When was the last time you saw an epic pirate movie in theatres around Christmas?
While summertime flicks tend to be violent action films with strong sexual content, come wintertime the explosions, nudity and gore seem to all but disappear and become replaced with Tim Allen in a Santa suit, talking CGI snowmen and more focus on the family than Fox News.
Movies released during the holidays generally fall into three broad categories: Oscar contenders (as the Academy has a notoriously short attention span), horror films (though, closer to Halloween than not) and family holiday films. Though family movies can be box office hits year round, they flourish particularly during the winter season and are codified in many, often problematic, ways. Coupled with holiday themes, they preach philanthropic values against the commodity culture of the masses, while simultaneously reeling in the big bucks for production companies.
As The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the cartoon or Jim Carey's scenery chewing performance) says: "Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all!"
However, according to some media experts, the holiday film genre may finally be undergoing some changes and while movies like this year's Fred Claus may not appear to be advocating the wholesome "holiday spirit" of The Grinch, they might just be paving the way for a more honest representation of the season and the classic Christmas figures we know and love.
A conservative Winter Wonderland
"Most of the families [in holiday films] are represented as mother-father and usually two children," says Marianne Stenbaek, professor of mass media and communication studies at McGill. "I cannot think of a family movie where there were two male parents or two female parents."
In this sense, perhaps the holiday or family film remains more insulated from social change than other genres. Though some Christmas family films are finally beginning to represent some progressive values, such as last year's The Family Stone, which had its token gay couple and individuals with liberal values, they still seem to elevate the traditional, nuclear family above all else in the holidays.
"To a certain extent, [the genre] does not need to adapt as quickly [as others]," says Stenbaek. "The holiday movie is fundamentalist and [embodies] old conservative values."
Deck the halls with new values
However, according to William Palmer an, English professor at Purdue University, the latest crop of Christmas movies is finally inciting a movement away from traditional, family-oriented values overwhelmingly religious ideals.
"[There has been a] shift from the more Christian, hopeful Christmas films of redemption of the past-Dickens' A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street- to a much more materialistic, cynical, darker form of Christmas film at the beginning of the 21st century," says Palmer, noting the recent examples of Bad Santa (2003), Surviving Christmas (2004) and Deck the Halls (2006). Palmer attributes this movement to rapid social and technological changes occurring in North American society. He also suggests that the increasing focus within the psychoanalytic community on the causes and treatment of depression has played a role in this bleaker media treatment of the holiday season.
In this sense, perhaps newer films represent a larger rejection of the short-term return to conservative values mirrored by holiday films, in favour of a more socially progressive look at "Christian" themes and a re-shaping of the genre.
A new Santa's coming to town
The subversion of classical notions of conservative, "holiday" values has been illustrated most strikingly through a re-defined, humanized representation of Santa Claus in big box office films, arguably incited by The Santa Claus (1994) and followed by other family targeted films such as Elf and, more recently, Fred Claus.
This more three-dimensional and less symbolic projection of Santa is supported by the films' glimpses into the structures where Santa's gifts-traditionally associated with a realm outside the economic sphere-are produced in the North Pole. In these movies, they are likened to large factories and the elves to subordinate workers.
"Have you noticed how recent Christmas films are all about machines and Santa's workshop at the North Pole is more like an automobile assembly plant than the elf-populated cottage industry for toymaking of the past?" asks Palmer.
Charles Keil, associate professor and director of the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto, points to the example of Fred Claus for a factory representation of North Pole gift production.
"[In the movie], as soon as you get into the set up of Santa's workshop-with the toys and everything-that becomes in some ways a version of consumerism, because you know those toys have to be bought, as Santa doesn't really deliver them or anything," he says.
Come on, ring those factory bells
These new holiday films-Ã la Tim Allen and Paul Giamatti-are making explicit what had been previously implicit about good ol' Saint Nick: Santa embodies the capitalist culture of consumption incited by the holiday season. On the same vein, the North Pole is exposed as a microcosm of a capitalist society, dependent on large factories and a hierarchical employee structure.
According to Palmer, however, such representations of Santa and the North Pole also represent the increasingly stale, technologically dependent aspect of North American culture.
"[The image of Santa] definitely feeds into 21st century commodity culture's material focus. Santa Claus no longer gives children 'little toy drums' and sleds; now he is merchandising Playstations and video games. We live in a Cyber world where everything is a simulacrum and reality no longer exists thus Santa and Christmas were doomed to change to fit this world," Palmer says. "These films are no longer about redemption from a meaningless materialistc life [like] Scrooge or about helping those less fortunate than ourselves[like] Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. Christmas movies now are about Santa Claus as a major retailer like Sam Walton."
The 12 days of consumerism
Regardless of his cinematic portrayal, Santa remains the face of the stimulation for demand. It is telling that the "modern" image of Santa, (a jolly old man in a red and white suit), was projected to such an extent by Coca-Cola in the 1930s that it is often falsely credited as their invention.
As one might expect, there also exists a strong relationship between holiday films and the increase in retail consumption over the holidays. For example, by encouraging and perpetuating the holiday spirit, which is dependent on gift giving, these movies are ultimately spurring the economy.
"Films are in a bit of a bind, because films are themselves a consumer product. It would be the height of hypocrisy for holiday films to rail against consumerism when they're asking audiences to partake in the spirit of consumerism," Keil says. "The standard approach is to keep away from the whole critique of [consumerism] altogether and to just not get involved in the issue, or to buy into it, but in a fairly passive way."
Stenbaek looks to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas as an example of the inherent contradiction between the altruistic values that holiday movies project and their commercial foundations.
"The thesis [in The Grinch] is that gifts don't matter and it's all about your heart, but kids are smarter than that," she says. "I have grandchildren with Grinch dolls at home; there's a very direct link between [consumerism and holiday films]. But somehow we like to pretend it isn't there and that it's all about family and love."
And perhaps the end of The Grinch says it all: though "the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day," Christmas was ultimately saved when he brought back all the toys on his sleigh.
2008 Woodie Awards
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
William S.
posted 12/05/07 @ 2:52 AM EST
I do believe that you're misusing the word "codify."
-William S.
Grammarian
Frank W
posted 12/06/07 @ 9:42 AM EST
I don't think you've quite grasped the relationship between the cinema and holidays. In your obvious attempt at propagating the underlying liberal agenda of stating that traditional values are passe while including the obligatory anti-Christian jabs, you've reversed the true nature of movies at Christmas. (Continued…)
Dan
posted 12/06/07 @ 10:39 AM EST
"Movies released during the holidays generally fall into four broad categories: Oscar contenders, horror films and family holiday films."
What's the 4th category?
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