There are many things that come with Christmas that you to have to deal, with no matter what you do or where you go to try to avoid them. Things like an abundance of chocolate Santa’s in supermarkets and hearing the same songs over and over again, whether you’re working in retail or listening to the radio. Then there’s the seemingly never-ending number of Christmas films. They’ve been around for years but the criteria for what constitutes a Christmas film always seem to be questionable. Some people may think it’s just a simple matter of it being set on or around Christmas, and there you have a Christmas film. Or maybe it tries to apply one of the main values often associated with the holiday like redemption, love or family. In some cases that may be true but history has shown time and time again that due to how many different types of Christmas film there are, the idea of what actually makes one can vary widely.
While Christmas films go as far back as 1898 with a film just called Santa Claus I think the modern idea of the Christmas film doesn’t come into play until 1946 with It’s A Wonderful Life. I avoid using the predictable term ‘classic’ because at the time that film lost $525,000 at the American box office – and yet now, many people enjoy it as a holiday classic. I saw it once and don’t remember too clearly what I thought of it but I don’t think I’ve felt much of an urge to see it again. A year later another film came along that would go on to become forever associated with Christmas – Miracle on 34th Street. This one I admit I haven’t seen but I have come across the 1994 remake on TV many times. I don’t stick around to watch it but I have been told that if I get the chance to watch it, maybe I should.
If you were to look at the two films I have just mentioned you would think all that a Christmas film is trying to be is equal parts tear-jerking and heart-warming. But like all the other genres of films, there are many sub-genres that include films mainly set at Christmas but that have key components of another genre.
As an example, what about Christmas musicals? Think of films like White Christmas from 1954. It’s got Christmas all over it, but also plot-freezing songs for the characters to sing. There’s also The Nightmare Before Christmas – despite being an admirer of Tim Burton for many years I still have not seen that one, but if I had to bet which one I had a better chance of watching and liking I would have to bet on Nightmare over White anytime.
For a while people might have thought that Christmas films were all cheery, happy and innocent. That was before a sub-genre emerged that I like to call ‘Christmas action.’ It seemed popular in the late 80s with films like the first Die Hard, which actually started something of a debate among film fans as to whether or not it actually was a Christmas film. The debate still goes on, but I think people have mostly agreed that it does count. A year later another film would come along that was maybe hoping to be in the same league – this was Lethal Weapon which was as far away from the likes of Wonderful Life and White Christmas as possible. One of the protagonists was suicidal, there’s drug dealing, shootouts and being chased by Mel Gibson. There’s also some debate about Lethal Weapon’s status as a genuine Christmas film, but it’s interesting to note that action films taking place at Christmas seems to be something of a trope with its writer Shane Black – his only film set outside the holiday that I can think of is 2018’s The Predator which was set around Hallowe’en.
Christmas isn’t safe from the horror genre either. Just look at films like Black Christmas and another classic film Gremlins from 1984 which has often been declared too scary for its target audience of children. But that didn’t seem to hurt its popularity and as well as having the horror elements it does try to balance things out with some very dark comedy. I don’t know if you could say that it worked but Gremlins did get a sequel years later which I would say is evidence that despite all the controversy, there was definitely a market for Christmas films of this nature. I don’t know why Christmas films in the 1980s got so obsessed with carnage and bloodshed but if I had to guess I would have to say it was all in the name of juxtaposition… or at least that’s how the people who made them would likely try and justify it. People may find it hard to accept a head-chopping Santa Claus in a film like Silent Night, Deadly Night also released in 1984, but they are understandably more accepting of a small brown furry creature voiced by Howie Mandel.
I’m going to do something that may be considered odd. I’m going to lump Christmas comedies and Christmas family films together. I think it’s necessary to do so since many family films set at Christmas are also comedies, especially in the 90s with films like Jingle All The Way. I’ve seen it at least once and while it’s definitely not Arnie’s finest hour I don’t think it’s as bad as people make It out to be. It’s impossible to talk about Christmas family films without mentioning Home Alone. Like many people I enjoy the first Home Alone very much and ever since 2016 I’ve made a conscious effort to watch it every Christmas. Last year since I wasn’t going far I watched 1 and 2 back-to-back. The first is obviously a classic while the second has its moments but is a little too reliant on riding the success of the first one. I don’t think it can be as bad as Home Sweet Home Alone which at the time of writing has already spent some time on Disney+ and gathered a lot of negative reviews. I’m still trying to decide whether or not I will watch it. I guess that is the price something like Home Alone pays for being a successful film franchise that now it has as many entries that have gone straight to TV or streaming services as actually got a theatrical release. Jingle All the Way only has one direct-to-DVD sequel. I haven’t seen it and I don’t intend to.
Christmas family films aren’t all slapstick. Some do appear to take a more fantastical approach like The Polar Express or Jack Frost. Under the right circumstances someone could just about end up living the events of Home Alone or Jingle All The Way but it wouldn’t be viewed as funny by anyone. Whereas I don’t think you have to worry about dead relatives coming back as snowmen or a train appearing outside your house on Christmas Eve with a conductor voiced by Tom Hanks.
Christmas comedy hasn’t forgotten about the adult audiences either – just look at films like Bad Santa or A Bad Mom’s Christmas. I can only imagine how much those films revel in how raunchy they can be.
Christmas is also no stranger to literary adaptations, given the innumerable versions of A Christmas Carol, some of which are musicals which won’t please any hardcore Dickens fans. But for every good adaption of A Christmas Carol, there’s bound to be something like Christmas with the Kranks. As a book it was called Skipping Christmas but the main point to remember is that while Kranks was an adaptation that failed in just about all areas, the book isn’t meant to be that good either. Most adaptations of A Christmas Carol seem to do okay, whether a faithful retelling of the story, a musical or an attempt to make the story more contemporary like Bill Murray in Scrooged in 1988. The Grinch Stole Christmas has been released theatrically twice, with a gap of only eighteen years between them, but I don’t think either was considered particularly better than the other. In fact people seem to prefer the short cartoon version of it from 1966.
To my mind there seems to be a Christmas film to satisfy any taste and this can only be a good thing since people who don’t like musicals but also want to watch a Christmas film can turn to something like Die Hard and people who like don’t like action may choose something like Elf or Home Alone. I don’t think there’s any winning formula for a Christmas film – like all genres there are good and bad. Enjoy whatever it is you choose to watch over the holidays but if you don’t like what you choose just say, “keep the change, you filthy animal!”