History WesternAnimation / ArthurChristmas

* AbstractScale: The weight of the load in Santa's sleigh, as seen in the opening, is measured in UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}}s, [[Creator/{{Sony}} of course]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: The movie draws from multiple contrasting pop-culture interpretations of the character of SantaClaus. Is he the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter historical]] St Nicholas? An impossibly old man with a team of reindeer and a sleigh? A jolly fat man who enjoys pies and sherry? Or is he a modern CEO who applies advanced {{Magitek}} to the problem of visiting every child in a single night? [[MathematiciansAnswer Yes.]] Yes, all of those people either have been, or are vying to become, the LegacyCharacter of Santa, they all disagree how best to do the job... [[BigScrewedUpFamily and they're all related.]]

* LegacyCharacter: The title of Santa Claus is established as being passed down from father to son. The opening shot of the film demonstrates this trope beautifully as it pans across the wall full of portraits, showing us how the costume and the man have changed over the centuries (naturally, it's shown that Saint Nicolas was the very first Santa).

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The Clause's through and through are still family, so the love for each other is obviously there, they just don't show it as often.

* {{Masquerade}}: For various reasons, the sacred rule any acting Santa ''must'' follow is to ''not be seen''. (Secret treaties and the extremely high technology level the Elves enjoy are the closest explanation we get to the reasons behind this rule.) [[spoiler: This brings the world to the brink of an alien invasion panic when Arthur and Grandsanta ''are'' seen.]]

--> '''Grandsanta:''' "They used to say it was impossible to teach a woman to read!"

-->'''Malcolm:''' "This is about that pool table, isn't it? I told you, you should have written to me."\\
'''Steve:''' "I was eight! You're my dad!"

-->'''Steve:''' "Forget about the 2 billion things I did right today. Let's focus on the one thing I didn't."

* WhatTheHellHero: Steve really lets Grandsanta have it for starting a global alien-invasion panic just to show his grandson how Christmas is really done.
-->'''Steve:''' You know the picture they’ll have tomorrow? You, led away in handcuffs! The Santa who ''was'' seen. By everyone on Earth. The Santa who ruined Christmas.

* WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque: Arthur puts Gwen's address in Bryony's GPS and arrive there, only to find that Santa already delivered a bike there. It turns out there is also a town named Trelew with a Mimosa Avenue in ''Mexico'', and Arthur selected that one instead of the correct one in England. [[spoiler:Later, Steve makes the same mistake.]]

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Not counting the prologue, the whole film takes place on Christmas Eve.

** Also, the movie shows the Centre in Toronto as being spelled as "Center," the American spelling of centre.

* DeconstructionCrossover: The movie draws from multiple contrasting pop-culture interpretations of the character of SantaClaus. Is he the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter historical]] St Nicholas? An impossibly old man with a team of reindeer and a sleigh? A jolly fat man who enjoys pies and sherry? Or is he a modern CEO who applies advanced {{Magitek}} to the problem of visiting every child in a single night? [[MathematiciansAnswer Yes.]] Yes, all of those people either have been, or are vying to become, the LegacyCharacter of Santa, they all disagree how best to do the job... [[BigScrewedUpFamily and they're all related.]]

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: In Denmark, we see that people have a turkey in the oven come Christmastime, Christmas stockings hanging by the fireplace and Santa not showing up until everyone has gone to bed. That's not how a Danish Christmas works.[[note]]In Denmark, the traditional meat of choice is roast pork or roast duck (or more occasionally, roast goose), Santa delivers the presents after the family has eaten dinner and danced around the tree, and snacks (including candy) are eaten after the presents have been opened…on Christmas Eve.[[/note]] To be fair, there are a lot of things the film did get right, such as the German custom of leaving shoes out instead of stockings, and even a quick reference to the Finnish myth that Santa lives in Lapland.
** Also, the movie shows the Centre in Toronto as being spelled as "Center," the American spelling of centre.
** Screenwriter/Co-Director Sarah Smith explains their awareness of differences in Christmas celebrations internationally, and why certain things were ignored [[http://collider.com/sarah-smith-arthur-christmas-interview/119576/ in this interview]].

* LegacyCharacter: The title of Santa Claus. The opening shot demonstrates this trope beautifully as it pans across the wall full of portraits, showing us how the costume and the man have changed over the centuries (naturally, it's shown that Saint Nicolas was the very first Santa).