Once again, it’s the time of the year when we huddle up with our families in front of the television. With hot cocoa in our hands, we eagerly await to watch the traditional holiday movie we tend to watch every year. While some find joy in this repetition, others have grown tired of the same cliche plots, calling for more innovative, new stories. However, movie studios have proven unable to meet this ever-present demand, instead producing a surplus of subpar holiday films that fall short of general audience standards. Thus, we seem to find ourselves in somewhat of a holiday movie crisis.
Many teachers and students agree. “I feel like there hasn’t really been a good Christmas movie since Elf. They could step up their game for sure,” junior Bennet Parisi said. It’s hard to disagree. Released back in 2003, Elf has somehow been the newest movie that most people treat as a “holiday classic.” For a genre with so many releases, over twenty years without a new hit is an extremely long time.
Part of this issue is our conception of holiday movies as a genre. “They’re all nostalgia based…so if you don’t have that nostalgia, I don’t think you’d really be a big fan of holiday movies,” junior Michael Amster said. Most of the joy these films evoke comes from our memories as young children, enjoying time spent with family and friends. That being said, this nostalgia and sense of joy only works when the movie is good to begin with.
If a film isn’t meaningful today, there is no way that it will be remembered for decades to come. Instead, they will be forgotten, and the only movies that we will think of watching are the same classics. “I can’t think of any new holiday movies I’ve seen recently,” math teacher Hannah Vogel said. “I might have seen some Hallmark Channel [movies], but I can’t remember the names of them.”
New releases aren’t helping the case. “The most recent one I’ve watched was Red One, which is an action-holiday movie. I didn’t like it,” Amster said.
This mirrors a larger trend of recent holiday movies: lots of attempts but few memorable successes. Even remakes of classics receive overwhelmingly negative feedback, as they prioritize eye-catching visuals and run-time over genuine emotion and holiday spirit. Take, for example, The Grinch, an animated classic from 1966 that was remade into a live-action film in 2000. “I don’t like the live action Grinch. I’m not a fan. It’s a little too slap-sticky for me. The animated version is better, and also shorter, which helps a lot,” Ms. Vogel said.
Holiday movies are an important tradition. “The theming is a lot of what makes holiday movies special. Movies can help reinforce that sense of belonging, because you almost feel you are connected to it,” Amster said. But, if this holiday movie crisis continues, we may not be able to enjoy this tradition in years to come. If new movies are not memorable, it will be impossible to recreate the sense of nostalgia that keeps us watching the classics year after year.
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