Consider This from NPR - We Have Our Favorites, But What Makes A Christmas Movie A Classic?

Episode Date: December 24, 2023

Maybe you and your family are gathering round the new 65 inch TV that Santa brought and snuggling in with some hot cocoa for your yearly holiday movie marathon.Your tradition may include It's a Wonderful Life, or cheering on the Grinch's loyal dog Max, or fighting with your spouse over whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. If you celebrate Christmas, you probably have a movie that you consider the best. There's personal preference, but what other elements give a Christmas movie staying power for generation after generation?Host Scott Detrow talks with NPR's pop culture correspondent Linda Holmes about what makes a classic a classic.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away? In perhaps the most famous holiday movie ever made, it only took one night, Christmas Eve, for George Bailey to come to that realization. Good idea, Ernie. A toast! To my big brother George, the come to that realization. It took It's a Wonderful Life a little longer than that, though, to become the Christmas classic it is today. In poll after poll, it shows up as the greatest Christmas film of all time, but best of lists were not on

director Frank Capra's mind when he made it. This movie came out in 1946, which, if you know your American history, is one year after the end of World War II. Emily St. James is a writer and culture critic. She says that Capra, who went overseas to make documentaries for the war effort, and star Jimmy Stewart, who flew combat missions during the war, they made a movie that reflected the emotional aftermath of World War II. It's a product of the United States in like the five years after World War II, when there is this like sort of comprehension of the war needed to be won, fascism needed to be defeated, the Nazis needed to be defeated, but there's been this great cost in terms of lives,

in terms of like the people who survived, the trauma and terrible things they'd been through, and how do we sort of grapple with all of that? St. James says that subtext informs a story that goes to some very dark and despairing places. Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. That's a lie. Harry Bailey went to war. He got the Congressional Medal of Honor. He saved the lives of every man on that transport. Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn't immediately hailed as a classic. Despite several Oscar nominations, it just wasn't that popular with audiences. The movie does disappoint. It doesn't, you know, quite make as much money as everybody thought it would. It sort of pales in comparison to other movies of the era. And then it kind of was forgotten about.

That's until fate threw in a plot twist. The film entered the public domain in the 1970s. Local TV stations believe this to be a movie they can show for free because it's in the public domain. So they start doing that and it starts to become, stations are showing it once a day, twice a day, all in the lead-up to Christmas. This went on for at least 20 years, until stations lost those rights to air it so frequently. But by then, It's a Wonderful Life was established as a beloved Christmas tradition for generations of viewers.

Emily St. James says the film does deserve that reputation. It is worthwhile, especially at this time of year, to step back and look at the many good things in your life and to appreciate them and to even feel sort of a love toward whatever force you believe drives the universe for those things existing. And I think this movie very much touches on that. Consider this. It's a Wonderful Life is just one of the holiday films on heavy rotation in homes across the country tonight. Like your Aunt Millie's holiday fruitcake, a Christmas movie could be made with a lot of different ingredients. There's one called Violent Night where Santa has a bloody battle with a bunch of mercenaries. Coming up, we'll break down what makes a Christmas movie good and why my favorite Christmas movie might not be the same as yours.

From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. It's Sunday, December 24th. It's Consider This from NPR. And if you're celebrating Christmas Eve tonight, you almost certainly have your own traditions. A lot of people revolve around piling in front of the TV to watch their favorite Christmas classic. You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Look, Daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

Okay, people, tomorrow morning, 10 a.m., Santa's coming to town. Santa! Oh, my God! We talked about Christmas movies a couple of weeks ago, but tonight we are going back to that discussion because it's hard to fully quantify just what makes a Christmas classic a classic. Like, what ties George Bailey to Buddy the Elf? I'm not going to be like Jack Skellington here and try to figure

out the exact chemical equation of what makes Christmas Christmas. What I will do instead is ask NPR pop culture correspondent Linda Holmes to come walk us through how she thinks about this. Hey, Linda. Hi, Scott. I'm delighted to be here. We are delighted to have you. I mean, in that clip just now, we heard from a Christmas story from 1983, from It's a Wonderful Life from 1946, from Elf, 20 years old this year, 2003. Are these the ones that you would start out with thinking about as classics? Well, they're certainly among them. And I think there's a lot that's generational about it. You know, when Elf came out, I was an adult by then, a young adult.

So Elf doesn't have the same meaning to me, I think, that it does to people who it came out when I was an adult by then, a young adult. So Elf doesn't have the same meaning to me, I think, that it does to people who it came out when they were kids. But I think these are three of the ones that I think, when you say, oh, what Christmas movie are you really attached to? A lot of people will give you one of these three. Now, much of that depends on who you are, right? And it's one of the things about any canon, C-A-N-O-N, is that it has a lot to do with who the individual person is, and there's a lot of variation. So what's a Christmas classic? It can sometimes depend on who you ask. But let's think about the ones that are kind of the big pop culture. We talk about them like they're universal reference Christmas movies,

right? Like, what do you think it is that puts a movie into that level of canon that really distinguishes it and says, like, this is a movie that people out there are going to be thinking about 20, 30, 40 years down the line? Well, they have a couple things in common. I think most of them have at least some level of comedy to them. I mean, obviously, Elf has a lot of very silly comedy in it. What's this? This is the North Pole.

