But if you watch the show without understanding that its central conflict is the way people who are different are constantly shunned and humiliated - well, I don’t know what show you’re watching. I’m sure that conservatives who love this old holiday chestnut will be infuriated by this suggestion. Welcome to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the queerest holiday special ever. A fabulously blond elf who doesn’t like to make toys? A reindeer who is cast out by those who are supposed to love him, on account of an accident of birth? A whole island populated by outcasts? No, it was the fact that then, as now, the subtext of this ridiculous story was the truth of my own improbable life. But it wasn’t nostalgia for my ’60s childhood that caused tears of recognition to shimmer in my eyes. This version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” had been around for 20 years in 1984. The sound of approaching sleigh bells grew louder. “I haven’t any dreams left to dream!” Dolly said.
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