A snowflake soothing a flushed cheek with its icy tingle. The condensation licking its way up the windows. The room filling with the voices of your nearest and dearest. The gifts, the lights, and the music. The kiss under the mistletoe. Christmas is the season of sensation, both physical and emotional. It’s warmth, it’s company, it’s love.
This all translates onto the big screen. The time-old desire to fill your heart with compassion, to share and be shared with, comes to boil over the Christmas season – and we express this in our festive films.
This festive feeling brews a certain sense of movie magic that no other film category holds a torch to. What exactly is in Christmas movies that makes them feed our souls so heartily? How do they do it?
To start, we need to go way back and revisit one of the earliest Christmas Classics: It’s a Wonderful Life.
Vintage emotion
For those who haven’t seen it – watch it. In the meantime, the plot follows a man called George Bailey, who is about to take his life on Christmas Eve, 1945 in a bout of hopelessness. George’s life had been derailed at each turn; every dream was lost, all passion extinguished in favour of upholding his father’s loan company to maintain his legacy. Every friend and peer left the sleepy town in a quest to fulfil their ambitions; George was left behind. After a particularly bad day, George cannot see a way out and condemns his life.
It sounds a little too miserable to be Christmassy when surmised like that. So, how is the Christmas classic even considered as such?
For starters, it’s set during Christmas Eve. The quaint town, donned with the black and white film roll of its age, is quiet, peaceful, and blanketed with snow. Box one – ticked.
The second criterion, and the forerunning element in creating that Christmas magic to fill the heart, is a sense of fulfilment. Completing your duty, creating hope, and doing good. It’s a Wonderful Life adheres to this to a tee. The long, hard labour of George’s life comes to fruition. The gratitude and togetherness create the phenomenon of the Christmas spirit and cinches the plot of the tale with a heart-warming conclusion.
It’s a Wonderful Life aims to show the value of each person. Love and appreciation are all around, even when they can’t be felt. It’s a film about a connected community in the face of adversity, where each is grateful for the other. Plus, it’s set at Christmas. What more can you ask for in a festive film? It’s a Wonderful Life is undoubtedly the foundation of the Christmas genre and the epitome of the Christmas spirit. And it will bring a tear to your eye.
Nostalgia and niceness
The next stop on our quest to source the sustenance of the Christmas spirit is A Christmas Carol – of course, the Muppets’ iteration.
Now, the musical element neither adds nor detracts from the festive feel. You could argue it perhaps makes it more whimsical and more family-orientated, thus more Christmassy. Although, enough is going on to make it a Christmas film besides the songs.
Of course, The Muppet Christmas Carol is based on the novella of the same name by Charles Dickens (who features in the film, portrayed by Gonzo). Immediately, the use of a classic old story being told through the familiar-favourite medium of Muppetry hits the jackpot on nostalgia. Connecting to the past, to childhood, brings us that sense of infantile happiness, purity and family which is utterly important in creating the Christmas Spirit.
The tale of a man, bitter with loneliness, wealth and hatred learning of empathy, community and love, distributing his wealth and giving to the poor thus dismantling the cogs of capitalism is without a doubt Christmassy. It banishes the idea of Christmas materialism and introduces the fundamental Christmas idea of gratitude and community.
What else makes The Muppet Christmas Carol Christmassy, however, is the way it looks. Traditional buildings smothered in snow, woollen clothes, and crackling fires; it’s wintery, sure, but also Christmassy. The eclectic use of colour, vintage textures and styles: it is simplicity.
Humble presentations in a film valuing modesty and generosity – the season of giving visualised. The Muppet Christmas Carol tell a story that iterates how life is about the simple things, and focuses on simple lives portrayed by simple things.
It’s rustic, stripped-back, and heartfelt; Christmassy through and through.
Love, love, and love
Now, what about when a film isn’t retro or purely family-orientated? How are some of our favourite festive romcoms creating the Christmas spirit?
Love Actually faces a lot of scrutiny. Its many different plot lines allow for various things to get up in arms about. However, there is one important thing that makes it a Christmas classic. Whether it’s romantic, platonic or familial, the film focuses on love. As emphasised in the revamped song in its opening scenes, or the viral Hugh Grant voiceover, Love Actually aims to show love is what is important and is what is present. The intertwined plot adds to that Christmas spirit of community and connection.
Ultimately, however, the fact it’s set at Christmas is what makes the film a Christmas film. Otherwise, it’s really not that different from He’s Just Not That Into You. However, the moral is what makes it a good Christmas film; even if the execution, in the light of modernity, is a bit iffy.
The Christmas spirit
So, what makes Christmas films feel like that? The vaguest answer, but possibly the most accurate one, comes down to the old association: ‘tis the season to be jolly.
Jolliness from generosity, jolliness from companionship, jolliness for the sake of being jolly. Selflessness and togetherness; sincerity and love. Jolliness from connection, compassion and bonding. It’s the season to be grateful and to spend time with those we love. The end of the year brings new decisions, new ambitions, and new leaves to turn over; there’s a desperation to make things right. The goodness of the soul is at the forefront of Christmas.
That is what each of these three films does, and is a recurring theme across the majority of festive movies. It is the essence of the Christmas spirit and is ultimately what creates a Christmas film.
Feature image credit: RKO Radio Pictures
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