Browse: Home / Taco Break: Arguably a Christmas Movie (from Babalugats)

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Year of the Month: EUROPA '51
  • Lunch Links: MALARIA
  • Eighteen Movie And TV Quotes You Have to Shout--Number Nine Will Have You Dancing!
  • Year of the Month: DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK
  • Camera Obscura: THE G-STRING MURDERS/LADY OF BURLESQUE
Back when the LAPD assaulting people was considered news.

Taco Break: Arguably a Christmas Movie (from Babalugats)

Posted By The Ploughman on December 24, 2020 in Short Articles | Leave a response

Arguing about whether or not something qualifies as a Christmas Movie has become as cherished a part of the holiday season as listening to awful music, standing in long lines at the grocery store, or going broke.  For the most part, all these arguments boil down to a much simpler argument; is “Christmas Movie” a functional genre (defined by the emotional function of the work) or a tangible genre (defined by the tangible details within the work)?

For the functional folk Christmas Movies are light dramedies about the importance of family or, in lesser films, about the importance of feeling appropriately cheerful during the designated times. These movies can range from as funny as A Christmas Story to as dramatic as It’s A Wonderful Life, but can’t range an inch further. A functional genre person will look you right in the eye and tell you that Gremlins isn’t really a Christmas Movie as they put on Planes, Trains, And Automobiles.

More pedantic people along with those of us unpossessed by the holiday spirit will tend to define the genre in more tangible terms. A Christmas Movie is any movie that takes place at, or makes reference to, Christmas. That includes not only Die Hard, but Eyes Wide Shut, The Hateful Eight, The Box, LA Confidential, and unquestionably Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2.

Team Tangible has had few victories in canonizing a new classic, with only Die Hard (and not even the far more Christmasy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) making it into regular rotation, but the fight will rage on eternally or at least until somebody manages to make a light dramedy about the importance of family that doesn’t make you want murder said family if you have to sit down and watch it with them.

But this weekend as you turn off the Hallmark channel for Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (in which Clint Howard helps a woman give birth to a giant maggot) remember that your family isn’t protesting out of ignorance, but because to them Christmas isn’t just a date on a calendar; isn’t just food, or presents, or decorations, but a feeling – the feeling of a light dramedy about the importance of family. And I don’t know, maybe The Thin Man is an ok compromise? HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ME WATCH HOME ALONE, THAT’S NOT A MOVIE I NEED TO SEE MORE THAN ONCE A DECADE!

Times were so much simpler then, when we could be entertained by practical paintcans hitting real stuntmen in the face.

Happy Holidays Everybody, and remember, in quarantine any movie can be a Christmas Movie.

Posted in Short Articles | Tagged Christmas, Christmas Movies, Taco Break

About the Author

gemofpurestray@gmail.com'

The Ploughman

Related Posts

This might as well be the official poster image for Forces of Nature.Taco Break: Institutionalized (by Miller)→

Taco Break: Scenes You Hate in Movies You Love→

Dorff, moments after seeing this post and making some cuts.Taco Break: Good Actor, Bad Agent→

Taco Break: The Five Tools of Acting (from Babalugats)→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    25387 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    22696 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    17381 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    12461 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • THE SHIELD’s Final Episodes: “Possible Kill Screen”/”Family Meeting”

    8177 views / Posted December 2, 2014
  • Year of the Month: EUROPA ’51

    April 22, 2021 / Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott
  • This is how The Hateful Eight should have been done.

    Lunch Links: MALARIA

    April 22, 2021 / The Ploughman
  • Eighteen Movie And TV Quotes You Have to Shout–Number Nine Will Have You Dancing!

    April 21, 2021 / Gillianren
  • Year of the Month: DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK

    April 21, 2021 / ZoeZ
  • Camera Obscura: THE G-STRING MURDERS/LADY OF BURLESQUE

    April 20, 2021 / Gillianren

Last Tweets

  • Year of the Month: EUROPA ’51 - https://t.co/G6NAWJNkYw, 6 hours ago
  • Lunch Links! A cowboy is sent to assassinate death himself in Edson Oda's short MALARIA. https://t.co/ntcrJ26n2r, 11 hours ago
  • Eighteen Movie And TV Quotes You Have to Shout–Number Nine Will Have You Dancing! - https://t.co/CWqyG1WdOk, Apr 21

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!