Line #28 Headscratchers/ChristmasWithTheKranks


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2	* Why is it such a big deal for the Kranks to go out of town for Christmas? How do they spend $6,000 on Christmas, and why the total boycott? Why not do some light decorating and present buying?
3	** If Luther was that concerned about saving money, why did he get a Botox treatment?
4	*** It wasn't about ''saving'' money per se, but since they're not going to celebrate Christmas and aren't even going to be around for it, they're free to use that exorbitant Christmas fund on something ''other'' than Christmas. The tan and Botox fall, in his view, within cruise-related expenses.
5	*** There wasn't any Botox in the book, and considering how quickly the couple seemed to have darkened, they were probably pale enough that they should have pre-tanned anyway for health reasons even if Luther hadn't been vain about it.
6	*** That's an urban legend. "Pre-tanning" is not healthy, and does not protect your skin. It, in fact, adds to the damage you're doing to your skin, and makes you more at risk for skin cancer. Sunblock. Use it. Get a spray tan if you want to look tan.
7	*** Christmas has always been an important holiday in that neighborhood. It's part of what helps give them a sense of community. $6000 is probably spent buying gifts for everyone, making the street and their home as spectacular as possible, Special outfits. Christmas parties. Etc. It's an obscenely expensive time of year, but the Kranks were always willing to buy into it for the happiness of their daughter. Without her around this Christmas, there's no point. Sour grapes. The neighbors took it personally.
8	*** Plus it is implied that the cruise was Luther's idea to go on a cruise with his solution to him and his wife suffering from Empty Nest Syndrome. It wasn't selfishness that motivated him, it was ''therapy''. When you think about it, it just makes his neighbors look ''even worse''.
9	* What the hell would've happened if the Kranks were Jewish? Or Muslim? If your religion doesn't celebrate Christmas, do you make it out alive from this Christmas Gestapo?
10	** Correct me if I'm wrong (because I didn't see the film, and merely read it on TV Tropes), but at one stage aren't they asked if they're Jewish? So it seems that harassing your neighbors into conformity is acceptable, so long as it isn't anti-Semitic.
11	** They were actually asking if they were Buddhist, but even so. It seems if you're a Christian (nominally or not) you ''have'' to celebrate with lights, Christmas trees, and tacky fiberglass snowmen.
12	** They ask both, if they were Jewish, Buddhist or Hare Krishnas IRC.
13	** In the book, the previous year a Pakistani(?) couple (assumed to be non-Christian) had lived in one of the street's houses for about three months (including Christmas) and didn't have a snowman on their roof. When the book mentioned the neighborhood association's discussions as to whether or not they should buy another Frosty to decorate the empty house under cover of night, any mention of their house was conspicuously absent.
14	** At least within their neighborhood, where Christmas seemed to be a big community thing, I think the problem other people in the neighborhood had been that the Kranks had taken part in this tradition for years and then were suddenly backing out of it now. No idea about the rest of the town, though.
15	* Alright, let's assume that the neighbors really do care about winning that stupid award so much. If that's the case, why don't the Kranks just offer to put up some decorations, go on their cruise and have a neighbor stop by to turn on the lights whenever the street gets judged? Admittedly it'd ''still'' have a really creepy message about conformity and doing what your neighbors want but at least everyone would be relatively happy.
16	** They may have not wanted to have to go through the effort of putting stuff up. Just unraveling lights alone takes some work let alone everything else, and they're not even going to be there to enjoy it. Of course, if the neighbors are really that obsessed with it, they probably could have told them to do it.
17	*** The neighbors actually do suggest that they do all the work. That's why Luther is supposed to be the big ass, because he won't even let them do all the work, but it still creepy that the entire neighborhood is willing to spend hours of their time decorating this BIG house.
