Something I really admire about Christmas Vacation

Clark Griswold was already a hugely popular character by the time the third installment was written. So when the third movie would include his and Ellen’s parents, it would have been a really easy (and obvious) choice to create the parents to be louder versions of Clark and Ellen. If it were made today for example, most writers would probably make the parents a more extreme version or polar opposites as part of the gag.

However Christmas Vacation does neither. It simply shows both sets of parents as regular, old folks who don’t try to steal the show with their personality. Yes, they clash with Clark and Ellen from time to time, but they aren’t cartoons like so many parents of main characters are written today.

Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany are definitely characters of course, but I’m glad they didn’t create Clark’s dad to be an older version of himself. It feels more realistic and natural this way.

Submitted December 25, 2020 at 05:14AM by pm_me_judge_reinhold https://ift.tt/3mNxhgb