What I see when I watch other people’s movies, The Hogfather.
If you ever wanted to see a Christmas movie, where Death Personified, takes on the duties of Santa Claus, then this is your movie. Based on the Terry Pratchett novel with the same title, The Hogfather is a holiday story set in the Discworld universe, but instead of Christmas and Santa Claus, the citizens Ankh-Morpork, celebrate, Hogswatch, and much like Christmas, children receive gifts on Hogswatch morning, only their Santa is the Hogfather, a human/pig hybrid with some seriously dope tats.
The inciting incident revolves around a group of paranormal beings known as The Auditors, who have taken it upon themselves to try and kill The Hogfather, because, after all, they are responsible for the nature of reality, and they don't like that humans make up stories about the nature of reality, and consider Hogswatch, or Christmas, to be the biggest offense of all.
Death notices what's happening, and teams up with his Man-Servant Albert, and granddaughter, Susan, to make sure The Hogfather's presents arrive before morning, and that the assination attempt is put to bed, thus saving the Spirit of Hogswatch, reality, and humanity.
This is a level of weirdness I can totally get behind. You see, The Hogfather, over the past few years, has become a big source inspiration for my writing, because the philosophical musings on the nature of reality, human nature, and purpose, which is so typically Terry Pratchett, really vibes with the kind of work I'm interested in creating as a writer and filmmaker.
Take this moment from the latter-third of the film, in which Death explains to Susan that children have to believe in things like the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Clause as a foundation for believing the bigger things - Justice being a big one - Justice after all, doesn't exist unless people believe in it.
There are also moments where they talk about economic class, and how rich kids get expensive presents, and poor kids get cheap presents:
Of course Death wasn't having any of that BS so he just gave the children of Ankh-Morpork only the best gifts regardless of their economic class, because Death, afterall, is a hero in the Discworld universe.
I see a lot of things when I watch this movie, but one thing that really stands out is this moment when the Assassin, Tea-Time, tries to kill Death with a sword that can only kill monsters, but the sword goes right through him.
Because Death isn't a monster, he's nature, or at least a function of nature. The layers of brilliance with this film, and novel, is insane, and I'm here for it everytime.
The Hogfather is a two part miniseries that is incredibly faithful to the novel, and can be easily watched in one-sitting.
If someone were to put a gun to my head and demanded that I give one reason, and one reason only, as to why I started a family of my own, it would be so that I could raise a child with The Hogfather in their life. That's how awesome The Hogfather is.
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays, and as they say in Ankh-Morpork: Happy Hogswatch to You...
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If you're interested in my films, my two feature arthouse films DEATH & LIFE and FRACTALS are both available to stream on Prime Video and TubiTV. Many of my shorts and experimental are available on this channel. Sixteen Stories assets and clips will be available here at some point.
I also have a podcast where I talk about the art life: The Eric Norcross Podcast
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