There’s nothing more iconic of cheesy holiday movies than Hallmark movies. In an age when cheesy movies are the most repulsive genre of films you’ve ever seen, and avoidable at least, how could someone exist who actually loves them?
I fully admit that Hallmark movies are incredibly cheesy and also unrealistic. However, that is one of the reasons I like them so much. Hallmark makes movies for much more than the holiday season. In fact, they make new, made for TV movies seasonally.
You might find happy endings cliché, and if there is something all Hallmark movies have in common, it is that they have happy endings. No one is guaranteed a happy ending in real life, but these movies give me some hope that the world has a happy ending in store for me. Just because something happens in fictional situations and to fictional characters doesn’t mean it can happen to real people, but if it’s possible for people to imagine these happy endings, then maybe it’s possible to make them come true.
The real world is full of so much negativity that the happiness embodied in these movies is a refreshing contrast to it. That doesn’t mean the plots are entirely tensionless, but the tensions always resolve themselves in the best interests of the protagonists. Those who hate this genre of films might say that it is unrealistic how the protagonists always win at the end of the day. I definitely acknowledge that it is unrealistic, but I think that is one of the best parts of them. If I wanted to see things not working out for a protagonist, who is, despite their flaws which the movies never try to deny, someone you can connect to and cheer for.
When the protagonists in the movies make bad decisions, they are the types of bad decisions not usually born out of malice and evil, but out of honest mistakes and are not intended to harm anyone. For those who say this is a naïve take on people’s characters, maybe it is, but maybe it’s not as naïve as you think. How many times have you gotten yourself into a difficult situation because of a simple lapse in judgment and not an intentional lie? Probably more than you realize.
There’s also something endearing about the simplicity of the movies and their plots and character relationship. You don’t have to expend the energy following the ups and downs of plot twists and complicated relationships. You don’t have to think too much when you’re watching these movies because of how easy and simple they are. I don’t mean simple in a bad way, but I mean free of complications.
Besides, and this is by no means one of my primary reasons for loving Hallmark movies, but the sets are so beautiful. Even though they are obviously filmed in studio sets, there’s something alluring about the bright and vivid colors as opposed to the dull grays and browns and shadowy images you often see in thrillers, or horror movies, or even drama films. The sets themselves give off cheerful vibes.
If I watched films to see a reflection of reality, I wouldn’t be watching films in the first place. I would just watch the news or read newspaper articles. I see entertainment as a means of escape into a world that isn’t quite the real one, but at the same time reflects enough of our world to make me hopeful that it isn’t really as awful a place as people like to claim it is.
There’s nothing wrong with cheesy movies, or cheerful characters and happy endings. They might be naïve and unrealistic, but they give off better vibes than movies about evil and horror and people set out to destroy the world.
By no means am I telling you that you should like Hallmark movies too. But, for anyone who judges people that like them, shame on you, our enjoyment of these movies does not infringe on your happiness, and maybe this article will help you understand why we enjoy them so much.