Line #4 YMMV/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas


1	!!The poem:
2	* MemeticMutation:
3	** It's a good example of a pre-internet (pre-telegraph, in fact) meme. Harriet Butler, a friend of the Moore family, saw the handwritten original of the poem on a table in the Moore house in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity when she visited for Christmas in 1822, copied it down in her journal, then showed it to a friend, who also copied it and passed it on to the editor of the ''Troy Sentinel'' in UsefulNotes/NewYorkState, who printed it on December 23, 1823. In a matter of days (around New Year's), two other newspapers had already reprinted it, and it quickly became an annual tradition in lots of publications.
4	** It's probably the most parodied work in the history of American literature. [[http://www.alchemistmatt.com/twas/twasallmain.html The nearly 1,000 parodies collected here]] are only the tip of the iceberg. Now has its own trope: TheParodyBeforeChristmas.
5	* OlderThanTheyThink: The poem originally closed with "''Happy'' Christmas to all, and to all a good night", and it's easy to assume the change to "''Merry'' Christmas..." was a 20th century {{retcon}} to replace the outmoded original usage, but newspaper reprints with "Merry Christmas to all..." from 1829 and 1830 have been discovered.
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8	!!The Rankin-Bass special:
9	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: It's commonly given that Santa never really intended to skip the town. After all, he still had presents ready. Though, granted, he would've had a year to prepare them...
10	* FairForItsDay: The Thomas family are a TokenMinority family as the only black people in Junctionville, who don't even have any spoken lines. But they're the first black people to appear in a Rankin/Bass Christmas special, they appear prominently throughout the special, and their son Davy, "the best artist in school," gets a poignant moment in the limelight when he sadly drops the picture he drew of Santa into the sea.
11	* ParodyDisplacement: The 2000 ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "A Very Crappy Christmas" parodies this special's plot, with the lead human characters creating a public display (the ''Spirit of Christmas'' short film) to bolster Christmas cheer, non-human characters (Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo and family) aiding the effort, and Kyle singing "Even A Miracle Needs A Hand", with his face even changing to Joshua Trundle's at one point. As ''Twas The Night Before Christmas'' hasn't been a regular sight on American TV during the holidays in recent years, the South Park episode has become better known to many fans, though the original special got a boost in airings on AMC in 2018.
12	* TearJerker:
13	** The town's sadness when they think Santa isn't coming. Particularly the two sights Father Mouse takes Albert to see as proof of the harm his letter has caused: a children's hospital full of sick and injured kids crying, and the TokenMinority boy Davy Thomas dropping a picture he drew of Santa into the ocean from a cliff.
14	** The Trundles (and therefore the mice too) facing poverty and hunger when the town loses its faith in Joshua's clockmaking after the musical clock explodes. Followed by Albert crying TearsOfRemorse as he admits that [[ItsAllMyFault it's all his fault.]]
15	** Father Mouse and Joshua both shedding ManlyTears as midnight arrives with no sign of the clock being fixed or Santa coming. Fortunately, the clock's song does start up just a few seconds late, and Santa does appear.

Context YMMV / TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas