MovieChat Forums > Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Discussion > Alfred and Mr. Sawyer

Alfred and Mr. Sawyer

posted 8 years ago by MichaelMartinDeSapio
3 replies | jump to latest

When Alfred is having lunch with Mr. Kringle he mentions that Mr. Sawyer claimed that he (Alfred) "hates his father." I'm wondering if Mr. Sawyer was implying that Alfred had an Oedipal complex.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (47421091) 8 years ago

Hating one's parent is not the same thing as having an Oedipal Complex (assuming such a thing exists-yuck).

I think Sawyer was just as Kris saw him: contemptible. He was not a happy person in his own life and either didn't recognize that someone else could be, or hoped to heap some of his misery on innocents.

[–] ramsplp 7 years ago

He also saw himself as a great psychiatrist. He probably spewed every Freudian theory to naive Alfred. I love it when Kris gets up from the cafeteria and walks out determined to have his say to Sawyer.

[–] joannabaroncelli 7 years ago

I can understand Kris being furious about Sawyer's manipulaton of Alfred's mind and confronting him. While I can understand Kris bopping Sawyer on the head out of frustration when Sawyer was obviously dug in and immovable to any reasoning. But it wasn't really necessary and complicated things. Kris was planning on going to Mr. Macy and explaining the situation and I am sure Macy would have called in Sawyer and Alfred and gotten confirmation and delt with Sawyer. Kris' action prompted Sawyer to conjure up this phony excuse to get Kris out of the way. How Sawyer had the power to force Kris to go to Bellevue I still don't understand. Had he filed battery charges against Kris?