A Dash of Christmas Movies Makes for a Merry Year-End
From ‘Elf’ to ‘Home Alone’ to ‘The Holiday’ — no matter the age, country, religion, we absolutely eat up Christmas movies (adding to the holiday season weight!)
Christmas Movies Back in the Day
“First we’ll make snow angels for two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough as fast as we can and then we’ll snuggle!”
This dialogue from Elf pretty much sums up your quintessential Christmas film. Cue in the snowy nights in a small, albeit charming town, the hot chocolate by the fireplace, our Chocolate Boy and leading lady falling in love at Christmas markets, the endearing supporting characters, all topped with a feel-good end like marshmallows on hot chocolate (yes, there’s a LOT of chocolate!).
The Evolution of the Christmas Movie
There’s no denying that these films have come a long way, from the traditional Santa stories and holiday rituals to the protagonists meeting via online dating apps (‘Love Hard’, 2021). The films today are much more real, tackling real life issues like career, love and heartbreak; but the touch of Christmas magic still remains. So while we might not see a Santa Claus in most new-age films or switch places with a doppelgänger (cue in ‘Princess Switch’), the magic is in the lovers meeting, families celebrating and the sheer cheer of communal festivity after a period of hardship.
Why Do We Love Them Oh-So-Much?
Besides the fact that they’re the visual depiction of sweets & snuggles, it’s that warm, fuzzy feeling of the season’s magic and everything falling right into place. These films are always a no-brainer, you can practically predict the dialogues, let alone the plot but the feel-good themes of love, family and friendship keep most of us going back for more every year. The human mind finds comfort in patterns and predictability and that’s exactly what this genre does for us. And now thanks to Netflix, we can begin the marathon from as early as November every year.
And then there’s the ensemble holiday film (cue in ‘Love Actually’); something so very riveting about all our favourite actors in one place stumbling around a busy city with multiple love stories unfolding at the same time.
So while it may not snow in some parts of the world and the temperature may only ever drop to 24 degrees (I refer to my hometown, Mumbai), it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to put on a Christmas sweater and maybe get cold chocolate instead of hot, and run that Christmas movie marathon year after year after year 🎄
