‘It has a lot of red:’ People are finding the funniest reasons to declare things Christmas movies
You know what? It all makes sense!
Since t’is the season, here’s a question for you. What makes a film a Christmas movie? Does it have to be one of those explicitly titled films with a red, white, and green colour scheme, and someone leaving their city life to find love in a small town during the holidays? Does it have to be Die Hard, Home Alone, Harry Potter, or Love Actually? Or are there other parameters? Well, the Internet has the funniest answer to this.
If you’re someone who is chronically online, you know that every time around December there’s a ‘gentle reminder’ from Film Twitter that certain films like Die Hard are honorary Christmas movies. And that’s kind of become an annual drill, rather unsurprising. But this time around, we’re not just talking about the basic ‘Oh, The Lord of The Rings trilogy are Christmas movies because they have elves’ rationale. No, people have gone rogue and come up with absolutely bonkers reasons to deem any thing they want a Christmas movie, as long as they can give a solid explanation for it.
For example, did you know that Conclave is actually a Christmas movie? Oh yeah, as one user on X was kind enough to elaborate, since the Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci starrer Vatican Gossip Girl film features a lot of red (the cardinals), it’s practically an honorary Christmas movie at this point. I mean, you can’t argue with that, right? Send up the smoke signals!
Or for that matter, Se7en is a Christmas movie too. How, you ponder? Because as another X user pointed out, people in the movie talk about the Bible a lot. And then remember when Brad Pitt gets a present and he’s like a kid on Christmas morning, so eager to get it opened and find out, “What’s in the box?” Brilliant.
And then, there’s the more obvious reason—if the film has even one tiny, minuscule, unintentional scene featuring Christmas decor, then there’s no two ways about it. It is a Christmas movie. The Sebastian Stan starrer A Different Man has likewise been conferred with this honour for the simple reason that it features a Christmas tree in one scene with Adam Pearson and Stan. And what do you know, even American Psycho is one by that logic, and so is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and Babygirl.
Now at first glance, their reasoning might seem ridiculous to you. Because how can Longlegs be a Christmas movie? People are dying in it! And you’re saying that Prometheus and Blade Runner are too? Preposterous! But wait, hear them out, let them cook, stay with explanation for a bit, and suddenly it will all make sense. Sometimes, it is rather obvious. Other times, it can be something quite subtle, like the film’s colour palette and aesthetic, or its messaging. It doesn’t matter what genre it is—horror, sci-fi, crime drama… It can be a Christmas movie.
NGL, the spirit of holidays is that any movie can be a Christmas movie if it just keeps up hope, and if you love it enough to make it believe in itself. What’s more, it just means there are more movies that you can choose from to watch with the family over the holidays. I see that as a win. Can you come up with some astute reasoning as to why your favourite film is one? We’d love to add it to our roster!
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