TV under the Christmas tree: Christmas films: Much more than kitsch with a happy ending

“Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella”, “Love Actually” or “The Little Lord” – Christmas films flood the TV and streaming offers during the long holidays. Critics often find them cheesy, sweet and predictable – wrongly, says media researcher Irmtraud Hnilica. Before the genre-typical happy ending, the comedies and fairy tale films talked a lot about problems in everyday life, finding a partner and failed relationships, about patchwork, poverty and social hardship.

10 minutes of happy ending, 80 minutes of real life

“Only the last ten minutes are happy; the 80 minutes before that often show real life,” says the scientist, who has been studying Christmas films for years and has published two books on the subject with two colleagues. In the happy ending, socially disintegrated people like the green Grinch, who wants to steal Christmas, or the stingy Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” would be brought back into the community. “The films also discuss how social integration can succeed.”

In the classic Christmas film “Love Actually” from 2003, little Sam lives alone with his stepfather after his mother’s death from cancer, and the writer Jamie is cheated on by his girlfriend with his brother. “The Little Lord” shows poverty and devastating living conditions as the earl rides through the village with the little lord.

Who forgets their son at home?

The two particularly popular Christmas films “Home Alone” and “Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella” also draw their tension from less than romantic family relationships: Who forgets their eight-year-old son at home – like the McCallister family forgets their Kevin in the film on the way to the airport Vacation? And according to today’s criteria, Cinderella would clearly be a victim of bullying in her family.

One thing about Christmas films is that angels or fairy-tale twists can help with the resolution, says the researcher. For example, in one of the original Christmas films “Isn’t life beautiful?” (“It’s a Wonderful Life”) by Frank Capra from 1946, in which the angel Clarence stops the suicidal businessman George, played by James Stewart, from jumping into the water.

Watch a Christmas movie instead of talking

Films like Capra’s were made after the Second World War at a particularly needy time, says the researcher. With their typical aesthetics of snow, Christmas trees, carriages and bells as well as red, green and gold colors, the films have shaped today’s cultural idea of ​​Christmas as a whole. Previously, in the 19th century, Christmas cards showed a much more sober picture of the holiday, Hnilica found during evaluations.

So a little romance is allowed. And watching Christmas films together – whether you like them or not – definitely has a positive effect: “As a social media ritual, watching Christmas films together also helps regulate emotions,” says the scientist. “While the Christmas film is playing, you are relieved of the sometimes stressful family communication.”