by: Michelle Barnhart
Thanksgiving has passed and winter holiday traditions are already in full swing. And one of the most common holiday traditions is watching movies.
Hallmark Channel is already knee-deep in their annual Countdown to Christmas marathon. Classics such as It’s A Wonderful Life, and the Home Alone franchise are popping up on TV guides. People are browsing through streaming services and DVD cases to find their holiday favorites. But what are some of these favorites? What are some interesting new holiday movies? And how do people feel about holiday movies in general?
Chike Coleman, a former Parkland College student who has done movie reviews for Urbana Public Television, offered his thoughts on holiday films.
“Without question my tradition of watching Christmas movies begins and ends with Home Alone 2,” he said. “I have to see that movie every year around this time because while the first film is a classic in its own right, the second one asks the audience how you would feel as a kid lost in a big city and if you can give hope to others. I also have to give special mention to The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen and A Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine.”
Hannah Zercher, a current Parkland student, also shared a holiday movie tradition.
“I love the Peanuts holiday movies because my dad and I watch them every year and we have since I can remember,” she said.
Coleman and Zercher also shared which holiday movies they feel are overrated and underrated.
“A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation are overrated, as well as Love Actually,” Coleman said. “They’re played way too often.”
As examples of underrated movies, Coleman provided This Christmas, Joyeux Noel and the Doctor Who Christmas special titled, “The Christmas Invasion.” Zercher also provided Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh as an underrated Christmas watch.
Christmas is obviously not the only winter holiday that is celebrated, but it is the one portrayed most often by the film industry. Most, if not all, of the popular holiday films are about Christmas, hence the term “Christmas classics.”
Although Hallmark Channel is releasing Hanukkah movies this year, there is still a blatant lack of non-Christmas holiday movies. Coleman offers some insight as to why this may be.
“There is a dire need for more diversity in winter holiday movies… It is important to make more films about other holidays so that other traditions and religions can be represented”.
“Films that are different from cultural perspectives get boxed in as just independent films from foreign filmmakers,” he said. “It’s why asking students to explain the importance of Ramadan or Kwanzaa is met with silence while explaining the meaning of Christmas is something children can say in a few key phrases. The diverse holiday traditions and cultural touchstones aren’t being told and it’s not because no one tells those stories, it’s because no one is listening.”
Both Coleman and Zercher believe there is a dire need for more diversity in winter holiday movies. Zercher said it is important to make more films about other holidays so that other traditions and religions can be represented.
“If you were to ask me if there are any winter seasonal movies other than Christmas ones, I wouldn’t be able to think of one,” she said.
Zercher added that people who do not celebrate Christmas probably get tired of seeing the same Christmas plots repeatedly. Therefore, there should be more movies about other holidays so that people who celebrate them will have films to relate to.
There are a variety of holiday movies making their way to theatres and television in 2019. Netflix has just released A Knight Before Christmas, starring Vanessa Hudgens. A remake of the Canadian slasher film Black Christmas will be released in theatres on Friday, Dec. 13. Hallmark and Lifetime will be airing holiday movies until the end of December, including two Hanukkah-centric ones called Double Date and A Double Holiday on Dec. 14 and 22, respectively.
