As the holiday season nears and the air becomes chilly, there is a multitude of things to look forward to: hot cocoa, fairy lights and Mariah Carey on repeat.
But perhaps the most significant staple of the holiday season is the annual Christmas rom-com. These films have become their own subgenre and can be identified by their cheesy one-liners and cliche character tropes. The Hallmark channel has become notorious for the amount of holiday romance movies that they create every year. In 2021, Hallmark aired 40 Christmas movies, and over the course of two months, made $147.8 million in revenue. Since 2009, Hallmark has released over 300 Christmas movies and has continuously increased the number of films released each year.
While streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have contributed their holiday romances, no other channels have produced the volume of seasonal films that Hallmark has. However, the most interesting part of Hallmark’s success is that the movies are nearly identical to one another. The films often share the same predictable plot points and feature familiar relationship dynamics. Each movie is tweaked slightly, to include different job occupations or cities, but most of the time these guidelines are extremely similar. So, what exactly is it that makes these movies so enticing?
Amid the holiday season, there is a healthy amount of chaos to follow, often stemming from the expectations that come with this time of year. Many of us are easily overwhelmed by the exchange of gifts, or the need to experience that “picture-perfect” holiday. Realistically, the joy of the holidays isn’t enough to relieve our everyday struggles. In fact, the addition of these expectations often weighs on us heavily, as we try to balance the usual circumstances of work, school, relationships and family, all while trying to remain festive and cheerful. This is where the appropriately timed rom-com comes in.
Holiday romances provide viewers with a sense of escapism that is often needed, especially as the year comes to a close. The reassurance of having predictable plot points and guaranteed happy endings can actually be very therapeutic, and the festive themes incorporated into each movie helps to derive that warm feeling. There is a psychological explanation behind this line of thinking, known as the familiarity principle which states that “simply being exposed to something repeatedly can cause us to feel a preference towards it just because our brains find it familiar.”
Since many Christmas movies often express similar storylines, we are bound to continue watching them to find that sense of comfortable familiarity.” Not only do these movies provide comfort, but it’s possible they have long-lasting effects as well. Psychologist Dr. Mary Lishman believes that “many of these movies leave such an impression on us that they can unconsciously guide us through future life crises that we all inevitably go through.”
So, as we prepare for the final few weeks of 2022, it may be time to fully embrace the holiday spirit and accept the cheesy delight of Christmas rom-coms.
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