Noelle

Noelle is a film that was recently released, the film was originally released on November 12th, 2019. The film was directed by Marc Lawrence. The film’s main characters are Noelle Kringle (Anna Kendrick), Elf Polly (Shirley MacLaine), and Nick Kringle (Bill Hader). The film uses a great magical amount of Mise-en-scene to represent Christmas. The film uses a mixture of techniques to represent the holiday spirit. Red and Green christmas lights mixed with soft lighting are used to set the film. 

There are several props used in the film support the history of Christmas stories that are passed down to children. The classic Santa Clause suite with belt and cotton ball on the Santa hat. Santa has a naughty/nice list and of course a sleigh with reindeer to help deliver presents Christmas night. The film was produced by Walt Disney Company, within the film there’s a scene of Santa walking into his home delivering presents to his own children. The scene shows a closeup of santas feet on the tiles. Within the tiles, there’s little Mickey silhouettes. The detail within the film is great.  

The film starts in the North Pole at Santa’s workshop. When the next generation Santa is supposed to take over his father’s passing, he buckles under pressure and decides to reside in Phoenix, Arizona. Both places of the setting are complete opposites weather wise, which plays a comical piece when Noelle- the new Santa’s sister, tries to convince her brother to come back home so he can save christmas. 

The costumes and makeup are cute and kiddy, a lot of green and red.. Makeup is basic red lips and some mascara. The clothing used in the North Pole is mostly sweaters and sweater dresses until they arrive to phoenix., Noelle continues her cold weather costumes throughout most of the film, which is comical due to the fact that she is suffering from the heat of the desert sun. 

I think that the staging and performance was done greatly. The characters were great with keeping a light atmosphere. The film takes a unique take on modernizing the tradition. One of the family members- a cousin- tried to make christmas dependent on technology. Santa’s immediate family appreciate the magic and traditions of christmas thus showing conflict opinion on the evolution of the holiday. This supports the form of the film in terms of taking a positive stance on feminism. 

The ending of the film consists of the suggestion that the sister of Nick Kringle should take on the Santa Clause role. Noelle has all of the magical powers that connect her to the children and the natural love for making children happy in the spirit of Christmas. Compared to some films, I would say that the films costume and makeup color coordination are much stronger throughout the film compared to some films. This film was really cute, and I enjoyed the positive stance on feminism. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys Disney films and is looking to get into the Christmas spirit for the upcoming holiday!