White Christmas

On Earth, White Christmas was a film released in 2435 (1954), starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, featuring the musical stylings of Irving Berlin. It enjoys "Christmas Classic" status in many homes across some Earthly countries and has been replayed every year for at least two generations, by the latest count. Among humans the most notable features of the film appear to be the title song "White Christmas" and the scene in which it is performed.
However, once migrating across the galaxies to Mudewei and into the hands of The Earth Fandom, it has found a particular foothold for entirely different reasons. Noted examples include "The Old Man" and "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army"; the former is a basis for many parodic War Songs while the latter has made its way into the many bars and alehouses of the Stenza empire and is commonly sung by old soldiers itching for either a fight or some good, old-fashioned routine. The Stenza have also opened up "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army" to improvised verses making points about the conditions of Citizen-Recruits and lower-ranked officers, and pointing out the prevalence of infighting between First and Second Officers. Ta'zhen in particular tends to sing "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army" as a form of lament for her past life, periodically without realizing.

Historical Details

Background

White Christmas was first created on Earth as a form of entertainment and specifically a holiday film, and was wildly successful upon release. Over the decades it was released on VHS and later DVD, and also enjoyed an annual run on several television stations. It is through the last that Stenza first discovered the film and copied its data to take back to Mudewei with them. The apocryphal story is that a candidate for leader came back with the film, although serious modern historians think the culprit was a roving member of The Earth Fandom conducting research in an effort to take humans off the approved hunting target list by demonstrating that they had culture (or otherwise counted as "civilized").

History

Following its journey to Mudewei (under remarkably mysterious circumstances considering the relative recentness of the affair), White Christmas and some of its songs began to drift into the folk music traditions of the Stenza, influencing War Songs and the sonic atmosphere of ale houses (sometimes as a proper chant, sometimes as a slightly more rhythmic form of storytelling). These works have become integral to folk stylings since its discovery and are still in use in both their original and altered forms.

Public Reaction

Although White Christmas has had little impact on "high brow" Stenza culture or music, some of its works have been wildly successful among the lay people across all professions. Of particular note are "The Old Man", which has had a strong influence on parodic War Songs, and "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army", which has become entrenched in the storytelling customs of older veterans or people sidelined from duty by injury until they recover. "Sisters" is popular among Blood Siblings, as well.
Note: The film itself is not always watched, certainly not as routinely as back on Earth. In Stenza culture, the songs are more important than whatever is going on around them.

Legacy

Simply put, the discovery of White Christmas is considered to be one of the Earth Fandom's most significant achievements, although it did not do what they had originally intended it to do (prove that humans are "civilized" by some arbitrary metric). Sometimes individuals discover the origins of the works that influenced their favorite folk music and become more invested in the cause, however, and this is counted as a win by the Fandom.

Type

Imagery, Artistic

Medium

Digital Recording, Video

Authoring Date

2435

Ratification Date

2435

Location

Earth