I have a question to ask you – What exactly did Todd and Margo Chester do in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to do be villainized and suffer the burnt of Clark Griswold’s mayhem?
I’ll wait.
Can’t think of anything, can you?
When we first see Todd and Margo (Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus), they are arriving home on a Saturday evening. They are yuppies. They work in Chicago like Clark (Chevy Chase) in a big huge business or corporation. People forget Clark works in food additives. He has to have a few degrees in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, etc. He may even have a Master’s Degree. He’s book smart despite having the common sense of a doodle-bug sometimes.
And considering he’s been working at his company for 17 years, it means he’s been making some serious money to afford a nice two-bedroom house in the Chicago affluent suburbs. So, there’s no reason to despise Todd and Margo because they obviously have money. Clark threw around money a lot in National Lampoon’s Vacation and National Lampoon’s European Vacation, so he’s probably pulling down six figures even for 1989. It may be a low six figures, but his ineptitude with hanging Christmas lights show he has little skills in house maintenance.
Ok, so Todd made a comment to Clark on “Where do you think you’re going to put a tree that big?” But it’s not an offensive question. I mean it was a little snarky but you can’t blame the Chesters for being curious. Margo makes sure she says, “Looks like the toad overestimated the height of his living room ceiling” soft enough so the neighbors won’t hear it. And how many times have you stood at the window or on your front porch watching the neighbors making comments to your partner and/or kids?
Hell, I grew up in the rural foothills of the Appalachian Mountains where the pavement literally ended as you turned on a loop to make it to the house in which I grew up. The neighbors were constantly trying to one-up each other. And my mom herself made comments if someone mowed too quick after it rained or didn’t mow fast enough to suit her. So, it’s not just a regional think to more metropolitan people.
Anyway, Clark bluntly replies, “Bend over and I’ll show you.” And it’s not directed at Todd but at Margo who is shocked. He didn’t tell them to flat out go fuck themselves but he pretty much implies it, which means they have an ugly history. But in all seriousness, if you lived next to the Griswolds, wouldn’t you have a little animosity toward them?
By 1989, being a yuppie was considered being uppity or elite. Strangely, a lot of counterculture people turned into yuppies. But Todd and Margo are younger than Clark. They missed all the advantages Clark and Ellen had as the older Baby Boomers. Yet, they made investments and/or worked jobs to get where they’re at. Todd is carrying a briefcase on a Saturday. It’s likely he’s a lawyer. And to be a damn good lawyer in Chicago, you probably have to work on Saturday.
But we’re just watching them come home. They may have gone out for a Saturday evening and Todd left his briefcase at the office. Maybe they were at an office Christmas party. Anyway, later when they’re out, Clark falls off the roof but he briefly catches himself on the gutters, which fail breaking off a piece of ice that shoots through the Chester’s bedroom window destroying their very expensive stereo and CD collection. And Todd and Margo suspect it’s Clark.
Yet we never see them actually confronting Clark about this. They don’t have any clear evidence that’s irrefutable. So, they don’t go barging over and banging on the Griswolds’ front door. Later when Clark finally assembles his lights on his house, it leads to Todd and Margo being blinded while trying to enjoy a romantic night at home. They trip and fall into furniture and down the steps. Thankfully, they’re not injured but Margo’s carpet is ruined. And people in the 1980s loved their damned carpet.
But as they saw Clark putting up the ladder against his house, they knew he would fall, which he does. Clark doesn’t even practice good safety. Anyone who’s ever worked in construction probably cringes at how lazy and unsafe he operates. And the lights aren’t just a nuisance to the Chesters but the rest of their neighbors, I’m sure. We just don’t see them.
Since it’s 1989, I’m guessing there’s no HOA in the neighborhood. It’s also possible the neighborhood is in an unincorporated part of the suburbs, which means Todd and Margo as well as the other neighbors don’t have a municipal representative to voice their concerns. They just have to put up with it until the holidays are over.
Todd tries to go for his morning jog only to see Eddie (Randy Quaid) dumping a chemical toilet into a storm drain. It’s highly illegal and dangerous for Eddie to do this. However, we’re supposed to feel Todd is bad because he has a nice running outfit to wear. Yes, Todd and Margo are into exercising and being healthy.
Oh, the horror!
We’re supposed to think Margo is snippy because she tells Todd he has to shower before they can have freaky sex. Well, of course. Imagine how much stank-ass Todd has from sweating. This is like the only movie I’ve seen where people consider washing up before they have sex. And silly me. I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do.
So, despite the fact that Eddie’s rusted RV is mere feet from their property and has turned a storm drain into a sewer gas hotel, Todd and Margo still do nothing. They sit down on Christmas Eve, make margaritas and have dinner just by themselves. So, we shouldn’t like them because they’re all by themselves on Christmas Eve. Of course, they could’ve been heading to a family get-together on Christmas Day. Or it’s scheduled another day or they’ve already had it.
As my mom’s side of the family has grown with my cousins having families of their own, it’s really hard to get everyone together on one particular day. So, they usually meet the weekend before or after. Christmas isn’t just a one day event. You can celebrate it for many days. That’s what the 12 Days of Christmas used to be about.
