Cold War Santa with Sarah Archer
11/25/20251 hr 40 min
What happens when Santa trades his sleigh for a rocket ship?”? Christmas correspondent Sarah Archer tells Sarah about how the Cold War era affected the image of old Kris Kringle through the rampant consumerism and shiny new technology of a post-war economy. Digressions include Reagan’s girlypop diet, the Freudian aspects of the Nutcracker, and the thrilling history of aluminum.
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First 90 secondsSarah Marshall· Host0:00
Imagine if 17 on-fire levitating eyeballs appeared in front of you and were like, "Don't, don't freak out." Welcome to You're Wrong About, the podcast where we love to investigate the mystery that is Santa. And so, of course, this week, we are joined by Sarah Archer, our Santa correspondent. We did a Santa episode last year, which I would love for you to listen to, we had a great time, and this time, we're talking about a particular moment in Santa history. We're talking about the Cold War Santa and how the 1950s and the post-war era in the United States transformed what we make of Christmas and what Christmas has made of us. We've had many great past Sarah Archer episodes, including one on Martha Stewart, and one of my favorites titled The Trad Wife Rises. And of course when we are talking about Santa, we're talking about so much else and I love getting into the back rooms where all these ideas connect, and somehow a lot of these ideas involve women doing more work, which I also find interesting. Also, as you may or may not know, I have an exciting new show out with CBC Podcasts. It's called The Devil You Know, it's about the Satanic Panic. If you've been listening to