12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 6

"Gremlins" (1984)

"You do with mogwai what your society has done with all of nature's gifts."

(What, poured water on them, fed them after midnight, then subjected them to bright light to make them explode? Ain't never seen no nature's gift do that before.)

Like the many morality parables and fables that have followed us through our centuries past, "Gremlins" offers a fair warning of not taking a special gift for granted. When Billy's dad gives him Gizmo as a pet, neither has a great understanding of how important it is, in the overall schematic of nature's balance that they heed warnings that are imperative in caring for the mogwai. The Peltzers see Gizmo on the same level that they see their family dog, but only when they disrupt Gizmo's biological demands do they discover that he's much more. And that's our social folly, whether we're talking about baby seals, global warming, rainforests, or green scaly beasts that disrupt our small town living: We only realize what we do wrong once everything goes completely tits-up, despite all the signs screaming at us to the contrary.

A few other observations of note:

- The town in which this film is set is populated with some dark, dark people. The snow plow driver, the crotchety lady at the bank ... even Phobe Cates' character (more on her later) have some seriously wicked skeletons stacked in their closets.

- Almost everytime I watch this film, I totally forget that Corey Feldman was in it, until he comes on screen. Seriously, how many films was that fucker in back in the 80s?

- Hard not to hear Phoebe Cates' soliloquy about her character's dad dying after breaking his neck climbing down the chimney for Christmas, and not think about her nice titties from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." At least, it's hard for me to not think about it, which is probably a characteristic among many that could help me realize why my relationships in the past have ended the way they have.