Overview of Christmas Films

I love Christmas. Unashamedly. Bad jokes, odd-shaped chairs, uncles you only see once a year, terrible jumpers, narcoleptic grandparents are all vital elements to Christmas, however, one thing that unites everyone is a good Christmas film. A special breed of films that can unite family and friends, dispense with myths of credit crunches and recessions, and gives people hope and happiness for one special day.

Christmas is about happiness, enjoying each other’s company and being kind and creating a utopia for one simple day within households across the world. However, Hollywood tries to tarnish this image by producing horrible, cliché ridden, over simplistic stories about Christmas. Recent examples such as Fred Claus, Surviving Christmas and Four Christmases all present the simple plot line of the main protagonists starting as someone who hates Christmas or is an obnoxious fool or both. However, either through a kooky coincidence or random event, it causes the characters to face up to an inconvenient event. This goes on to a series of Norman Wisdom style gags and eventually an eye-opening finale with the characters realising the errors of their ways and realising the true joy of Christmas. Humbug I say.

The general feel of these films are that actors are working for the money producing lazy performances; special mentions go to Vince Vaughn and Tim Allen. Furthermore, every year studios quickly produce these films for the festive season cashing in on the public’s want for Christmas cheer in these depressing times yet sadly the public come out even more depressed after viewing these terrible films. These films are constantly criticised, with Ben Affleck’s Surviving Christmas achieving a score of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes and entering at 91^st in the 100 worst films of the 2000s. However, these films can’t kill Christmas spirit no matter how hard they try.

Modern Christmas films should not be all placed in this lowly category such as The Polar Express, Love Actually and Elf all show how it can be done. These films are colourful, happy and innocent films. They can be criticised for being weak, under scripted, poorly acted and not have the quality of normal films, but, at Christmas that’s not the point. Requiem for A Dream is a great film but in the context of Christmas, it doesn’t quite fit in so a little indulgence into these films is not necessarily a bad thing. For example The Polar Express has a thin story yet involves a plethora of beautiful colours and scenery, filling your head and heart with the excitement you held when you were young and rewarding the audience with good feelings instead of a flimsy anti-consumerist message of other recent films.

There are many other great films such as the brilliance of Die Hard, the inventiveness of Nightmare before Christmas, the cuteness of both versions of Miracle on 34^th Street, the serene silence of the Snowman, the satirical Scrooged and of course Home Alone. However, there are two stand out films which, personally, reveal and the true meaning of Christmas and will lighten even the darkest of days.- the Muppets Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life.

The Muppets Christmas Carol is witty, funny, inspiring, toe-tapping, entertaining piece of cinema and Michael Caine’s portrayal of Scrooge is pitch-perfect. His transformation from cold miser to generous open-hearted man is the most heart warming tale. The final scene with the entire town surrounding the table enjoying a Christmas dinner and basking in the glowing warmth of the sense of family is beautiful. Critics will disagree but that’s not the point, it means something to me and that’s all that matters.

However, one film that defines Christmas and must be watched by everyone every Christmas is Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. This film is as good in July as it is in December because it is pure Capra-esque “feel- good”. The story follows George Bailey and his belief he should never have been born. His dreams are crushed, every mishap that could happen does happen, life seems hopeless and reaches the point where suicide is seen as the only option. Nevertheless, the conclusion is so enriching, so joyous, so tremendous, it is probably the most life affirming film you’ll ever see. It’s perfection.

Thus, in conclusion, these are just a few suggestions over what to watch this Christmas, however, this is just my opinion and everyone is different and you may disagree because every film has their own tradition and that’s what Christmas is. Christmas films are not all brilliant but to be honest, they make you feel the best you’ll feel all year and are part of the fabric of Christmas. All in all, as the Ghost of Christmas Present says in the Muppets Christmas Carol – “everything seems wonderful at Christmas”.