Perhaps no other story has become a part of popular culture, the way the Snowman did, it captured the imagination of the young and old alike and is on the list of 100 best Christmas moments at No. 3. Raymond Briggs, when he wrote the book by the same name in 1978 was not aware that it would gather so much attention and become so well, and neither did Dianne Jackson, who went on to make an animated version of the book. The movie is much loved in Britain and was even nominated for an Oscar in 1983 for best Animated Film.
To gather the measure of how popular it is amongst the people, one just needs to be told that it is aired year after year in Britain making it an indelible part of it’s Christmas culture. What makes both the book and the movie unique is the fact that they do not have any words or dialogues. They choose to tell the tale of the Snowman through pictures, music and action. It is for r this reason that this story is popular with people from different cultures speaking different languages.
The Snowman plot
It is a rather simple tale and that’s where its appeal lies. The story depicts an unnamed boy laboriously making a snowman. It has widely been said that the day is either Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, however that remains contentious since it hasn’t been mentioned either in the book or the movie. The very same night, through some strange twist of fortune, the snowman comes alive just as the clock strikes midnight. We then see how surprised the Snowman is and tries his best to understand all that is around him, particularly the toys that he finds in the boy’s house.
The boy and the Snowman then travel to the North Pole, it is as this point in the movie that the song “Walking in the Air” is played. They have been invited to a unique Snowmen’s party and the boy is surprised to know that he is the only human visiting the party. But his fears and apprehension vanish as soon as he is introduced to Father Christmas and his reindeer and Father Christmas gives him a lovely green scarf with stockings pattern on it.
The tale ends when it’s morning, the boy wakes and thinks maybe it was a dream but then he produces the scarf that Santa had given him the evening before. Since it is a warm day, the snowman has long since melted.
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