What constitutes a “Christmas Movie”?
A few weeks before Christmas (after I had written the previous rant about Christmas specials on DVD but before it posted), Teresa came up to my den and started looking for the Christmas movies. She wanted to get the animated ones for her daycare and the rest of them so we’d finally watch them this year. She became frustrated when she asked where they were and I said, “Frosty is under F and Rudolf is under R.” She said I should keep them in their own section so they were easy to find. I considered this once but decided against it when I could not come up with a definitive list of criteria that puts a movie in the “Christmas” section.
What makes a Christmas movie?
Some of them are easy enough. Christmas Vacation and Scrooged are my two favorite Christmas movies and I could easily move them to the new section. Even easier are the classic animations like Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Both the animated and live-action versions of How the Grinch Stole Christmas easily fall in the category. Obviously A Christmas Story is easy to list but I run into a little trouble with the Rankin/Bass specials like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Those two are easy to call “Christmas” movies but what about Rudolph’s Shiny New Year? Technically not a Christmas movie. It has Santa Claus, reindeer, snow, toys… but the plot is about Father Time and Baby New Year. If you say I’m being nitpicky about that one, what about Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July? Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, Christmas in the freaking title… but not a Christmas movie. Nothing you tell me will convince me that a July 4th circus in the south is a Christmas movie, however The Year Without a Santa Claus is most certainly a Christmas movie (and 3rd on my favorites list) and it was all about “Southtown”… And just what the hell do we do with The Nightmare Before Christmas?
It can’t be as simple as having elements like snow or a Christmas tree or I’d have The Empire Strikes Back and The Poseidon Adventure in the Christmas category.
It can’t be as simple as taking place during Christmas because no matter what people say, Gremlins is NOT a Christmas movie. Neither are the first two Die Hards. I’m undecided about Home Alone but I’m leaning toward allowing it.
Leaving it as vague as “movies we generally watch during the Christmas season” won’t work because I remember The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz coming on TV during Christmas season when I was a kid. Also you get freaks like me that like to watch Full Metal Jacket and the Gary Oldman version of Dracula between Christmas and New Years. I don’t know why, I just do…
So it comes down to personal preference. I prefer to organize all my movies in alphabetical order, regardless of genre.
Frosty is under F and Rudolph is under R. Always has been, always will be.
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