History Main / SantasExistenceClause

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had Dexter claim that Santa and his reindeer were his parents in disguise. He retains this opinion throughout the entire episode, even after we see that Santa doesn't have the same body dimensions as his dad and he mistakes an ''[[IdiotBall actual reindeer]]'' for his mother. This results in him shooting Santa's sleigh down, blowing up probably all of the presents that Santa Claus was carrying that night. In short, he ruined Christmas [[DownerEnding for the ''whole world'']].

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-> Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.

Compare RealAfterAll, HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys. Compare and contrast SantaAmbiguity, where it stays ambiguous through the whole work.

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-->Rose: "Look at you, dancing around like you're Father Christmas!"
-->Doctor: "Who says I'm not - red bicycle when you were twelve."
* An early episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'' has Mark questioning his belief in Santa after Randy and Brad cruelly tell him that Santa died right before he was born. The end of the episode has Santa showing up at the Taylor house to bestow early presents on everyone and restore Mark's faith. After Kris Kringle leaves Tim comments on what a great guy their neighbor Wilson is to do something like that...only for Jill to point out said next-door neighbor standing at the fence waving to the family. Scene cut then to Mark standing at the front door and looking up at the sky in wonder.

* ''Series/PunkyBrewster'': The two-parter "Yes, Punky, there is a Santa Claus" is kick-started by an older kid telling Punky that Santa doesn't exist. Henry convinces Punky that he exists, which leads her to believe that he will bring back her MissingMom for Christmas... which sends Henry in an impossible chase to find her. Eventually, he settles for a music box from TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday that... turns out to have been owned by Punky's mother. Only after she recognizes the box, does Henry realize that the old, bearded owner of the shop who gave him the box [[INeverToldYouMyName knew Henry's name]] without him saying it first.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', during the first trip to [[WesternAnimation/{{TheNightmareBeforeChristmas}} Halloween Town]], Sora and co. actually get to meet Santa Claus and become his bodyguards, with Sora being a bit too excited about it. Though when they finally meet the jolly old man, Sora is revealed to be on the naughty list because [[spoiler: he stopped believing seven years prior to the events of the game after being told by Riku that Santa does not exist]]. This reveal causing the teenager to moan in embarrassment.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'' Christmas episode has Jimmy trying to convince his friends that Santa isn't real, going so far as to take a trip to the North Pole... where even after arriving at Santa's workshop, [[SkepticismFailure he's convinced it's somehow all fake]]. After accidentally zapping Santa and being told Christmas has to be called off, he offers to deliver all the toys from his rocket, claiming that if a mere mortal can succeed in delivering all the toys in one night, [[LogicalFallacies it's proof that Santa doesn't exist]]. Naturally, he fails, and Santa, who [[UnexplainedRecovery has gotten better]], steps in at the last moment to finish the job.

* [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin-Bass]]' '''WesternAnimation/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas,'' where the non-believer is told with a straight face that his disbelief ruined an entire town's Christmas. The reason? Santa is real, easily offended, and will skip entire towns over one moment of skepticism.

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Alice is a young, bright-eyed, hopeful girl, but one who has her doubts about the validity of this whole "SantaClaus" thing. Bob, who may be her father, or an older brother, or a mentor of some sort, dismisses such thoughts by assuring Alice that yes, Santa ''is'' real. The kicker, however, is that Bob is making stuff up and is probably just trying to get Alice to go to sleep. He doesn't actually believe in Santa! He won't actually come out and say this though...

...Until the ''real'' Santa comes around and gives Bob the shock of a lifetime by proving that yes, he ''is'' real after all!

The Santa's Existence Clause is pretty much the story outlined above: One (or more) character who doesn't believe in Santa trying to convince another of Santa's existence, and it turns out that they were right! A lot of times, Santa won't actually [[IncrediblyLamePun present]] himself to Bob, but only to the viewer. Just try not to melt the snow in the process.

All in all, this is basically an amalgam of several smaller tropes all being played straight just to subvert each other. Many stories like to see-saw, subverting and inverting the idea that Santa is real over and over again until the very last page.

Many of these stories start on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism, but end up on the ideal side (due to Bob's lack of belief in Santa being proven wrong)

This sort of plot tends to have a bit of FridgeLogic in that Santa turns out to actually be real, which makes it strange that these adults are disbelieving (or actively denying) his existence. Didn't they notice the millions of toys showing up every year that nobody seems to have purchased? If they grew up in a world where toys magically appear every Christmas Eve, how did they come to collectively reject the existence of the delivery man?
Often the answer is another FridgeLogic in that it ''doesn't seem to happen''; even though Santa is apparently making deliveries all over the world, ''no one ever gets any extras'' unless it's a plot point! Likewise, if the series has already firmly established that magic and the supernatural exist, there can be a heavy amount of ArbitrarySkepticism involved. Compare and contrast SantaAmbiguity, where it remains unknown.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has several episodes featuring Santa Claus... except instead of being a mythical jolly old man, he's an evil death machine that's frighteningly real. The explanation is that they tried to build a real one, but its standards were set too high and it has no sense of proportion.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': When Jade caught Jackie taking a tooth from her pillow, it not only made her stop believing in Tooth Fairy but also in SantaClaus. She learned otherwise about Santa when they had to save him from Daolong Wong. (Note: While Uncle already knew -- or at least believed -- Santa was real, he doesn't believe the same about the tooth fairy)
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Chaz decides to be Santa for Christmas, while Drew hired an actor. After Chaz reveals his identity to Chuckie, Santa soon arrives at the door to hand out presents. The actor later calls to say he can't make it as Santa rides off in his sleigh and the adults wonder who he really was.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' when the Ghostbusters don't believe that [[Literature/AChristmasCarol the three ghosts of Christmas]] are real until after they've put them in the containment unit. At the end of the episode, once everything's been put back to normal, the Ghostbusters have no issues accepting the idea that Santa is real.

