Dear Santa is a dangerous trivialisation of the devil

At a time when the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating the birth of Jesus - feels increasingly overshadowed, Dear Santa has put Satan centre stage, in a manner far too playful for a subject that demands such caution, says Caroline Farrow

If CS Lewis were alive today, he might expand his warnings about the devil to not only caution against disbelief but also highlight the dangers of reducing the demonic to a mere comedic trope with an edgy twist. Lewis wrote in an era when people largely understood the gravity of the devil’s existence. In contrast, today’s society leans toward agnosticism on the subject, often dismissing the devil as either non-existent or, if he does exist, as a comically misunderstood figure - hardly a threat worth taking seriously. 

This certainly seems to be the belief at the heart of Dear Santa, Paramount’s latest holiday film starring Jack Black, beloved for roles in Kung Fu Panda, Super Mario Bros. and the modern Christmas classic The Holiday. The premise - a dyslexic eleven-year-old boy accidentally addressing his Christmas wish list to Satan rather than Santa - sounds like the old joke about the dyslexic devil-worshipper and a setup for light-hearted chaos. Yet the subject matter alone warrants caution for parents, and the execution raises serious concerns.