No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Yes, it is. No, it isn't. Yes, it is.

No, it's not. Where's the snow? A Christmas Story has some slightly drier but still pretty broad stuff. Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That's dumb. That's because you know it'll stick. You're full of it. Are you kidding? Stick my tongue to that stupid pole? That's dumb. That's why she knows where to stick. You're full of it.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Like double dog, dare ya? Now it was serious. On the other hand, they all tend to have some tinge of sadness as well. I think A Christmas Story has that sense of nostalgia where everything doesn't always go exactly the way you want and sometimes things get ruined. Obviously, It's a Wonderful Life

has lots of sadness in it. And even Elf has that sense that Buddy really wants to belong and is a little bit lonely and has things that he wants for his life. And even in a movie like Home Alone, right, you see nothing but slapstick through and through, but it also takes these little moments for Kevin to think about what Christmas is really for and that sort of thing. I want to talk about one element of all of these movies for a moment, though, because, like, you know, the three movies we started with,

they just among themselves span almost 60 years. So much has changed in pop culture and entertainment over that period of time. You know, we talked to Jamie Brodnax about this. She's a film critic and founder of Black Girl Nerds, about what's missing sometimes from the canon of Christmas favorites. She said her favorite is Scrooge with Bill Murray, but she pointed out something else in that conversation. Even when I mentioned my favorite Christmas film, it wasn't really a Black film, right? Alfre Woodard's in it, who we love, but we don't see a lot of work to do when it comes to the depiction of Black talent and on Hallmark and Lifetime and things like that. Fortunately, in the last 10 or 15 years, you see some better representation of more kinds of families. There are a number of really well-loved Christmas movies with ensemble black casts like Best Man Holiday and This Christmas and Almost Christmas.

There's one that's out this year on Amazon Prime called Candy Cane Lane with Eddie Murphy. Hey, everybody, this is my wife, Carol. Hello. Nope. That is weird. Netflix has a number of films for the Latinx community. So that's progress, I think. But look, Jamie's right. This is still an area where there is tons and tons of work to do, because when you hear about those kind of quote unquote classic Christmas movies, you're still seeing a really white group of people. And that's true with like the big Christmas movies. It's true of the kind of Christmas adjacent movies like Die Hard and stuff like that. So there's a lot of room for improvement, to say the least. Well, you mentioned Die Hard. It's Christmas Eve. So there's a lot of room for improvement, to say the least. Well, you mentioned Die Hard.

It's Christmas Eve. We've talked a lot about Christmas movies on the show the past few weeks, but we have not gotten to the consequential, very important question. Linda, we're going to do it right now. Die Hard to you, Christmas movie, yes or no? It's absolutely a Christmas movie, yes. But as kind of a concession to the people who think it's not, I think there's a useful distinction between a Christmas movie like Elf and a Christmas movie like Die Hard. Some Christmas movies are very specifically about Christmas and Christmas lore. Other ones like Die Hard or the romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock is another one.

Maybe you'd put Home Alone in this category, too, are Christmas movies that take advantage of the aesthetic of Christmas, the snow, the cold, the music, certainly, like the way Die Hard uses Run DMC's Christmas music. It's still a Christmas movie, but maybe not in the same way as A Christmas Story, which is so much about visiting Santa and getting your presents and all that. I feel like Home Alone certainly is so into the Christmas aesthetic that I feel like the music of Home Alone has now become like canon Christmas music. I think that's right. I think that little da-da-da-da-da-da. I agree.

Yeah, yeah. Linda, I always enjoy talking to you, but I have to say I feel a little disappointed in this conversation. And that is because you have not once at any point mentioned the Muppet Christmas Carol, which I feel like is top tier Christmas iconic canon. It's true. I mean, this is what I mean when I say, what is canon? What is not canon?

It depends on who you ask. And I have a feeling that if somebody asks you, it's always going to include the Muppet Christmas Carol. Now, why do you find the Muppet Christmas Carol so wonderful? Many, many reasons. I feel like it's one of the better, kind of more modern, like, Christmas Carol retellings. But I also, like, I always, I love when people seriously act with muppets yes and like michael caine as often discussed on the internet is so serious about this let us deal with the eviction notices for tomorrow mr cratchit tomorrow's christmas sir very well you may gift wrap them he and he's just

like talking to kermit and i I just like, I always love that. I love the songs in it. And actually then I want to tell you, we initially pitched Sir Michael Caine to come on and talk about the Muppet Christmas Carol on this Christmas Eve show. But you know what? He said no.

And I was actually kind of proud because I was like, ah, Ebenezer Scrooge does not want to do any work on Christmas Eve. Like perhaps personal growth has come. He learned an important lesson from Kermit. And he's like, no, I'm taking it off. So I'm very proud of him.

Ebenezer Scrooge is taking the evening off to gather with family and cut the goose or whatever, carve up the goose or whatever it is. And he doesn't want to work. He doesn't want to answer questions on Christmas Eve. You know, he's seen the ghost of Christmas future. He knows what's in store. Well, I feel like I have now

held you to working on Christmas Eve a bit too much, but thank you. Thank you for coming on and talking about all of these movies. Absolutely. Thank you, Scott. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.