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Christmas movies.. or are they?

ShawnFuzz

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What is a Christmas movie? I think of movies like A Christmas Carol, Home Alone,  or A Christmas Story as obvious ones.

But...

My streaming services keep suggesting Die Hard and Gremlins. At what point is a movie considered a "Christmas movie"?

Is it a Christmas movie because it is centered around the holiday? Or does it just need to take place  during the holiday?
 
I think Christmas movies need to actually be about Christmas or Christmas has to at least have a big part in it. For example, Home Alone is also just based around the time of Christmas, but the focus is also a lot on Christmas itself.

Movies that just are set in December aren't Christmas movies, I don't think. Like Die Hard. I haven't watched it, but just because it takes place on Christmas eve doesn't mean it's about Christmas.

When my parents were kids, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would be aired at Christmas. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, as far as I know, but for some reason it was a "Christmas movie". Still don't know why they chose Christmas to show it.
 
One channel on my TV always shows the old “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” around Christmas and I have no idea why. There is literally nothing in there about it…besides some candy canes!

Other “borderline” Christmas movies:

—Edward Scissorhands (Christmas near the end)

—The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Where we get the song “Hard Candy Christmas”)

—The Apartment

—Trading Places

—Nightmare Before Christmas (I usually watch around Halloween, but to some it’s more Christmas-y.)

—Batman Returns

—A Summer Place (Where the lady slaps her daughter into a Christmas tree, and then “Merry Christmas, Mama!”)

—Female Trouble (“My parents better get me them cha-cha heels!” 😂)

—The Princess Bride (Only reason I say this is…the kid has a Santa on his wall.)
 
I always see "The Sound of Music" on TV at Christmas, and I have no idea why. As far as I remember there are no references to Christmas in the movie. I've even seen "My Favourite Things" included on Christmas albums and I don't understand it - is it just because "mittens" and "sleigh bells" are included among the lyrics? I wouldn't personally consider the movie or that song to be Christmas-related.
 
I think Christmas movies need to actually be about Christmas or Christmas has to at least have a big part in it. For example, Home Alone is also just based around the time of Christmas, but the focus is also a lot on Christmas itself.

Movies that just are set in December aren't Christmas movies, I don't think. Like Die Hard. I haven't watched it, but just because it takes place on Christmas eve doesn't mean it's about Christmas.

When my parents were kids, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would be aired at Christmas. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, as far as I know, but for some reason it was a "Christmas movie". Still don't know why they chose Christmas to show it.
When I was little, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang creeped me out— maybe because of that scene where the guy abducted the kids. Later on, I found out that Roald Dahl worked on the script and it made sense. 😂 (No shade to Roald— just a lot of his works have mean and/or creepy adults in them.)
 
When I was little, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang creeped me out— maybe because of that scene where the guy abducted the kids. Later on, I found out that Roald Dahl worked on the script and it made sense. 😂 (No shade to Roald— just a lot of his works have mean and/or creepy adults in them.)
It doesn't surprise me that Roald Dahl co-wrote the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie but I was surprised when I found out that Ian Fleming wrote the original book.
 
"Die Hard is a Christmas movie" is a running joke that's gone on so long i think it may as well count as a christmas movie at this point. i still don't know how sound of music is though, i guess nothing screams "christmas" like uhhhh singing in the hills and escaping the nazis
 
I think it's up to the person what they consider a Christmas movie. 😂

For me, Die Hard, Trading Places, and Gremlins definitely count as Christmas movies. We have a family member who plays The Lion King every day, twice on christmas. So at this point, maybe we should consider that a family Christmas movie, haha.

Also -
When I was little, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang creeped me out— maybe because of that scene where the guy abducted the kids. Later on, I found out that Roald Dahl worked on the script and it made sense. 😂 (No shade to Roald— just a lot of his works have mean and/or creepy adults in them.)

Omg, me too! That dude was insanely scary!
 
Die hard is the best christmas movie lol,

Die hard isn't holiday themed, but like others have said above. It's because it takes place on Christmas eve (or day?). So it's concidered to be one lol.

I'm not a fan of christmas movies, so ones like Die Hard, and Black Christmas are my go too. But I usually just stream Christmas specials of my favorite series (South Park and My Little Pony)
 
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I think it's up to the person what they consider a Christmas movie. 😂

For me, Die Hard, Trading Places, and Gremlins definitely count as Christmas movies. We have a family member who plays The Lion King every day, twice on christmas. So at this point, maybe we should consider that a family Christmas movie, haha.

Maybe that's it... maybe they are not necessarily a Christmas movie, but a FAMILY movie. I didn't think about that for movies like Sound of Music. The holidays generally seem to be about family and getting together. So movies like that make sense to me.

I am still unsure about Die Hard and Gremlins. Gremlins is definitely Christmas themed throughout, with the snow, lights, decorations and it takes place around Christmas. But there is a short conversation about hating Christmas because suicide rate goes up and people are depressed. There isn't a lot of Christmas cheer there lol

Maybe it's just what people want to watch during the holidays, and what they associate with Christmas.
 
I think they are Christmas movies. Just because the topic isn't about Christmas doesn't mean it isn't one. The Christmas element is still in the movie and the inclusion of it being around Christmas time is purposeful so I think it counts.
 
I don't considering them Holiday movies, but I've noticed a lot of movies with winter scenes usually get lumped in. Probably just a marketing thing.
 
Though the holiday season is now behind us with New Year's Day now mostly or entirely over depending on time zones, I wanted to respond to this thread regardless because I revisited Die Hard and Gremlins this holiday season. I hadn't watched either of them in over a decade so I was due to watch them again to refresh my memory.

I'm generally in the camp of "if it takes place during Christmas, it counts." I don't think a movie needs to have the feel good holiday cheer and reason for the season messaging to be considered a Christmas movie. A movie I watch every Christmas is the original 1974 version of Black Christmas from director Bob Clark; it's set on Christmas, there's Christmas lights, Christmas carolers, etc. but it's a slasher movie.

I feel that Die Hard and Gremlins both suffice.

The whole reason John McClane's in Los Angeles in Die Hard is to fix his relationship with his wife and see his kids after their conflicting careers led to their separation and one of the characteristics of Christmas is spending time with your loved ones. There's an office Christmas party, Argyle the limo driver plays a Christmas song in the cassette player in the beginning, dialogue throughout the film suggests that it's during the holiday season, and as the movie ends there's Christmas music playing.

Meanwhile, in Gremlins, Gizmo is acquired from the shop as a Christmas gift for Billy. There's some Christmas music, Christmas lights, decorations, the town's covered in snow. One of the major characters has a reason why she doesn't like Christmas that she explains. The movie ends on a character walking through a town full of houses adorned with Christmas lights. While Die Hard can be watched whenever and the Christmas aspects can be mostly ignored, Gremlins is at the very least a Christmas season movie.

It's all down to personal preference but I'm pretty lenient. If it's even tangentially Christmas or holiday related and I like a movie, I'll watch it during the holiday season.
 
I count Dumb & Dumber (1994) as a Christmas movie, because the main character's name is Lloyd Christmas 😛

On a more serious note, if you want off-beat Christmas movies, don't stop at just Gremlins and Die Hard. There is also The Godfather (1972), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) - Plus The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which, though usually associated with Halloween, is a hybrid Halloween and Christmas movie.
 
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