What constitutes a "Christmas Movie"?

[FlightlessDuck]

Does the story have to relate to Christmas in some way, or does it have to take place at Christmas only? What about a movie that takes place over months or years but ends with Christmas?

For example, Meet Me in St. Louis is four vignettes, one for each season and ends with Christmas. Is that truly a Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life is a life story and ends at Christmas. Is that really a Christmas movie?

Die Hard and Die Hard 2 take place at Christmas. So does Batman Returns and Gremlins.

White Christmas takes place during two Christmases with a montage in between. Holiday Inn, meanwhile, takes place over multiple holidays.

To me, Holiday Inn and Meet Me in St. Louis aren't Christmas movies. It's a Wonderful Life is kinda a Christmas movie.

Thoughts?

 

[Praying Colonel]

Does the story have to relate to Christmas in some way, or does it have to take place at Christmas only? What about a movie that takes place over months or years but ends with Christmas?

For example, Meet Me in St. Louis is four vignettes, one for each season and ends with Christmas. Is that truly a Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life is a life story and ends at Christmas. Is that really a Christmas movie?

Die Hard and Die Hard 2 take place at Christmas. So does Batman Returns and Gremlins.

White Christmas takes place during two Christmases with a montage in between. Holiday Inn, meanwhile, takes place over multiple holidays.

To me, Holiday Inn and Meet Me in St. Louis aren't Christmas movies. It's a Wonderful Life is kinda a Christmas movie.

Thoughts?

"It's A Wonderful Life" is "kinda" a Christmas movie?

I better step away from the keyboard before I get points.

 

[wenrob]

I’ve always thought of Die Hard as a Christmas movie.

My kids battle over A Nightmare Before Christmas. I’ve never watched the whole thing through because the music is like nails on a chalkboard to me but Disneyland puts the overlay on HM before Halloween and doesn’t take it down until after the New Year. So, Christmas movie.

Rise of the Guardians is technically an Easter movie but Santa is the leader of the whole crew so I see it as a Christmas movie as well.

My definition of a Christmas movie? One you watch around the holiday every year whether it relates to Christmas or not.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

IMO - a movie that is about Christmas or takes place on or around Christmas. Home Alone is DD’s favorite Christmas movie and we watch it every year. I like The Holiday as a Christmas movie. And Die Hard. Lol.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

"It's A Wonderful Life" is "kinda" a Christmas movie?

George got suckered into staying in town and running his family business even though he wanted to go to college and be an architect. One could argue that if George attempted suicide on some random Tuesday in September, the story still works as-is. But then you don't get that iconic scene with him running down Main St: "Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, you good ole' Savings and Loan!" Plus the neighborhood coming by and giving cash as a Christmas gift to George to save the business. Or the bell.


As opposed to A Christmas Carol, which centers entirely around Christmas.

 

[Praying Colonel]

IMO - a movie that is about Christmas or takes place on or around Christmas. Home Alone is DD’s favorite Christmas movie and we watch it every year. I like The Holiday as a Christmas movie. And Die Hard. Lol.

 

[Praying Colonel]

George got suckered into staying in town and running his family business even though he wanted to go to college and be an architect. One could argue that if George attempted suicide on some random Tuesday in September, the story still works as-is. But then you don't get that iconic scene with him running down Main St: "Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, you good ole' Savings and Loan!" Plus the neighborhood coming buy and giving cash as a Christmas gift to George to save the business. Or the bell.

As opposed to A Christmas Carol, which centers entirely around Christmas.

Now you're just trolling me, right?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Now you're just trolling me, right?

No, although actually I talked myself back into it being a Christmas movie. Because you can make the same argument for Die Hard (does it matter why John is at Nakatomi Plaza?). And Die Hard IS a Christmas Movie.




But Meet Me in St. Louis and Holiday Day Inn aren't.

 

[luvsJack]

I think A Wonderful Life is most definitely a Christmas movie. Not because of when it takes place but because of the feelings it generates and the fact that the suicide attempt and coming back from it all happened at Christmas.

Die Hard is just a good movie. I don't see it as a Christmas movie, although my sons always insisted it got added to our annual night of Christmas movies. To me, Christmas movies have to give you that Christmas "feeling" whether its of family, joy, whatever.



I find it funny that whichever channel it is that runs a month of Halloween movies and a month of Christmas movies always includes Harry Potter in both when its really neither, imho.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Does the story have to relate to Christmas in some way, or does it have to take place at Christmas only? What about a movie that takes place over months or years but ends with Christmas?

For example, Meet Me in St. Louis is four vignettes, one for each season and ends with Christmas. Is that truly a Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life is a life story and ends at Christmas. Is that really a Christmas movie?

