Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fridge / Klaus (2019)

Go To

Fridge Brilliance

  • Krums wear cooler colours like greens and blues, while Ellingboes wear warmer but still muted colours like browns and reds; denoting the sides in the millenia long feud. By contrast the Saami not only wear both blue and red simultaneously, but wear them in vibrant and eye catching shades, not bogged down with hatred but happy and content with life.
    • Speaking of symbolic colors, it's worth noting that Jesper (a fast talking young Postman who starts out selfish) wears blue. Meanwhile, Klaus (a quiet humble old Woodsman with a good heart) eventually wears red. These two are an example that unlike the Krums and the Ellingboes, two different people can become good friends.
    • Furthermore on symbolic colors, the Ellingboes' Color Motifs involve red, while the Krums' involve green. Separately, they're just regular colors. Put together, red and green are prominent Christmas colors. You can't have one without the other, and the clans putting aside their hatred and coming together, in this film, helps create the popular Santa Claus Christmas myth.
  • There's a sobering reason why Klaus wants Jesper to deliver the toys to the children in his stead: it's hard enough giving away the toys knowing each one of them was meant for the children he and his wife never had.
  • In the beginning, Alva's school is a fishmonger counter, showing that the only "school" she's concerned with having in Smeerensburg is a school of fish. But as the children start coming, we see less and less of the school's fishmonger nature, showing she wants to run a real school again.
    • Also, Alva's attitude is symbolized by her hair. In the photo of her young, idealistic self, Alva's hair is in two pigtails tied in bows, showing her innocent, idealistic viewpoint then. In the present, Alva's hair is down, and messy, showing how she's lost her standards due to her cynical view of Smeerensburg. As she comes to regain her faith in the students, her hair is in a well-groomed ponytail. While her hair is down every now and again, it's not messy like before, showing that she still has her sass but no longer shirks her standards. Our last shot of her has her wearing her hair in a loose bun, showing she has matured into her role as a school teacher and mother of her and Jasper children.
  • At one point, why is the wagon too heavy with presents when it's delivered one present per child with no problems? Why the sudden spike in extra presents? Because of Alva's school. It's possible that because she taught the remaining children who didn't know how to write, their extra letters meant more toys.
  • As Klaus and Jesper bring more gifts to the children, their good deeds start to bring life and color to the dreary Smeerensburg, which was dull and gray at the beginning. This change the perspective leads to the children and then everyone else actively works to make the other townsfolk happy.
  • It may seem like poor timing at first when Klaus chooses to lecture and guilt trip Jesper while they're in the middle of being chased by the clans. His nonchalance about the situation, as well as the fact that the reindeer weren't even attached when Jesper arrived, makes more sense when you know that the sack on their sleigh is full of wooden decoys.
  • The Krums and the Ellingboes giving Jesper a chance to go home may seem nice out of context, but bear in mind the whole point of the movie is "A true selfless act always sparks another". Neither Mr. Ellingboe or Mrs. Krum's intentions were truly selfless: they only wanted Jesper gone so they could sabotage Klaus's Christmas operation without him in the way. So because it was a selfish act, it didn't stick and Jesper came back.
    • And while Jesper's original intentions, to use the kids to get the amount of letters needed to get back to his rich life, were also selfish, Klaus and the Children's intentions were not, and their good, selfless intentions overrode Jesper's.
      • Ironically, while Jesper is the catalyst that sets off the events, he didn't affect either party with his selfish acts. Other way around: their selfless acts affected him.
    • OR, as said in the YMMV, good acts are good regardless of motivation. So while the Ellingboes and Krums helping Klaus complete his job was selfish in intent, it WAS selfless itself which sparked Jesper's own selfless act of staying behind.
  • In the beginning, that one blue letter Jesper turns our attention to isn't there as part of a simple plot device, it's significance is what it represents. The letter was sent by the Postmaster General so he could summon Jesper and send him to Smeerensburg. In his own Tough Love way, sending Jesper to Smeerensburg was an act of mercy meant to help his lazy son become a self-made postman. So what did the blue letter truly represent? A true selfless act.
  • Jesper's use of the word "monosyllabic" becomes a case of Mythology Gag when one realizes his character model was based off of Doctor Doppler, and Captain Amelia uses "monosyllabic" words with him as well.
  • The kid Jesper singles out for a lump of coal and a warning about "The Naughty List" just happens to be the Smeerensburgian who most closely resembles himself at the start of the film: a spoiled rich kid who is callously ignorant of the effect he has on others. It's also some subtle foreshadowing that said kid first tells him "Go HOME, you LOSER!" - reminding him (and the audience) of the stakes of his time as Postman.

Fridge Logic

  • Where did Alva got those Angler fishes from? Deep-sea diving wasn't really as successful in those days the film is set.
    • We never see Alva fishing herself, only prepping the fish, but she is acquaintaed with Mogens, the ferryman, who has a lot of time on his hands. It's entirely possible they have a deal wherein he fishes for her and/or buys stock from further afield, and gets a percentage of her profits in return.


Top