and maybe the BB pellet did graze him a bit?
  • Maybe it was the noise that startled Ralphie and caused him to stumble. BB guns can actually be louder than most think they are, especially if they're pumped up really far.
  • Regarding the BB ricocheting straight back at Ralphie, it might be more plausible than one would think - do a search for "bullet ricochet" on YouTube and a slew of videos comes up showing direct ricochets. Including one involving a 50 caliber bullet.
  • Surprisingly, a direct-back-into-your-face ricochet is a very common type of BB gun injury. Mom knew what she was talking about.
• Why is it somehow more acceptable that Ralphie got into a fight than he was spewing obscenities during it? Everyone in the movie seems to consider the swearing to be the really bad part of Ralphie's breakdown, and not the brutal - albeit not-entirely-undeserved - thrashing of the neighborhood bully. That's the one part Ralphie's more concerned that his father finds out about, and that's the one part his mother doesn't mention, and everything seems to be okay afterwards. Bwa?
  • Swearing seems to be a big deal in their house, with the added absurdity of the mother not realizing where Ralphie would have heard the F-bomb prior to the tire changing incident. However, if you notice, mom comes to some form of revelation when she calls Mrs. Schwartz ("Well, probably from his father.") and hears the resultant freak out. Then she tries the soap herself, indicating she is more and more putting herself in the boys' shoes. When the fight happens, the brothers' great fear of their father finding out (it seems he is the one with the strict anti-cussing policy for the kids, ironically enough), mom finally gets it and provides the old man with enough info to keep him in the loop but not to trigger his hypocritical reaction to swearing. These two incidents lead to a revelation about her husband's behavior that she perhaps never questioned before. As older Ralphie says in the narration at that point, "From then on, things were different between me and my mother."
  • I think you may have stumbled onto the 1940’s version of morality.
    • May have had something to do with the fact the other kid was a bullying asshole who started it. Self defense was a thing even in the 40's
• Where did Ralphie get the fruit basket?
  • He could've bought it with his allowance or one of his parents got it for him.
  • Maybe Ralphie has a talented hand at fruit arranging.
  • Or maybe we're seeing the basket as he remembers it, when it reality it was much simpler.
  • He could have found the basket around the house and after asking his parents if he could use it went fruit collecting and then ask his mom to help him pretty it up. Likely not telling her it was for his teacher, because she would believe (rightfully) that he wanted to butter her up.
  • A blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing, but on Christmas morning, there's a fruit tray on a little end table next to the couch and behind the Christmas tree, with pears and oranges on it. Ralphie probably got the fruit for the basket from there.
• Why does Ralphie think he'll get in trouble over Flick getting his tongue stuck? Schwartz was the one who triple-dog-dared him. Ralphie had nothing to do with it except for being there when it happened.
  • He was there and didn't stop it. He's a kid. Their minds work weird.
    • In addition to that, many school officials might just punish the whole group to make a point. Since Ralphie was a part of that group, he might've been guilty by association.
  • He also didn't tell the teacher immediately when it happened, and he and Schwartz ran off and left Flick screaming and panicking outside. If he'd run inside and said "Miss Shields Flick's stuck to a pole and needs help come help him" then he may have been in the clear. But him not doing anything to try to help, or to get an adult when it became clear they needed one, would probably get him in trouble.
• In A Christmas Story 2, why on earth would Flick stick his tongue in that pipe, considering how traumatic his first experience was? Or did he develop such sort of fetish?
• Early in the movie, Ralphie goes into his parents' bedroom to hide ads for the BB gun in his mother's magazines. You can see here that the room contains two twin beds. Why?! I know early TV series were forced by censors to show couples sleeping in twin beds, but this movie was made in the 1980's and seems to be suggesting that people from that era actually lived that way! It's even sillier when you consider that we don't even see the parents in that scene.
  • It's uncommon, but some couples do sleep in separate beds. Different sleeping styles, temperature, snoring, etc... can all affect it. According to this article, it's anywhere between 25 and 40 percent of couples.
  • It's also important to remember the Unreliable Narrator aspect. Ralphie's memories of those days may be colored by the very samesaid TV shows you mention.
• In the scenes immediately following the "Oh Fudge" incident, we first see the father whisper the offending word to the mother, then we see the mother do the same over the phone to Mrs. Schwartz. Why is this necessary? Surely, there are plenty of ways to convey what Ralphie said without repeating the word itself.
  • It makes sense when they're in the car, because Randy is also there and the father probably doesn't want his youngest son to hear that word.
    • The point, though, is that he could have gotten around it. He could have said, "Ralphie said the f-word" or "a really, really bad word" or something similar.
  • It's probably a Rule of Funny, because then both the mom and the dad have to say it, and we get to watch them dance around whether or not they should actually say it.
