All I Want for Christmas is Less Awful Christmas Movies
In the spirit of the holidays, it is time for Amy to rant about something that is making her crazy. This week, it is holiday movies. She has done extensive research recently and is ready to tell you what she loves and what makes her crazy.
To head off any Twitter anger at the pass, let me reassure you that I really do like Christmas movies. The bad acting, the predictable love stories, the jingling bells and twinkling lights, and somewhere in there being reminded about why this season, while challenging, is also filled with lights and celebration.
Okay, but seriously, what is with the female characters in Christmas movies? It seems to me that they fall into three categories.
She is just too busy for love. A career driven, often emotionally stunted, woman does not realize how much better her life would be if she just had a husband and family. Or if she spent more time with them and less time on her job/career/Olympic ambitions/family farm.
She becomes a princess! She is maybe reluctant about it but is won over by the dashing prince and the sparkly lights.
She longs to get married. Can she do it before Christmas?
Now, before you come after me with pitchforks - or the pointy end of a Christmas tree - let me give you some actual examples from some recent holiday movies. To protect the innocent and absurd, I’ve left off the titles. To be fair, I only picked ones that I have watched. Or that I tried to watch.
Movie Description: To inherit her father's company, socialite Ellen must first visit his small hometown, where she learns the value of hard work and helping others.
My Thoughts Upon Watching:
Ellen goes to this small town so her dad can punish her for being seen as a party girl.
She apparently learns for the first time that you should help people less fortunate than you in the small town when she realizes she shouldn’t let a homeless man freeze.
She learns this from a man who teaches her what love really is… while she cheats on her fiancé.
Movie Description: What do you do when your family's berry farm is in trouble and you happen to be beautiful and single?
My Thoughts Upon Watching:
The main character is a strong, though angry, woman, who believes that love isn’t in the cards after she had her heart broken by the lead guy.
She is clearly working very hard to save her family’s farm.
People heckle her about how she really ought to give the scoundrel another chance.
The farm is saved through her hard work, but somehow he gets lots of credit for it.
Movie Description: Emotionally frigid attorney Kate Jordan reluctantly accepts an end-of-the-year assignment to get a reputedly haunted inn appraised and sold by year's end. By and by she meets Daniel, the resident ghost who, for the past ninety-five years, inexplicably returns to life each December during the twelve days of Christmas. Kate has only one logical recourse for their mutual benefit: break the curse that binds him - but falling for a man almost a century her senior isn't among her plans.
My Thoughts Upon Watching:
Emotionally frigid woman learns how to love from a GHOST. A GHOST.
I’ll be honest, I couldn’t make it far into this one. Why is it that women who are invested in their careers have to be “emotionally frigid”?
Movie Description: An injured figure skater is sent to the mountains to recover from an injury. Once there, she meets an ex-hockey player and his young daughter and begins to realize that something is missing from her life.
My Thoughts Upon Watching:
A girl goes to a rehab hospital, meets an ex-hockey player, and decides that the goal she has devoted her whole life to is maybe not as exciting as teaching his daughter how to skate.
I understand that love and realizing the importance of family are central themes in all holiday movies. But all too often, the women, even when they are centered as the main characters, are passively waiting; waiting for men to teach them, guide them, and fix them. Bechdel would have a cow. Even one of my most favorite holiday movies, The Holiday, suffers from this problem. Both leading women are ‘repaired’ by the men they encounter, whether it is Amanda learning to cry or Iris learning that she ought to be the “leading lady in her own life”. Another perennial holiday favorite, Love Actually, features so many dysfunctional portrayals of women that I would have to write an entire other blog just about those.
None of this is to say that you should stop watching Christmas movies. I’m not the Grinch, after all. But this year, as you watch, evaluate the content a little more critically. Will it make you nuts? Maybe. But, as with our previous discussions about gender disparity and privilege, recognizing the problem is the first step. What stereotypes do you see being reinforced? What makes you want to rant? Let us know in the comments and have a wonderful Christmas, holiday week, and New Year’s Eve!
-Amy