Naive noël
Today: Tod Seelie, photographer and author of BRIGHT NIGHTS: Photographs of Another New York.
Issue No. 464
Ten Thousand Santas
Tod Seelie
Ten Thousand Santas
by Tod Seelie
With the arrival of the SANTACON documentary from Seth Porges, the acclaimed director of Class Action Park, I thought it was a good time to dig up my old photos from the 2007 and 2008 NYC SantaCons. I feel that I happened to catch the moment SantaCon switched tracks, from the jolly weirdo pranksters to the belligerent ho-ho-ho bros.
SantaCon was always chaotic, but it was in a sly and creative way, with an understanding that it was a spectacle for spectacle’s sake. There were participants and an audience, and it was for one as much as the other. Be the surrealist moment you want to see in a city.
But eventually SantaCon degenerated into just a horny bar crawl in a sea of Santa suits. The playful quasi-Situationists were replaced with sophomoric “can-I-get-away-with-this” jamokes hiding in costumes. When the shift moves from surreally crafted urban theatre to self-interested beer pitchers, you notice it.
Keep us breathing fire!
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