The Legend of 'The Big Guy'
By Cynthia Edwards
I paid a visit to a local mall today and saw that Christmas shopping had already started in earnest. That was what it looked like. But I began to have doubts as to the reason for the season when I passed a snowy wonderland in the east wing of the mall, and saw that little children were lined up to have their photos taken with a figure billed as 'The Big Guy.'
Now I had never heard of The Big Guy, so I rounded the corner and took a gander at this phenomenon. I saw a fat man with a white beard wearing a bright red wooly suit, which is distinctly not recommended wear for the hot weather we’ve been having in Dallas.
He looked suspiciously like Santa Claus, that right jolly old elf who represents a well-known tradition called Christmas. But he is not Santa -- he is The Big Guy. The mall has dismissed with one hand an ancient tradition filled with meaning (yes, Christmas), while reaching out with the other hand to entice us to spend freely AS IF it were Christmas.
This is not only absurd; it is fraudulent. What have they given us in place of Christmas to make us want to indulge in extravagant gift giving? Who is The Big Guy and what does he represent?
If he has no Christmas significance, why does he appear with his camera crew at the end of the year? He could come in the shopping doldrums of March or August just as well. And why does he steal the copyrighted wardrobe and scenery of Santa Claus? Can’t his PR people think up some unique branding for him?
Instead, he could look like the Jolly Green Giant (a commercial figure would be SO much more appropriate) or King Kong (now he was BIG) or maybe even the American legend Paul Bunyon. Bunyon was really big, carried an axe, and had a colorful and amusing retinue consisting of a giant blue ox, a purple cow and trained ants. I bet kids would love to have their picture taken with them.
At that mall, as at so many other public places in America, Santa Claus is no more. I guess that means, in those places, it will always be winter ... but never Christmas.
Brrr.
