It’s an argument I hear every year: What qualifies a movie as a Christmas movie? I’ve stayed silent, year after year. But, I cannot stay silent any longer. That Old Picture Show’s definitive definition of what makes a Christmas movie:
A movie that has a plot that is dependent on the holiday season, can be considered a holiday movie. A movie can have a scene (or even several scenes) that take place at Christmas time, but if those scenes can be rewritten to simply remove the holiday setting and is virtually no different, that is not a Christmas movie.
So, what does this mean? This means that films like Die Hard, Gremlins, and Batman Returns can (and are, in my mind) characterized as Christmas movies.
Die Hard’s plot relies on it being Christmas time, full stop. More so, it relies on it being Christmas time in Los Angeles, California. John McClane travels to Los Angeles to visit his wife and children for the holidays. He goes to her company’s Christmas party straight from the airport. Now, Los Angeles is particularly empty at that time of year. People leave to go elsewhere. Go where it snows. Go to see family in more traditional locations. There’s a lack of traffic, lack of people, which is key for the terrorist’s plot in the film. The holiday is also one of the main reasons why the police first think that the whole thing is a prank. It’s the holiday’s. 911 pranks always get played on holidays. Die Hard 2, however, does not rely on it being Christmas eve. That is just circumstantial. In Los Angeles, LAX is always busy. Literally always. The events of the 2nd film can take place at any other time and the outcome would be no different. Because it involves airlines, airports, etc., it can take place at any time and the outcome of the events of the film would be no different. Which is not the case with Die Hard.
Gremlins entire plot relies on it being Christmas. Gizmo is given to Billy as a Christmas gift by his father. The town is empty, people are home, and that is all crucial to the plot of the film. The plot of the film relies on the time of year. Gremlins 2, however, is not a Christmas film, at all.
Now, Mean Girls has an iconic scene set at a Christmas talent show. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women has a notable Christmas scene. Edward Scissorhands gets some fun visuals by having some Christmas scenes. However, in every single case, those scenes can be removed from the Christmas setting and there is no difference to the film.
Batman Returns, however, does qualify as a Christmas movie. A crucial part of Penguin’s and Catwoman’s plan is to steal the Ice Princess to lure the Batman. The Ice Princess is a pageant held at the Christmas-tree lighting. Combine that with the first scene of the film, and it gets a bit hard to untangle the movie with the holiday.
If a scene or plotline can be removed from the holiday season and still make sense, then it is not a Christmas movie.
What movies do you consider to be non-traditional Christmas movies?
Man you were so close to being right. “A movie that has a plot that is dependent on the holiday season, can be considered a holiday movie. A movie can have a scene (or even several scenes) that take place at Christmas time, but if those scenes can be rewritten to simply remove the holiday setting and is virtually no different, that is not a Christmas movie.” BUT what you got wrong is both Die Hard and Gremlins can have the Christmas part taken out and the movie doesn’t change. In Die Hard he could have visited for any reason at all. Same with Gizmo could have been a gift for any reason at all. I don’t understand how you got it so right, then just completely abandoned your reasoning.
I get your point! See, I would argue that Gremlins cannot be separated from the holiday, due to the atmosphere of the town, the emptiness of it at a certain point, the Phoebe Cate’s dad story. I think Christmas is integral to the plot. Die Hard is the more divisive one. Although I can see the argument that John McClane would be visiting for any old party/any old reason to see his children, I have to argue that the emptiness of the city of Los Angeles is integral, and that emptiness truly only happens on the holidays. It’s why the cops are so lax, it’s why everybody’s guard is down.