THREAD THEME Good evening and happy holidays, forum dwellers. Christmas is nearly upon us and as such my number of The Polar Express rewatches has risen into what surely must now be double digits. This time, however, I was not content with merely enjoying the spectacle. I wanted more. I wanted MEANING. I found some, and now I offer it to you all: my Polar Express Theory
Our MC, hero boy (figure 1), is essentially a self insert (think popular statics). That is, they are you, and you are a person struggling with faith. In what? Santa, of course! (though to keep you santa deniers around, christmas could symbolize mundane, uninteresting things such as purpose and/or happiness in life)
Figure 1: Hero Boy. Voiced by Daryl Sabara.
Next, we have the conductor (figure 2). The conductor is, for lack of a better idea, the grown up, happy version of hero boy. They are you in thirty years, an ideal you (excluding the male pattern baldness), provided you stick to the right track. What track? Well, the one the train is on. What train? The polar express, of course. And what does that symbolize? Great question!
Figure 2: Conductor. Voiced by Tom Hanks (goat).
In the movie, the Polar Express is a train bound for the North Pole. The north pole is home of santa, and we already covered what he might represent. In truth, however, the destination is not so important. As the conductor puts it in the final moments of the film, "One thing about trains - it doesn't matter where you're going. What matters is deciding to get on." therefore I put forth that getting on the train represents the decision to try and believe, be that in santa, purpose, or happiness. It's not the same as finding these things, simply an effort to find them (and, in truth, is all that matters)
What ultimately symbolizes these ideas in the film are the bells (figure 3). Hero boy cannot hear them, because he does not believe in them. If you don't believe in santa, you won't see him. If you don't believe purpose or happiness is possible in life, you wont find it. Tell me, do YOU hear the bells? (Note: a possible other interpretation is santa = live music)
Figure 3: elf rave
If you're not sure, here's a good litmus test: are you homeless?
No, no, I don't actually care. My QUESTION is whether or not you see yourself in the hobo (figure 4)?
Figure 4: hobo. Voiced by tom hanks (still goat).
In the film it is clearly established that the hobo is a ghost (see: numerous times where he vanishes into thin air). Now, as far as I can tell, the prevailing school of thought (at least in the youtube comment section of this video) is that the hobo is merely the ghost of a deceased former trainhopper. they even have an alleged deleted scene to prove it! that falls short for me, though.
I postulate that the hobo is actually the ghost of christmas future. He's jaded, cynical, gross, ugly, and just generally undesirable. Much in the spirit of the source material of the Christmas Carol, the ghost represents the future of hero boy should he not choose to not believe in Santa (or purpose or happiness or any other such nonsense). We even have a direct connection when the ghost uses a Scrooge puppet (figure 5) to scare hero boy, calling him a "doubter". Rather on the nose, isn't it?
Figure 5: the hobo uses a scrooge puppet to scare hero boy.
Thus, we arrive to our conclusion. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing. This is the only way to truly find santa or live music (or purpose or happiness, i guess). dont be a hobo, be a conductor
