Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
By Joshua Tyler | Published
Will Ferrell Elf is the most-watched Christmas movie of the modern era and one of the best Christmas movies of all time. It’s a simple story told in such a direct way that Buddy Elf’s father, Walter Hobbs, is the only figure with a character arc.
From the beginning we are told that Walter Hobbs (played by James Caan) is on the naughty list. When Buddy meets him, everything seems designed to confirm that he deserves to be there. It’s Walter’s character arc that drives the story, not Buddy’s. Buddy is the same person at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning. But Walter supposedly makes the transition from being a villain to a loving father who embraces the Christmas spirit.
Except that’s not what happens at all. Walter Hobbs was never a bad guy. He shouldn’t have been on the naughty list. He is the real hero of Elfand I’m going to prove it.
We’ll begin by taking each alleged example of Scrooge-like behavior one by one.
Walter Hobbs only cares about his job
At the beginning, we are introduced to Walter Hobbs as a workaholic who dedicates all his time to his career and neglects his family. At one point, his son demeans him, accusing him of only caring about money. His wife also attacks him, accusing him of neglecting their son.
However, that’s not what happens on screen. The Walter Hobbs we see in Elf He comes home in time for dinner every night. Sure, one time, after he’d had a really rough day, he wanted to go eat in his man cave. The boy was under a lot of stress. Clearly, that’s not the norm, as your son reacts to your decision to eat alone as if it were a novelty and asks you if he can duplicate his father’s behavior.
One night eating alone doesn’t turn Walter Hobbs into a demon.
In fact, it’s pretty clear that Hobbs doesn’t care about his job at all. The quality of their work is absolute garbage. He was caught intentionally signing a bad impression, a clear sign that he doesn’t care and hates working there.
Every time we see him at his desk, it seems like Walter wishes for death.
So why is he there? Someone has to pay the bills.
Walter Hobbs wakes up every day and looks for a job he hates so he can support his family. He’s home every night for dinner, which he apparently almost always eats at the table with his family. What a monster.
Walter Hobbs does not accept Buddy
When Buddy Elf shows up in Walter’s office, he’s understandably confused. He throws Buddy out several times from the shock of it all. You have no reason to believe him. The guy is dressed like an elf and talks about Santa. Clearly, he’s some kind of mentally ill lunatic. Any reasonable person would have thought it could be dangerous.
To make matters worse, Buddy’s way of convincing Walter that he is his son is by sending him sexy lingerie. This must have made Walter wonder if Buddy’s true purpose might have a strange sexual connotation. Almost anyone else would have called the police, but not the kind Walter Hobbs. Instead, he decides to give Buddy a chance.
Walter bails Buddy out of jail, takes him to a clinic and gives him a test. Kind of sensible when a 40-year-old man you’ve never seen before shows up at your door, claiming to be a close relative. The moment the test proves that Buddy is his son, Walter makes a U-turn and invites this person, whom he doesn’t know at all, to his house.
All of this happens while Buddy continues to exhibit strange behavior that, if he had said that his father was a less kind and empathetic person, would probably have compromised him. Of course, it’s not Buddy’s fault. He means well, but Walter has no way of knowing.
Despite Buddy’s weirdness, Walter realizes the person he is inside and decides to trust him with his family. Walter is so forgiving that, aside from a joke about how much Buddy likes snow, he doesn’t even flinch when Buddy starts destroying his house.
His solution to Buddy’s destruction is not to kick him out, but to find a way to care for him. He asks his wife to stay home with him and supervise him. When she can’t, Walter Hobbs takes his adult son to work.
Walter Sticks Buddy in the mail room
Buddy Elf is an unemployed adult, with no place to live and no prospects. He needs a job, so Walter Hobbs uses his company’s influence to get him one.
Buddy has no work history or experience, meaning he is not qualified to work anywhere other than the mailroom. Walter gets him a job there.
In some ways, it is a success. Buddy has a great time in the mailroom, making new friends and getting paid. However, he also embarrasses his father by getting drunk and dancing on tables.
Walter doesn’t overreact. He puts his head down and continues to live life the best he can.
Walter yells at Buddy
Walter’s job is on the line and he knows it. You’ve been working your way through a thankless career for years in an industry you’re obviously not suited for, and it’s starting to take its toll on you.
Walter’s employees are useless and lazy, but he has a solution. At great expense, he hires an expert writer to give them the opportunity they need to write a best-selling book.
Buddy, who would have been busy working in the mailroom earning his own pay if he hadn’t gotten drunk, barges in at the worst possible moment. Then, for no apparent reason, Walter notices, he starts insulting Walter’s guest. It soon goes beyond shouting and turns into a full-blown physical confrontation. All Walter can do is stand and watch in horror.
Walter’s introductory meeting is now ruined, his son was involved in an assault on company grounds, and it all happened in front of his employees. Add another workplace humiliation to your reputation.
It’s only in that moment, after days of misfortune, abuse, and outright fear from a grown man he barely knows, that Walter Hobbs finally gets angry. He yells at Buddy to leave and then when Buddy leaves, he tries to find some way to save his reputation and his career.
Walter Hobbs works on Christmas Eve
Okay, but what’s up with his disinterest in Christmas? Things really fall apart when Walter leaves for work on Christmas Eve.
Except Walter never wanted to be there. When his boss tells him he has to work on Christmas Eve, Walter immediately objects. He tries to refuse, but his boss threatens to fire him. Your choice is to go to work or roll the dice so you can find another job to feed your child. Nobody wants to be out of a job at Christmas, so he did his job. That’s not grumpy behavior, it’s being a responsible adult.
That’s when his youngest son bursts in, ranting about Buddy Elf running away. Despite feeling embarrassed in front of his boss, Walter stands his ground. He defends his son when his boss speaks rudely to him.
Meanwhile, Buddy Elf is a grown man. A grown man who has proven that he can take care of himself by literally walking from the North Pole to New York. He’s wandering around New York again, the fifth or sixth time he’s done so in the film, and there’s no reason to think he’s in any danger.
The boy eats too much and Walter knows it. He also understands that his son is worried, so he tells him that he will take care of it and calmly asks him to wait outside until he can finish. His son refuses to obey his father and begins yelling at him, adding another workplace humiliation to his resume.
Any other parent would have kicked their son out of the room and grounded him for a year after that tirade, but the compassionate Walter relents. He notices that his family doesn’t seem to care about him or his job, and after weeks and weeks of being humiliated and degraded by them, he gives up trying to make a living and quits.
The real villains of Elf
Walter Hobbs is not a villain. He is an introvert who does not share his emotions, but that does not make him a bad person.
Walter Hobbs is abused, humiliated, yelled at, and touched inappropriately by a grown man in tights who decides to give him unwanted tickles. Walter never breaks down. He sticks together and keeps going. He has a small outburst after weeks of abuse and immediately tries to make amends.
Elf It’s full of terrible people. Miles Finch is a delusional egomaniac. Walter’s excellent writing team are lazy sycophants. His secretary is a psychopath who kills kittens. Your boss is an idiot.
And then there’s Santa, who knew who Buddy’s father was from the beginning, but left him to be raised by an elf instead of telling Walter Hobbs that he had a son. To add insult to injury, Santa puts Walter on the naughty list and spends a few decades allowing the Elves to trick Buddy into thinking he’s one of them as they put lumps of coal under Walter’s tree every year.
There are villains in Elf. Walter Hobbs is not one of them.