Die Hard and Die Hard 2 take place at Christmas. So does Batman Returns and Gremlins.

White Christmas takes place during two Christmases with a montage in between. Holiday Inn, meanwhile, takes place over multiple holidays.

To me, Holiday Inn and Meet Me in St. Louis aren't Christmas movies. It's a Wonderful Life is kinda a Christmas movie.

Thoughts?

Recently heard a critic give his list of best holiday movies and he included "Die Hard". His argument was it revolved around the holiday period and explored the theme of family and salvation. I couldn't disagree with his well thought out soliloquy as much of what he said made sense on the level he presented it BUT "Yippee-ki-yay..." just doesn't touch my heart in a Joy to the World kind of way, LOL.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

This person makes the same argument I do about It's a Wonderful Life:
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/wonderful-life-isnt-actually-christmas-film

 

[Praying Colonel]

The whole movie takes place around several days starting before Christmas and going through New Year's. In one memorable scene, Aykroyd crashes his old firm's Christmas party dressed as Santa Claus, which ends with him getting really drunk, stuffing meat from the buffet table into the pockets of his red coat, and then trying to eat it through his synthetic beard on the bus. It's a gag-worthy moment.

In addition to the timing of the movie, there are Christmas (and Christian) themes throughout. For one thing, it's about how everyone can thrive, even those who are poor beggars, if given the right chance by someone. Dan Aykroyd's character gets back on his feet through the help of a prostitute he meets (Ophelia, played by Jamie Lee Curtis). During his down period, Aykroyd goes through a "no room at the inn" experience, when trying to visit his friends at his old tennis club (who are shunning him).

Trading Places: The Best Christmas Movie

 

[NYCgrrl]

No, although actually I talked myself back into it being a Christmas movie. Because you can make the same argument for Die Hard (does it matter why John is at Nakatomi Plaza?). And Die Hard IS a Christmas Movie.


But Meet Me in St. Louis and Holiday Day Inn aren't.

I think Christmas is the MacGuffin of the film to paraphrase Hitchcock. In essence, anytime would make a great excuse to blow up a building, shoot a bunch of people and discuss Roy Rogers' love of sequined shirts.

 

[sam_gordon]

For me to consider it a "Christmas Movie", the movie needs to be set in/around Christmas OR the story is about Christmas.

"It's a Wonderful Life"- Christmas Movie
"Die Hard" - OK, Christmas Movie
"Home Alone" - Christmas Movie
"The Santa Clause" (and follow ups) - Christmas Movie

 

[Hikergirl]

If there is a Christmas tree in it, or someone is wearing a Santa hat, it's pretty much a Christmas movie.

 

[J'aime Paris]

We watched Why Him? over Thanksgiving weekend. It was so funny!
It's going into our Xmas movie rotation!

 

[BrianL]

Recently heard a critic give his list of best holiday movies and he included "Die Hard". His argument was it revolved around the holiday period and explored the theme of family and salvation. I couldn't disagree with his well thought out soliloquy as much of what he said made sense on the level he presented it BUT "Yippee-ki-yay..." just doesn't touch my heart in a Joy to the World kind of way, LOL.

How about Lethal Weapon? Also a Christmas Movie in the vein of Die Hard. It opens with Jingle Bell Rock, and much like It's a Wonderful Life, deals with the subject of suicide around the Holidays.

 

[ShadeDK]

"It's a Wonderful Life" became a Christmas classic thanks to cheap TV programming directors and loopholes in copyright law. Originally released in January 1947, the movie was a critical success but commercial failure. It was largely forgotten in the decades that followed - until 1974 when the studio forgot to renew the copyright registration on the film. For the next 20 years, the movie essentially existed in the public domain. Many penny-pinching local TV stations in the 1980s started showing the film at the holidays as cheap programming - at which point the movie took on a second life and was shown so often that it became an annual tradition (in the mid-1990s, the copyright owners of the story won a Supreme Court case barring unauthorized showings of the movie as a derivative work - so now airings are much more restricted).

Regardless of where you come out on whether "It's a Wonderful Life" is a Christmas movie, it's popularity at the holidays resulted from traditions that began for reasons that have nothing to do with the movie's content or setting (sort of like "A Christmas Story" - which was also a box office failure but gained massive popularity as a tradition thanks to TBS 24-hour viewings on Christmas - although I don't think anyone is debating whether a movie called "A Christmas Story" is a Christmas movie)

 

[Mizzoufan]

For me that one that has a religious theme to it.

 

[L&Lfan]

Disney's The Small One (1978) is a Christmas featurette but I think it's been withdrawn from circulation due to its religious content. Does anyone know if it will air on Disney Channel or Free Form or any other Disney outlet?