WMG / A Christmas Story

The employees of the Chinese restaurant at the end were being deliberate in their Japanese Ranguage.

They knew how to say the "L" sound, they just knew the Parkers had just had an unpleasant experience losing their turkey and were being silly to cheer them up. Why else would they immediately switch over to a Christmas song that obviously also used lots of "L"'s?

• Another possibility: to yank the maitre d'/boss figure's chain? (Would explain why he's the only one with gray hair besides age....)
  • True. The manager corrects them and they don't seem to care too much.

The film was made to promote Leg Lamps.

It took a decade or two for the gambit to pay off.

The Old Man wants Ralphie to shoot the Bumpus Hounds.

When Ralphie receives the BB gun for Christmas and goes outside to use it, his mother tells him not to shoot any animals, and his father puts in, "Except for the Bumpuses' dogs!" Yes, he may be joking, but he's the kind of person who would likely half-jokingly say something he means, and he is the one who got Ralphie the BB gun. He says it's because he had one as a kid and thinks Ralphie should have one, but there's the possibility that his ulterior motive was getting his son to shoot the dogs.

• If he didn't at the time, you can bet he wanted to after the turkey incident.

The Old Man knew about Ralphie beating up Scut Farkus all along

He was secretly proud of his son for standing up for himself and taking down the much bigger school bully but didn't feel it was right to actually encourage violence and knew Mother wouldn't approve anyway.

The Old Man bought Ralphie the rifle to get back at Mother

Ralphie's Mother breaks his precious major award. The only way he can get back to her is to directly defy her orders and buy Ralphie the BB gun.

• I'm pretty sure this is obvious in the film. Almost clearly stated. This doesn't really qualify as a WMG.
  • Obvious how? It certainly isn't directly or even indirectly stated in any fashion.
  • He seems sheepish about it, knowing she won't approve rather than smug.

Ralphie's mother knew the whole time that he nearly shot his eye out.

By that point, she had resigned herself to the fact that her son owned and loved the Red Ryder BB gun, and went along with his icicle story to spare his dignity.

• This is more obvious in Shepherd's writings, where she gently lectures him that he needs to be more careful and "falling icicles" have been known to kill people.

The movie is less about Ralphie wanting a BB gun than it is about a desire to bond with his dad.

Watch his reaction when Mom suggests he go help his father, and his reaction when that goes awry. The fact that Dad is the one who engineers the purchase of the Red Ryder (as implied by his "Santa Claus" excuse) only reinforces this.

Ralphie's bad grade pushed him over the edge.

Right after he gets his Christmas essay back, on which he got a C+, we have a voiceover of Adult Ralphie saying he was "surrounded by happier kids who were all going to get what they wanted for Christmas." He had, at that point, temporarily given up on ever getting the Red Ryder and suffered a Heroic BSoD (reversed when he decides to ask Santa for the gun). But for that moment, he'd been pushed too far, which explains why he responded to Farkus by beating the living crap out of him.

• I thought that was pretty obvious and not much of a WMG.
  • Possibly, but it's one of those things you don't quite get until you're an adult.
• Maybe not. Sometimes the bullying is all you need.

Ralphie's mother knew Farkus was the real bully.

This would explain why she was so willing to cover for Ralphie around his dad, and generally let him off the hook where she was concerned (she tells Dad she gave Ralphie a talking-to, but we don't see it). Also, having watched her son tear home from school as though being chased by the Mafia all this time, she had to have figured something out. She might've even thought Farkus got what was coming to him but, like Dad, couldn't say so because she of all people didn't want to be seen as condoning violence.

• Of course she knew. Moms know everything.
• Dads generally would approve of fighting back if pushed too, and she didn't say he started it.

Mom purposely broke the lamp.

Not as much of a WMG as coming down on one side of the controversy, but watch her smirk as she's picking up the watering can. Also, as the Old Man attempts to fix the lamp, if you focus on her, you can see her giggling with her hand over her mouth in the background. She finally got disgusted with her husband's swearing, plus his plastic treasure, and just snapped. Further supported by the line, "That is...the ugliest lamp I have ever seen in my entire LLLLIIIFE," and the scene in "My Summer Story" where she touches off an attack with Ronald Coleman gravy boats.

Scut Farkus's name is actually "Scott."

Just a hunch; it's been awhile, after all, it's entirely plausible that Ralph is simply remembering, and figures his name really was "Scut" because, as he says, it does suit him. Besides, what kind of parents would name their kid "Scut"?

• Maybe it's a nickname?

The kid waiting in line to see Santa is autistic.

He has unusual facial expressions, he seems fixated on The Wizard of Oz, and he freaks out when he sees Santa.

• ALL of the kids freaked out when they saw Santa. (Makes sense, the dude was creepy)
  • Also as mentioned in the Headscratchers section: Kids are just plain weird and almost always go through a phase of fixation on one or two things.