Tis the season to spend an evening with a box of Quality Streets (to yourself of course), curling up with a fuzzy blanket and watching a Christmas movie. Such as The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, The Santa Clause, or the Polar Express. So many classics, filled with fun and nostalgia for the whole family.
To get into the festive spirit, I spoke to Marjon students Jess and Lexi, both 19, about their festive feel good movie. it seems that several classics such as Arthur Christmas and Elf have stood the test of time, but an interesting twist also came up. Jess asked me “Does Rise of the Guardians count?” That shook my fundamental Christmas beliefs and make me question:
What really makes a Christmas film?
Does being set at Christmas make a Christmas film? Die Hard haters would say no, and that was my argument for Rise of the Guardians.
“But what about Home Alone?” I hear you ask. And I agree, who doesn’t love the classic story of the attempted manslaughter of two burglars? So Christmassy.
Perhaps it has to centre Christmas? That would discount fake Christmas movies like Gremlins yet still leaves the Home Alone franchise discarded with the Ghost of non-Christmas films past, present and yet to come
Maybe everything is a Christmas film, maybe nothing is, maybe the Christmas film is the friends we made along the way. There is no one format, it would leave us with one thing. So maybe, just maybe, we can learn to accept the probably wrong opinions of our peers?
Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?