A Christmas fuss about nothing?

With apologies to all Rusters who have already seen it and already formed a view, today I wished to comment upon this year’s BBC One short promotional film for Christmas which – as anyone who reads the newspapers and/or follows social media will know – has become a source of some controversy.

As it seems is now obligatory in the UK when it comes to all matters of public interest or debate, it has apparently split the nation into two binary and polarised camps – i.e. those who find it a well-made and charming little addition to the BBC One schedule (albeit no doubt an expensive and indulgent use of  taxpayers’ money) and those who are metaphorically riding white horses parading up and down outside both the Houses of Parliament and BBC’s Broadcasting House complaining that the piece is deliberately intended to shame working mothers.

As a reminder – or as an assist those who haven’t the faintest idea what I’m writing about – here is a link to to the item in question, supplied courtesy of – YOUTUBE

[Here I must issue the disclaimer and/or declaration of interest that I am an over-65 year old male whose ongoing tastes in pop music ended abruptly in about 1982 and – if I could have my time again – would change just one thing, i.e. have more sex].

Which I suspect is an appropriate manner to lead into to my personal ‘thought for the day’, viz. that I cannot (for the life of me) see what all the fuss is about.

I grant you that this could easily be because I’m not a Millennial, a member of the ‘snowflake’ generation and/or a politically-correct activist who sees lack of diversity, equal rights and cruel discrimination in everything that moves – and maybe that’s both my problem and indeed the reason that my views should count for nothing.

However.

When I watched this little film for the first time it never occurred to me that it depicted anything more than a mother and son at Christmas time who – because of circumstances over which they had no control – were unable to get together as they had perhaps originally intended.

And then did something about it.

It never occurred to me to think, the moment I saw the mother in an office, “Hey, that’s unusual [a woman at work] – why isn’t she spending time (as she should) looking after her family/son …”

In other words, I saw nothing to remark upon in the fact that our heroine was working at all, let alone perhaps apparently holding down a demanding job in a fast-moving, high-end, modern corporate environment.

Now.

Either that’s a positive attitude for an old geezer like me to have, i.e. I’ve become indoctrinated – or is it persuaded by force of sensible argument? – over the course of time to an enlightened, liberal (with a small ‘L’) attitude towards society as it is lived in the 21st Century.

Or, alternatively perhaps, I’m missing something.