Ah, The Snowman. Probably the most famous British Christmas animation. It's shown every year and everyone knows the 'Walking in the Air' soundtrack and tries to sing in the correct pitch but never can. But actually, The Snowman was not even meant to be about Christmas.
The author, Raymond Briggs, wrote the children's book in the late 70's and said it was about death, and was a way of introducing children to mortality. That's pretty fucking dark Raymond, you miserable bastard.
Savage
But the TV adaptation was "hijacked by Christmas sentimentality" and now everyone associates it with Christmas.
The story is simple; a nameless boy (Apparently the boy is called James, a little known fact) builds a snowman in his garden, it comes to life, and they both go on an adventure facing both pleasures and dangers in a short space of time. Then the snowman melts and dies. The end. Yep, pretty dark. But everyone still loves it! I guess I love it because once again, it's that reminiscent feeling I get from watching it. Taking me back to my childhood innocence where I wasn't fully aware of the theme of mortality in the film. I'll always love the old school drawing style that you don't see anymore and the simple yet effective story. For children it is just a magical Christmas film but adults have the ability to watch the whole film and take in the message.
I feel more like a child when I watch it. That exciting feeling I got from it, preparing me for Christmas, getting me excited for snow. Unfortunately now we never get any snow so the liklihood of me building a snowman isn't great. But you know what I mean. The Snowman means Christmas!
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