What Exactly is a Christmas Movie?

I feel that this category is vast

The discussion last week was about one of my new favorite Christmas movies, and I hope to discuss several more of my favorite Christmas movies this month. This, however, has led me to consider the category of the Christmas movie. What films fit into this category, and why?

I want this category to be as broad as possible because I think it’s more fun when there’s a large variety of different kinds of movies that can be watched alongside each other. However, at least for me, I worry that if the category were too broad, it wouldn’t really mean anything. Of course, everyone’s opinions are different, and here I’ll just work through mine.

For me, there are multiple ways in which a film can be a Christmas movie. There are different elements that it can have, which would put the film alongside other films in the same category.

One element is the fact that the film is about Christmas. The holiday itself plays a major role in the setting and/or the plot. This element is the essential feature of the Hallmark Christmas movies, which I watch with my mom. She finds them to be lighthearted fun. I don’t disagree; I just get bored if I watch too many because they share so many similar plot beats and character arcs. Still, though, they’re nice for a calm evening after a long day. Of the Hallmark films I’ve seen, the holiday plays a central role because it spurs characters to prepare for a visit with family and/or friends, or to make preparations, or to even get involved in contests related to the holiday. The fact that it is Christmas sets the plot into motion in major ways.

Classic examples with this element also include the Home Alone films, in which a holiday trip causes the family members of the protagonist Kevin McCallister to fend off burglars on his own. Also, any adaptation of the classic Christmas novels and short stories, such as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. These stories have the holiday spur important moments in the plot and compel significant actions by the characters.

The film can also be about Christmas because it focuses on the fantastical characters of Christmas. Films about Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and other characters in this pantheon are no doubt Christmas movies, even if they don’t take place completely on Christmas or completely on the days leading up to Christmas. Klaus, the film discussed last week, takes place over the course of a year.

I also think several characters have become new members of the pantheon of Christmas characters, including the Grinch, created by Dr. Seuss.

In contrast, there are quite a few films that take place on Christmas but that don’t focus on the holiday much. Here, the film’s place in the category sometimes feels a little harder to explain because the holiday itself isn’t pushing the plot or characters forward. The holiday just happens to be in the background. One example of this is Iron Man 3. I do enjoy that movie quite a bit, and it happens to take place on Christmas, which I’ve heard happens to be the case with many films that Shane Black has written and/or directed. Another classic example is Die Hard.

At least for me, Die Hard feels more like a Christmas movie because of the visual references to the holiday, including decorations and Santa hats. Iron Man 3 feels less so because there are so few references to the holiday.

Other movies that I would consider Christmas movies feature the holiday not as the central element of the setting or as a constant feature in the background, but instead include the holiday or the season of the holiday in a very significant scene or sequence. Two examples that come to my mind are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Peanuts Movie. At first glance, these films seem to have nothing in common. However, both films take place over the course of a school year, and both films include important scenes set on or around Christmas. Enhancing the inclusion of Christmas in these films is the fact that these films feature themes in motifs that my mind associates with the holiday. Both films, in very different ways, are about characters growing and changing and strengthening their relationships with the people around them. The sense of community and family that these films generate are felt even more strongly in their scenes about Christmas. For those reasons, when I think of Christmas films, these two titles come to my mind.

Other films that I think fit in the category of Christmas movies connect with the religious and theological foundation of the holiday, either overtly or symbolically. Plenty of films adapt Biblical narratives of the birth of Jesus, and plenty of films also illustrate aspects of Jesus’s life as narrated in the Bible. These films are definitely Christmas movies. In a less direct way, films that feature metaphors or symbols for Jesus are also Christmas movies to me. Examples of this could include The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Both film series feature characters that embody or represent various dimensions of Jesus as Jesus is described in Biblical narratives.

However, I do have a distinction between the books and the movies here. While the films feel like Christmas movies, I wouldn’t consider the books to be Christmas books in the same way that A Christmas Carol is. What I have read of the books (I regrettably haven’t read either series; I hope to correct this soon) gave me the sense of a story more epic and vast than their themes and motifs related to Christian theology. These theological elements are strong in the books, but because the books feel so expansive in a way that the movies cannot be because of their runtime, the theological elements sit alongside other elements in the book while feeling more prominent in the movies. Again, though, this is just my view based on what I have seen of the books and the movies.

To conclude this discussion for the time being, a notable case study can be analyzed. A question I’ve had with my friends and colleagues in recent weeks has been, is The Nightmare Before Christmas more of a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie? Several of my friends have deemed it to be more of a Halloween movie. I totally see what they’re saying. There are so many ghosts and ghouls in the film, and there’s an overtly gothic and creepy atmosphere. The conclusion I came to was that the film is aesthetically a Halloween movie and thematically a Christmas film. The themes are about personal reflection, as protagonist Jack Skellington wonders if his role as the Pumpkin King is what he’s meant for, or if a different role would suit him better. Also, the love story between Sally and Jack, in which Jack realizes that the person he loves has been beside him this whole time, fits with the themes of community and human connection prominent in many Christmas movies.

This conclusion about A Nightmare Before Christmas that I’ve come to can be applied to the discussion earlier. Some films are Christmas movies aesthetically through incorporating the visuals of the holiday, such as Die Hard. Some films are Christmas films thematically because they incorporate themes of connection, charity, and love that are essential to the holiday and/or because they incorporate theological elements. Perhaps a third descriptor could be that some films are Christmas films structurally because Christmas spurs the plot or is a major aspect of the plot or a plot sequence. This would include the Hallmark movies and the classics such as Home Alone.

Again, though, I’m just freewheeling here. A Christmas movie feels like a Christmas movie. The reasons why were what I wanted to explore here, but I think the feeling is ultimately the most important.

What feels like a Christmas movie to you? Feel free to share in the comments and to describe some of your favorite Christmas movies!