Why Is There a Lobster in the Nativity Play? (A Few Thoughts on "Love Actually")

With Christmas just around the corner, I'm postponing my 2nd post on "The Art of the Edit" until January. Instead, I want to share a few thoughts on one of my all time favorite movies Love Actually.

In case you've somehow managed to miss this 2003 movie, it's about 8 very different couples in the month before Christmas in London, who are all struggling with love and relationships. The great cast includes Hugh Grant, Billy Bob Thornton, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightly, Laura Linney, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Nighy, and many more. Writer/director Richard Curtis does an amazing job of interlocking the stories and characters; it truly takes multiple viewings to catch all of the ways that they show up in each others' stories.

Like all movies, it has its issues and odd points. One question/criticism that I've seen (and, admittedly, thought) is: what's up with the lobster in the nativity play?

The scene in question is between Emma Thompson's character Karen and her daughter Daisy:

Karen: So what's this big news, then?
Daisy: [excited] We've been given our parts in the nativity play. And I'm the lobster.
Karen: The lobster?
Daisy: Yeah!
Karen: In the nativity play?
Daisy: [beaming] Yeah, *first* lobster.
Karen: There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?
Daisy: Duh.

After watching the movie for (probably) the 10th time a few nights ago, I realized (with a little help from my husband Carlo Fiorletta) that the point of this story is the teachers.

The climactic scene of Love Actually takes place at Daisy's school on the night of the nativity play, as many of the characters converge there, including the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant). The school is central to the story, not a passing comment or thought.

There's a lobster (ok more than one lobster!) in the nativity play because Daisy's teacher wants to have all of the kids involved. Limiting the cast to the obvious characters (Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, a few camels) brings you up far short of the 20-30 kids in a typical elementary school class. So a creative teacher adds more....like a lobster or 3.

So hats off to all of the teachers who go the extra mile - and to the parents who make the lobster costumes!

Happy holidays, and best wishes for a wonderful 2016.