18	*** Creepier still is that his will and opinion don't matter one whit to the neighbors. If he had caved in and allowed them to decorate for him, they would STILL be imposing their own selfish purposes on a family that had its own, personal reasons for "skipping" Christmas. Imagine that your neighbors suddenly decided that all cars should be red. You don't want to repaint it because you don't like the color red. Would you be happy if the neighbors did it for you, even if it didn't cost you a penny?
19	* So, Blaire, in the few weeks that she's in Peru, suddenly falls in love with some guy and decides to marry him, who conveniently enough has never celebrated Christmas and wants to see what one is like. Judging by the completely stereotypically Spanish name he has (Enrique), it can probably be safe to assume that he's local, or at least comes from another Latin American country. Wouldn't that then make him Roman Catholic, or at least someone who has been living in a very Christian dominated society? If so, why the hell would he have never celebrated Christmas, or at least be aware of what one might look like?
20	** If I recall correctly, it was that he'd never celebrated an ''American'' Christmas. Still a pretty flimsy cop out.
21	*** Weird thing is, thanks to PopCultureOsmosis, Christmas in Latin America is very similar to Christmas in the USA.
22	*** It's too bad he wasn't {{Mayincatec}} and had always celebrated the Rebirth of the Sun or some other really nonChristian holiday. Under Hollywood Logic, that would still exist, if obscurely.
23	*** The film is somewhat inconsistent with exactly how long Blaire and Enrique have dated/known each other.
24	** At least in the book, Grisham (the author) seemed to think of Blair as overly perfect, if a mildly, and (among other, slightly more subtle clues to his position) pointed out at the beginning of one chapter that she wondered if she was being inconvenient by flying home with no notice whatsoever before reaching the States but immediately brushed it off.
25	* If Luther needed a tree so badly (and was being charged $75 for the dead one), why didn't he go to another lot or get an artificial one from a big box store? Sure, the artifical ones (at least the 7' ones) can run $75+ but it also lasts 10 or more years
26	** Because Nora wanted a real tree because Blair wasn't to find out about the plan to skip Christmas. Look how she reacted to the neighbor's tree, with Chicago Bears ornaments on it.
27	** Also, most tree lots are closed by the Christmas Eve; the only one the Scouts had was a bare twig.
28	* Surely Blair and Enrique could have celebrated Christmas on their own, right? Luther and Nora could have still gone on their cruise and told Blair to either come along with Enrique or just celebrate at home.
29	** Nora rightly says that it would be an insult to the neighbors, who sacrificed so much to make the event for Blair, if they cut out on the lot of them.
30	*** After all their actions through the movie, it would be the least they deserve.
31	* Considering the front page news, they made and the crook who attempted to steal things, what would have happened if Luther and Nora still went on their cruise? Their home would have been a huge target for any thief, and Luther could sue the newspaper and the neighbors for damages.
32	** The neighbors? Yes, they were intrusive, but how would the neighbors be responsible for the burglary of the Kranks' house?
33	* Since refusing the Scouts' tree practically setup the animosity with the neighbors, Luther could have asked them how much their profit was, and then donate that amount to them. It would be tax-deductible
34	* When Nora goes to buy hickory honey ham for Blair but the plastic bag breaks in the parking lot, Nora goes after the ham to no avail, and it's squashed by a truck when it ends up on the highway. However, at one point, when the ham rolled under a van, Nora wasted time bending down and watching it roll further away from her. If she knew that the ham was still rolling towards the highway, why didn't she instead dodge around the van? She could have had a chance to reach the hickory honey ham.
35	* When the neighborhood police arrest the crook who tried to rob the Krank residence, why doesn't the thief tell them that Spike was the one who freed him to ensure that Spike gets in trouble as well? The police knew that the crook was handcuffed in the car, but they don't seem to question how he "magically" vanished from the car and appeared from out of nowhere on the house's roof. Shouldn't the thief want to get back at Spike for alerting the police after he tricked him into letting him into the party?
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Context Headscratchers / ChristmasWithTheKranks