So, Todd and Margo are sitting at home minding their own business when Clark cuts down a tree that breaks their dining room window. It’s never determined if the tree is on Clark’s property or the Chesters’ but it’s still a dick move to do especially considering it causes damage for the second time to their property.
This time, they have knowledge of Clark doing it. However, they argue about what to do. Margo wants Todd to go over and punch Clark but Todd doesn’t want to attack him. Again, Todd isn’t being violent. Clark punched a Marty Moose statue and even threatens Rusty (Johnny Galecki) with a chainsaw. He’s hostile toward the mail courier and tells his father-in-law, Art (E.G. Marshall) not to piss him off. He’s got anger issues and his hostility and violence are giant red flags. But Margo goes. However, she calms down as she goes to the door and straightens her clothes before she attempts to politely knock on the door. She’s going to still be civil about it.
But Eddie’s dog, Snots, is chasing the squirrel through the house causing more destruction. And Clark opens the door for the squirrel to run out and it jumps on Margo and Snots jumps on Margo. So, a vicious rottweiler has attacked Margo. Regardless of it being on the Griswolds’ property, they’re at fault for the dog attack.
Margo goes back home to wind down and punches Todd, which he kinda deserves for letting Margo walk over next door by herself. Later, as Margo has showered and trying to rest up, the police SWAT team break down her door because Eddie has kidnapped Frank Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray). They have been put through the ringer and all they wanted was to have a nice time at home.
If Hollywood has done one wrong thing, it’s to make us villainize the wrong people. Just ask the Indigenous Native Americans. Or the LGBTQIA community. Or people who aren’t white. Or people who are too white as albinos are often treated as bad people or ridiculed. Oh, I won’t forget morbidly obese people who are either bullies or gross disgusting people. Hollywood has also made sick/ill and disabled people out to be bad as well. And definitely step-parents seem to be on the top tier of villains. They’re either portrayed as evil people, gold diggers or sex-starved perverts who want boink their stepchildren or an in-law.
I mean, in recent years, Elaine Hendrix, who played Meredith Blake in the 1998 version of The Parent Trap said she doesn’t see her character as the villain. Remember it’s Dennis Quaid’s Nick Parker who is the one seeking Meredith who is only 26 over his ex-wife Elizabeth James Parker (Natasha Richardson, may she rest in peace). Also, he doesn’t tell Meredith he has two daughters who he’s had separated for so long. What kind of awful person is that who says he has a child he hasn’t seen in years? It makes you wonder what else he is keeping from Meredith. Also, considering how Quaid has gone off the deep end lately, it’s a good thing.
Or take Mrs. Doubtfire in how Daniel Hillard is obviously the villain. He does everything wrong from an outrageous party that even drunken frat boys wouldn’t go as extreme to bilking money out of Miranda Hillard (Sally Fields) under false pretense. That’s a crime. He’s lucky the judge didn’t prohibit him from seeing his kids at all. Worse, he tries to ruin things with her budding relationship with Stu Dunmeyer (Pierce Brosnan). Hey, in 1993, if you could find a 40-something well-off single man who wanted to marry a woman with three kids, the hell with your ex. Stu love Miranda and was willing to take the next step in his life while Daniel was still acting like an overgrown brat.
And what about Bill Murray’s character in What About Bob? Half of what Bob does in the movie would put him in prison or an mental hospital for years. He impersonates a police officer, which is illegal, especially to acquire confidential information. Then, he goes on a bus to the Lake Winnipasaukee area in New Hampshire to track down his psychiatrist which is just disturbing. Give Richard Dreyfus’ Dr. Leo Marvin some credit for not calling police and understanding what Bob is going through. Another mental health doctor would’ve called the police and filed a protective order. Bob is just one murdered sister away from being Michael Myers.
I could probably list more examples but Clark Griswold is obvious the villain in the lives of Todd and Margo. I feel somehow the long-suffering Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) has been the peacemaker between them. I heard a deleted scene involved the the Santa and reindeer lawn ornaments come crashing through the Chesters window as they finally have reconciled right before the credits roll or even as an end-credit scene as Hughes was known to do that before it became more popular. This only adds more insult to injury and I’m glad it was cut or not filmed at all.
Todd and Margo are just a young couple trying to get more stability before having children probably. And I don’t think they should be criticized for not getting a Christmas tree. A woman I went to school with didn’t get a Christmas tree in her house until she had children. And she’s as nice as she can be. After Kerry died, she sent me some origami she had made through Covid as a mental help. It might not seem like much but she is one of the few who really reached out.
Todd and Margo might actually be wonderful people but there is a saying that goes, “You’re the villain in at least one other’s persons life.” Clark’s so foolish he wrote a hot check as a deposit for a swimming pool and laments later he can’t afford to be an elf. Yes, boo-hoo! We should hate Todd and Margo because they indulge their appetites for fancy clothes. But do they live within their means? Possibly.
Unlike Clark, who has a wife and two kids, two cars and a house. Yet he acts so reckless in his ways. Just wonder why Clark doesn’t ask his father or any of his other neighbors to help him with the lights. Maybe it’s because he’s burned too many bridges.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas Vacation. But we really need to reconsider how wrong we were about Todd and Margo, especially since they are living a life that has become the new normal.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 