It's the holiday season! I am officially in love. I don't know what it is about Christmas, but every year, this season just brightens my entire demeanor. It's probably a combination of the lights, the music, the beautifully falling snow... and the cookies! But Christmas is more than presents under the tree, you know...
It means HOLIDAY CHRISTMAS SPECIALS ON TV! YES!
It's like every major cable network is imagining each American family with the time and ambition to watch all 25 adaptations of The Santa Clause AND Home Alone... sitting in pajamas by the fireside... sipping hot cocoa and watching 'It's a Wonderful Life.' Psh. Seriously... Who does that?!
(Okay, seriously... my family does that...)
We do. It's a tradition! We have it down to a science, really. There are several Christmas movies that we watch together every single Christmas season, no exceptions. It's kind of strange, there's no other time of year that this happens... like, there's no Easter movie list, or 4th of July Film Fest at the Bart House. Nope. Only the week before Christmas. That's when we magically find time to watch:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- A Christmas Story
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Christmas Vacation
...and slowly making it's way to becoming a regular... Elf.
If anyone asked me if these were good films, I'd probably say something like, "heck to the holiday yes" for each one. But thinking back, even though I've watched these about 12 times each, I've never really watched them objectively.
In the latest reading assignment, David Bordwell discusses for a page or two the significant difference between personal taste and evaluative judgement. He suggests using standard criteria, more than just realistic criteria, too, which would bring fairly harsh judgements upon more than half our Festive Film Five. (Toats just coined that term right now. You don't have to believe me.) Originality, Morality, and Complexity are some of the other criteria suggested by Bordwell... and while I think that those would be good ones for these Christmas films, I might also suggest some others:
1. Point of View: A Christmas Story is ALL OVER this criteria... it's narrated by a grown man, thinking back to a Christmas of his childhood. Because it's told as a memory, certain parts of the story are exaggerated or imagined. It's also brutally honest at points, revealing the difficult harnessing of emotion that this young man experienced. Overall, a great perspective on Christmas, and probably the most quoted film of all time in the Bartholomew household.
2. Timelessness: It's a Wonderful Life has got to be one of the most timeless films of the Christmas season. Not only is it a great display of the classy-and-oh-so-classic Jimmy Stewart, but also a very inspirational motion picture, even winning awards for that very reason. The director of the film, Frank Capra, has said that the film's theme was "the individual's belief in himself," and that the reason he made the film was to "combat a modern trend toward atheism." That would explain the angelic presence of Clarence, and divine intervention that takes place to save George Bailey. Although this film isn't necessarily quoted much in our home, the actual script of this movie has many quotes that can be used outside of the film to inspire and encourage, no matter what the season.
3. Adaptation: That sounds like a weird criteria. I realize this. But what I'm driving at is the fact that many films, or the story of many films, don't start out as films. Both A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life were actually based on books. But what takes the cake for this criteria is A Charlie Brown Christmas, which isn't based on a book, but a comic. This film takes the characters we all know and love from Charles Shultz's classic Peanuts comic and transforms them into talking, moving animations. From a four panel comic strip to a classic short film, I'd say this movie successfully captures the humor, innocence, and creativity of the original Peanuts we all know and love. Plus, with those adorable kids' voices, what could be wrong?
If you need a reminder, check this out, it's the best part of the movie: Linus' Speech. (Fun fact: Notice that when Linus says 'Fear not,' he lets go of his security blanket. Cool, eh?)
I'm sure there are more criteria I could think of that'd be even more objective, and probably a little less biased. But I can't help it... I associate these movies with a few of my favorite things: the Christmas season, my family, and hot cocoa! (Can life get better? I submit that it cannot.) Next week, when I sit down to enjoy a few of these classics with the 'rents, I might just be keeping Bordwell's evaluative judgement tips in mind.
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