SPOILERS Hogfather Discussion **Spoilers**

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=Tamar

Lieutenant
May 20, 2012
11,961
2,900
#81
It's been a long time - I watched it on VHS but I don't remember whether the American (Region 1) DVD release had captions. I think it didn't. I know the initial UK release did have them and I still feel there was no legitimate reason not to have included them on the American VHS tapes.
 

Ponderstibbons

Lance-Constable
Sep 5, 2023
35
50
57
Fife
#82
This'll be a bit long but please bear with me.

One of my very favourite discworld novels; the characters are extremely strong, Teatime is a work of genius and probably the most interesting villain in any of the books.

It also shows us another side of DEATH only occasionally seen in preceding DEATH books and really explores Susan's character and how she's been dealing with life and independency post Reaper Man.

The plot itself is both riveting and hilarious and makes for a wonderful jaunt across Ankh-Morpork and surrounding areas while making each location essential to the continuation of the story itself

I think there are at least three major themes running throughout the novel.

Christmas: Pratchett really gets down to brass tacks here and pulls out the otherwise vague beginnings of the festival, shows us it's roots in the human psyche and the reason for it's existence; ignoring the excuses that have been overlaid by the introduction of new religions over time "It's all about the sun master, white snow and red blood and the sun. Always has been".

The Hogfather can be seen as a literal representation of Christmas itself. Originally beginning as a way to call the sun back and banish winter but changing over time to reflect numerous different popular interpretations and the rise and fall of religions. However if you look at him closely you can see where he came from, what he used to be and what to a certain extent he still is and always will be.

Belief in a semi-secular context: Belief in the context of religion has been explored previously in "Small Gods" and to a certain extent in "Reaper Man" in the form of life force. Pratchett turns the idea on it's head here and takes a look from a different angle while extending concepts already developed in SG i.e belief as a tangible, measurable force. He imagines how that affects people, what happens when a focus of belief disappears and even how it can be controlled or counteracted.

Next to this is the idea that it is used as a tool by humans to introduce larger concepts that while traditionally thought of as secular require someone to be capable of belief to understand and fight for them.

[I have a quote for this but it's too large for this post, please refer to pages 407-409 of HF for the conversation between Death and Susan (at least those are the correct pages in my BC edition).]

Poverty in times that are traditionally happy: Sir Terry throws a lot of new light on traditional christmas stories and how we view them by showing them through the eyes of DEATH while presenting the generally accepted view through Albert, in particular "The Little Match Girl" (see pages 209-211).
Stripy Tie. I just finished reading Hogfather for the first time today. You sum up the themes of the book I have just finished, perfectly. Thankyou
 
Likes: Tonyblack

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