Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Under Fire For Being 'Problematic'
By Connor Hachey
December 4, 2018
'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' might be a beloved holiday classic, but recently the television special has been the source of intense scrutiny. Viewers across the globe have been using #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer and #Rudolph to share their accusations of glorifying bigotry, bullying and abuse on social media.
If you're not familiar, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is a TV special that premiered in 1964 based off of the famous poem from Robert L. May. The story follows a young reindeer named Rudolph that is ostracized by his community for having a glowing red nose, different than the black one had by everyone else. He suffers name calling and bullying at the hands of his contemporaries until he flies at the front of Santa Clause's sleigh and lights the way during a foggy Christmas night, saving the day.
In the video produced by Huffington Post below, they've outlined very specific examples of the above claims.
The holiday TV classic "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is seriously problematic. 😳 pic.twitter.com/dOgqPF3bAP
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 29, 2018
Rudolph endures insults such as 'fire snout,' 'rainbow puss,' and 'red schnoz' from classmates and even suffers verbal abuse from his father, school coach and Santa Claus! In the end, his detractors come to accept his differences but only because they're able to exploit them - another feature of the film that's garnered criticism.
Do you think the film is problematic or people are getting worked up over nothing? See what people are saying online below:
Donner just told Rudolph that self respect was more important than his son breathing. Somebody call the cops to their cave immediately #Rudolph
— Lamont Price (@LPizzle) November 28, 2018
Was just pointing out how big of a jerk Santa is in the claymation #Rudolph special when my kid pointed out that he doesn’t even let the girls audition to be on his sleigh team. “I bet some of them could be helpful,” he said. #woke
— Casey Beaman (@BeamanDJ) December 5, 2018
I will never not tweet this when #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer is trending. pic.twitter.com/XqDl8SGV80
— Adam Heffner (@aheffner24) November 28, 2018
Has anyone else noticed that within the first five minutes of #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer two characters get bullied?
— Dr. Daryl L Williams (@revdaryl) November 28, 2018
Oh no. It’s #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer I don’t have strength to watch this again. Those poor elves. That bully with the whip. Abusive deer. Dentist shaming. Unloved toys. It’s too much.
— MJ Caan (@MJCaan) November 28, 2018
Donner, the choirr director, Santa -- all the authority figures at the North Pole are all JERKS.
— Rochelle Fritsch (@GeesMom) November 28, 2018
Yeah I said it.#RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer