What festive films and TV are you watching this holiday season? For most people, I’d wager the answer to that question would be familiar fare, old favorites turned to year after year.
I’ve been thinking about those old standbys lately, and a question has been sticking with me: When’s the last time we had a new holiday classic? A broadly admired standard that is welcomed into the Christmas canon?
It sure feels like it’s been a while, and it’s not for lack of new stuff. Each year, the cable channels, movie studios, and streaming services offer up a bevy of seasonal titles seeking to tap into people’s holiday spirit. But for my part, I’ve struggled to identify any that have broken through or stood the test of time.
Two selections from this year’s holiday menu may offer a case in point, the animated Netflix film, “That Christmas” and the Ben Stiller led Hulu film, “Nutcrackers.”
Christmas past
My first theory concerning the lack of new Christmas classics was that streaming is to blame. The thinking goes: our fractured, algorithmic, on-demand media environment undermines the shared cultural experiences that are so key to what makes the holidays special.
Under this line of thinking context is as important as content. How would our old holiday favorites stand up if they had been introduced in this current environment? No delineation between the multiplex and the made-for-TV, just another thumbnail or tile in the endless scroll, competing for our attention until another, better option comes along. No predictable programming schedule or tradition of reruns; what is a holiday classic minus the power of repetition and nostalgia?
This is the landscape that awaits new holiday stories like “That Christmas” and “Nutcrackers,” both released in the last month. For someone on the hunt for new seasonal stories, these titles both acquit themselves reasonably well, checking the right boxes and bringing the appropriate spirit. But is that enough?
“That Christmas” could best be described as a kids’ version of “Love Actually” – itself among the younger holiday standards, having been released just two decades ago. The amiable animated film shares a writer, Richard Curtis, and an overall conceit, featuring a large ensemble and a set of distinct vignettes that eventually coalesce into one grand finale.
Adapted from children’s books also written by Curtis, the story concerns an especially stormy and snowy Christmas in a small seaside village in England, and it has all the coziness and charm that setup would suggest. Directed by Simon Otto, an animator who worked on the “How to Train Your Dragon” films, it’s a treat visually, with lovingly composed environments and distinct, expressive characters, even if the budget and production quality are clearly not on the same level as you’d expect from a Dreamworks or Pixar release.
Its emotional beats are effective, and it has a real sense of place. A few of the cultural references may not age particularly well, it relies on a couple of overused tropes, and some of the vignettes are more satisfying than others, but overall I found it hit all the holiday buttons I hoped it would.
Christmas present
A second theory concerning the lack of new holiday classics would place more blame on the stories themselves, not the media platforms or contexts that surround them. Perhaps we haven’t seen any new standards emerge because what was once novel has become deeply formulaic. If you’re seeking the comfort and joy of a Christmas story, why not go with the original recipes instead of the many imitators and knockoffs?
If we draw this conclusion, the onus falls on our new stories to come up with some new formulas, or to transcend the ones we know so well.
“Nutcrackers” is assuredly not the standard bearer to take on this tall task, but, much like “That Christmas,” it is a perfectly pleasant holiday film. It would be fair to say that it relies plenty on holiday formulas, especially those involving rural and small-town backdrops.
Ben Stiller plays our Scrooge-like protagonist, Michael, a career-driven Chicago real estate man who must go to rural Ohio over the holidays to care for his recently deceased sister’s orphaned children.
Like many stories of this sort, “Nutcrackers” lays it on super thick in terms of the culture clash between Michael’s urban life and the rural spaces he’s entering. Jokes about cell service, animal husbandry, and other features of rural life are pushed to their limit, dramatized in exceedingly exaggerated fashion. This tone applies across the board at the very least, with the film holding little back in accentuating Michael’s snobbishness and exasperation at his sister’s chosen home, as well as the inherent inanity of much of his reality back in the city.
You almost certainly know where this is going. Like the Grinch or George Bailey before him, Michael will be transformed by his holiday in this town – his heart expanded and his perspective on life changed. The film bears many of the Hallmarks (pun intended) of the typical made-for-TV holiday movies, but it boasts a much higher level of polish, with more impressive location work and production design as well as higher caliber casting and cinematography. Depending on your outlook, that could sound like faint praise or perfectly in order.
Ultimately, what carries the film is the relationship between Michael and his four nephews, and in that regard, it is an honest and heartfelt affair.
Christmas future
I am skeptical that either “That Christmas” or “Nutcrackers” will enter any holiday hall of fame or linger long in the collective memory, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are not worthy of it. I enjoyed them both and have no qualms recommending them, particularly for those in search of something new this season.
To the original question about the lack of new holiday classics, the two films do have something interesting to offer. In both “That Christmas” and “Nutcrackers,” there are younger characters who bemoan the staleness of certain Christmas stories and traditions, and thus set out to put their own spins on them, making updates that better fit the times they know.
It offers a reminder that any answers regarding future holiday standards can only come from the next generation. Let’s hope the young people celebrating the holidays in rural and small-town places today will have some new stories and formulas in store for us in the years to come.
That Christmas is currently streaming on Netflix. Nutcrackers is currently streaming on Hulu.
This story is republished with permission from The Conversation. Read the original.
Adam B. Giorgi is a digital strategist for The Daily Yonder, a nonprofit newsroom that provides news, commentary and analysis about and for rural America. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
