It seems most of us plan on traveling to the movies over winter break or staying in and watching some holiday classics with a cup of hot chocolate.
After looking closer at the main market for holiday movies, however, I noticed something. Are most of the holiday movies MFS and the greater community look forward to every year Christmas movies? The answer is: basically.
Christmas has an unmatched popularity in the United States in the commercial world as well as in small communities all over the country. The answer to the holiday’s cultural domination lies in its accessible traditions, well-known story, and long history as America’s dominating religion.
Just because I was curious, I typed “the most popular holiday movies” into Google. The 51 movies that popped up in the suggestion bar were all Christmas movies. Underneath that, lists for “Christmas movies” flooded the suggestions, despite the search term being “holiday movies.” A list from Indiewire.com, which claimed to intentionally name an array of the best holiday movies still managed to have over half of their list full of Christmas-centered pieces. Its writer(s) explicitly state their intention to have a diverse mix of films, yet they fail to achieve this somewhat simple task. Why is this? Are there no other religious or generic holiday films available? Do people enjoy consuming the Christmas culture the most?
I found some answers when talking to some fellow MFS students. I asked them about their favorite movies and the discussion surrounding religious representation during the winter holidays. It turns out that most of the top answers on the internet lists coincide with the MFS community’s favorites. “Oh my gosh, I love Elf, The Grinch [Stole Christmas], The Polar Express, although it’s slightly overrated, Mistletones, and the Home Alone movies one through five,” shared senior T’Shay McNeil. Several other students agreed that those were their favorites. Senior Lauren Radack excitedly told me about the new movie with Vanessa Hudgens: The Princess Switch. Its central holiday theme is Christmas, just like every other movie in the list McNeil shared.
The most substantial information for my argument came from students of no declared faith or faiths other than Christianity. Senior Jack Stern asked me, “Do you want my favorite holiday movie or Christmas movie? They’re pretty much the same.” He proved my point further by explaining, “ I’d say Polar Express is my favorite holiday or winter movie. There’s really no Jewish movies out there.” Senior Shelby Dabrow-Norbeck nodded in agreement, adding that the only Jewish movies accessible enough for public consumption are historical documentaries or features on traditional Jewish holiday practices. I guess, part of this Christmas domination is just because there are no other kinds of holiday movies being made.
I still wondered, why Christmas? Senior Ethan Barr gave me some insight on this question, declaring himself unreligious. He told me, “Nobody in my family is religious, and we do Christmas. I don’t even think of it as a religion.” This proves to me that Christmas is so commercialized that it has no ties to Christianity in the eyes of some students. Senior Evan Fenska seconded Barr’s opinion and called Christmas movies the “end-all-be-all” for the holidays. “You don’t even need to know much more than basic stuff to understand Christmas traditions,” he said.
Evan got me thinking about the representation of Christianity in our area. It is the dominating religion in New Jersey, and most people I have talked to can give me some background knowledge about Christmas traditions: eg. the Three Kings, Mary and Joseph, etc. Because of this long history of Christianity in our country, we accept it as the basis for our culture at times. It has been woven so far into our society that we do not associate its traditions with religion anymore. We associate it with Hollywood now, the commercial giant that gets to decide what the winter holiday looks like. For now, it’s all about Christmas.
This article originally appeared in print on December 19, 2018.