* In ''Film/ErnestSavesChristmas'', Santa winds up in jail, though it's obvious it's him from the get-go: his fingerprints show up as snowflakes, he's able to bring out the good in people, knows things nobody else could, etc... but the rest of the adults don't want to believe. Except for Ernest P. Worrel, of course.

Contrast with YesVirginia, where Bob (or a bunch of Bobs) is trying to tell Alice that Santa ''doesn't'' exist. However, there is some overlap in that Santa is usually shown to be real in such cases, as well.

* Subverted in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'': Susan's "assurance" to Twyla that the Disc's version of Santa exists is a deeply sarcastic twist on "Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus", but Susan ''knows'' the Hogfather exists - she'd just prefer to live in a world where he didn't. And then she gets surprised/annoyed when [[SubbingForSanta someone else]] (namely, [[TheGrimReaper her grandfather]]) comes down the chimney...

* In ''Film/ErnestSavesChristmas'' Santa winds up in jail, though it's obvious it's him from the get-go: his fingerprints show up as snowflakes, he's able to bring out the good in people, knows things nobody else could, etc... but the rest of the adults don't want to believe. Except for Ernest P. Worrel, of course.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' Chaz decides to be Santa for Christmas, while Drew hired an actor. After Chaz reveals his identity to Chuckie, Santa soon arrives at the door to hand out presents. The actor later calls to say he can't make it as Santa rides off in his sleigh and the adults wonder who he really was.

* ''LiveActionTV/PunkyBrewster'': The two-parter "Yes, Punky, there is a Santa Claus" is kick-started by an older kid telling Punky that Santa doesn't exist. Henry convinces Punky that he exists, which leads her to believe that he will bring back her MissingMom for Christmas... which sends Henry in an impossible chase to find her. Eventually, he settles for a music box from TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday that... turns out to have been owned by Punky's mother. Only after she recognizes the box, does Henry remember that the old, bearded owner of the shop who gave him the box also knew Henry's name without him saying it first.

* Subverted in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'': Susan's "assurance" to Twyla that the Disc's version of Santa exists is a deeply sarcastic twist on "Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus", but Susan ''knows'' the Hogfather exists - she'd just prefer to live in a world where he didn't. And then she gets surprised/annoyed when [[TheGrimReaper someone else]] comes down the chimney...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has several episodes featuring Santa Claus... except instead of being a mythical jolly old man, he's an evil death machine that's frighteningly real. The explanation is that they tried to build a real one, but it's standards were set too high and it has no sense of proportion.

* A commercial for Advrtising/MAndMs has Yellow wondering if Santa likes M&Ms, with an exasperated Red grumbling that he wouldn't know because he's "Never met the guy!" Suddenly, Santa comes barreling down the chimney, causing Red to exclaim in confused excitement "He does exist?!"... followed by Santa realizing the same thing about the M's. They both pass out, leaving a bewildered Yellow just standing there.

Often the answer is another FridgeLogic in that it ''doesn't seem to happen''; even though Santa is apparently making deliveries all over the world, ''no one ever gets any extras'' unless it's a plot point! Likewise, if the series has already firmly established that magic and the supernatural exist, there can be a heavy amount of ArbitrarySkepticism involved.

The Santa's Existence Clause is pretty much the story outlined above: One (or more) character who doesn't believe in Santa trying to convince another of Santa's existence, and it turns out that they were right! A lot of times, Santa won't actually [[IncrediblyLamePun present]] himself to Bob, but only to the viewer. Usually intended to invoke a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. Just try not to melt the snow in the process.

Often the answer is another FridgeLogic in that it ''doesn't seem to happen''; even though Santa is apparently making deliveries all over the world, ''no one ever gets any extras'' unless it's a plot point!

* Played with on ''Series/{{Qi}}'', for their Season "K" Christmas episode, "Kris Kringle", when Stephen Fry asked "Why is Santa off the Rich List?" Brendan O'Carroll asked, "Could it be because ''(stage whisper)'' he may not be real?" The klaxon sounded and the words "HE ISN'T REAL" flashed on the screen. Phil Jupitus turned to the screen and fell to his knees in seeming despair, prompting Stephen Fry to assure him, "That got a klaxon so it can't be right!" and give him a hug. The Rich List, for the record, is an annual list assembled by Forbes Magazine of the richest fictional characters (that year's winners in ascending order were [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], [[Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies Jed Clampett]], [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Carlisle Cullen]], [[ComicBook/ScroogeMcDuck Flintheart Glomgold]] and [[Literature/TheHobbit Smaug]]). Santa Claus had been on the Rich List before, but Forbes' editors decided that he didn't qualify because, in their opinion, he wasn't fictitious.