• At the end of the film the Bumpus's hounds crash the house to eat the turkey from the front door but how? The front door was closed.
  • Remember, Ralphie was up in the bathroom with his mom when the dogs came through. All he knew was they got to the turkey in the kitchen.
  • They broke in through the kitchen. When the Old Man chases them off, you can see that the kitchen door is hanging lopsided, and the screen is torn. Ralphie's mom probably forgot to completely shut the door when she went out to help Ralphie.
    • When Mrs. Parker went to bring Ralphie in, she had left the main door open while the only door that was closed was the screen door. Thus, Bumpus's Hounds come and go with a full Christmas Turkey meal.
• Why did Ralphie have to decode in the bathroom and not, say, his bedroom?
  • Doesn't he share with his brother? He wanted absolute privacy.
  • Because this was a top-secret message from Little Orphan Annie herself, meant only for the members of her inner circle! Hiding in the bathroom is a nod to how invested Ralphie is in the idea that the message was indeed important, making his disappointment at what it really was even more hilarious.
• I know the reason is probably it was the 40s, but if his mother was so worried about Ralphie shooting his eye out, why not buy him some safety goggles?
  • Because he likely wouldn't wear them?
  • He also wears glasses and they might not have been able to find a pair to fit over them in time. Not to mention his mother didn’t want her 9 year old son to have a BB gun anyway she just didn’t feel like explaining why and went with a stock excuse. As for his father he either forgot to buy some or didn’t think he’d need any. Why neither parent taught Ralphie where and how to set up targets to shoot at, I don’t know. It likely came with directions but you’d still need an adults help on how to use and set everything up, Ralphie like most kids was too excited to play with his gift to ask for help and advice.
  • We see Mall Kid wearing goggles, so they definitely existed for popular consumption in kids' sizes (in this universe), but I doubt those were actually any kind of "safety" goggles as they looked like a costume. It probably would have been hard to find any kids' sized goggles that would have actually protected him.
• How on earth did Flick's tongue get stuck to a wooden pole? This troper's uncle is a school principal and after they showed that movie, warned kids not to do that and sure enough, several kids did it but when they licked a wooden pole they didn't get stuck.
  • Maybe the pole was rusted over in a way that made it look like it was made out of wood, either way scared generations of kids out of trying it. Although possibly a tongue getting stuck to rusted metal makes what happened all the grosser.
  • Watching it closely, it appears to be both painted and rusted, giving it the brown appearance.
    • Moral of the story kids is that if you want to try to do what Flick did, you make sure the pole is fully wooden and smooth (and as clean as possible) and that afterward get paid at least ten bucks.
• Why was Ralphie so afraid to admit that he heard the F-bomb from his father? Maybe if he had his punishment would have been less severe, and the claim should be believable since his father swore basically all the time and his mother presumably would have been aware of that. Even Schwartz's mother correctly guessed where Ralphie heard it, so she must have heard his father swear before. Also, if Ralphie told the truth, Schwartz wouldn't have received the punishment he didn't deserve.
  • Ralphie probably didn't want to destroy his parents' marriage.
  • Or alternatively he was afraid his dad would get mad at him for snitching on him.
  • He already had his mother punish him with soap in his mouth he didn’t want to risk getting punished for tattling on his dad.
• In the scene where the boys first encounter Scut Farkus, they are walking down an alley towards a dead end (from where Grover Dill emerges). Scut Farkus appears from behind them, as Ralphie notes, standing between them and the alley, blocking their escape. Why were the boys walking into a dead end in the first place? Where were they going?
  • They were probably planning to climb over the junk at the end, the same way Grover Dill got into the ally. Ralphie might have meant their only clear path of escape.
• When the mother is getting Randy dressed for school and he's crying that he can't put his arms down, why are they acting like they've never done this before? It seems obvious that it's been freezing cold for some time by that point.
  • Could have been a new snowsuit.
• Mrs. Schwartz immediately deduces that Ralphie heard the swear from his old man. Is this because Mr. Parker is known throughout the neighborhood as a potty mouth?
  • Possibly, but even if not, it would be an obvious assumption.
• About the old man mispronouncing the word "Fragile"... are we supposed to believe this middle aged man has never seen the word fragile before?
  • Sometimes a word can look strange or unfamiliar when we read it in the moment. You can occasionally hear people do this when they're called upon to read text out loud. They'll stumble over a random word for a second before realizing that they recognize it, followed by a chuckle of embarrassment. The joke here is that the old man is so glowing with pride over his anticipated exotic treasure that his mind immediately jumps to seeing French in a mundane English word. He knows the word "fragile," though, so he's not confused when corrected. His mind immediately snaps back to clarity, and he just goes "Oh, right."