It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and if you’re anything like me than holiday romance movies turn into a real guilty pleasure at this time of year. As the title suggests, these movies involve some type of romance or other, as the kind of ‘end-goal’ and usually starring female leads. To help get into the festivities I thought it would be interesting to analyse the range of female archetypes you often find in these Christmas romance movies. You’ve probably come across these stories in some font or other, but I’ve accumulated a list (in no particular order) of the one’s I think are most common, to then consider what these archetypes of different female characters are really telling us around this time of year.
- Workaholic, City Girl Turned Small-Townie
Let’s start with the classic Hallmark-ess female lead with big career aspirations. The tale genuinely goes that she’s a workaholic big city gal, who dreams to make it big in her chosen career. An important assignment is usually on offer that comes tied up in a ribbon promising a promotion, and usually involves her packing her bags and heading to a quaint, idyllic little town where everyone knows everyone and simple is best. While there, she usually gets her expectations turned on their head by the appearance of a certain handsome, single, small business owner who grew up in said small town and has no desire to leave. She proceeds to experience internal conflict as she secretly exploits the warm-hearted inhabitants of the town for her assignment, while simultaneously falling in love with that aforementioned certain someone. Eventually her schemes come to light, they turn their backs on her, she goes home and gets the promotion, but in the end decides her newfound friendships and romance are more important, discovering the true meaning of Christmas.
- Small Town Girl Turned Big City Gal Turned Back Small-Town Girl
In line with ‘workaholic city girl turned small-townie’, you have the girl who left her small town behind to pursue a future in the big city, only to be ‘reformed’ small-townie again after coming back home for the holidays. She usually leaves to focus on her career, but ends up falling back in love with its small-town charm, and usually with a certain someone along the way.
- The One Who’s Family Feels Sorry for Her
Usually due to her stump of singleness, this Christmas heroine often finds herself on the receiving end of her family’s pitying glances. Her parents’ only wish for her this Christmas season (and often times her wish for herself) is to finally settle down and find someone. And to her credit, she usually does – think along the lines of Bridget Jones. This quest to find a partner usually also takes her on some journey of self-discovery. There’s also that single female leads who tries to find a fake boyfriend to impress her parents with during the holidays but subsequently ends up falling for him anyway.
- Little Miss ‘I’m Going to Reinvent Myself and Christmas is the Perfect Time to Do It’
Think of Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz in ‘The Holiday’ (my personal favourite Christmas film), but also a sprinkle of Bridget Jones. These are women who usually have a major life-altering event in their lives right before the Christmas season that flips their world upside down. Could be finding out their significant other is actually cheating on them, losing their job, or not getting their dream job – the possibilities go on. Essentially anything that stops them in their tracks, forcing them to self-evaluate and go on a personal reset. Rather than continuing to wallow in a well of self-pity, they decide this recent hardship is a sign from the universe to change it up a little and start living the life they’ve actually always dreamed of. And that Christmas is the perfect time to get their life back on track.
- The Hopeless Romantic
On the flipside, the ‘hopeless romantic’ type longs for nothing more than to meet that perfect someone and what better time to long for/ find them than the holidays? Their hopeless romantic roots usually go hand-in-hand with a deep love for Christmas and the holiday season, and they believe the one missing piece of the puzzle called life is really just finding that other half.
- The Christmas Obsessed
Similar to the ‘hopeless romantic’, there’s the fully-fledged die-hard Christmas lover, who usually melts the icy heart of a handsome stranger, showing them the true meaning of Christmas in the process. In some instances, this love for Christmas acts as compensation for the love she’s missing in her own life, be it from family, career, or a partner. Rather than reign over others as the Scrooge of the season, she goes out of her way to make sure others have an extra-special Christmas season so they never feel the hurt and loneliness she herself has experienced in the past. Usually quite shy and introverted in their daily lives, Christmas is that one time of the year when they can step out of their shell. Someone who springs to mind is Lily from ‘Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares’, an underrated Christmas classic in my humble opinion.
- The Small Business Owner
Usually also Christmas obsessed, this female lead runs and owns her own small business, along the lines of a bakery, party-planning business, book store, and so on. This story can take on a few different routes. Her business could be struggling over the holidays and she spends the film trying to save it from collapsing. The business could be where she meets the movie love interest – he could be popping in for the first time, usually an out-of-towner. Her catering business could be working a prestigious holiday event for his million-dollar company. The possibilities are endless. Usually an independent, self-made woman who pours her whole spirit into her work but doesn’t really mind.
- The Grinch
Granted, this title is usually awarded to the male characters in Christmas romance narratives, ‘the Grinch’ can also be attributed to their feminine counterparts. Often times this archetype intertwines with the workaholic type, but not all the time. As the name implies, these characters usually resent the holiday time and want nothing to do with your markets, carols and holiday cheer. For the most part, her cynicism is usually a result of her singleness, and especially her singleness around Christmas.
- The Cinderella (My boyfriend is Secretly a Prince/ I’m Secretly a Princess)
A Christmas classic. As the title suggests, this trope can go one of two ways: either she herself is secretly royalty or he is, and he expertly omits this fact as she proceeds to fall for him. This then usually involves her flipping her life around and changing all her plans to be with him.
I know I prefaced this article saying holiday romances were a guilty pleasure of mine, but it would be nice to see the holiday selection pool expanded to show more women thriving and dancing around the Christmas tree without the prospect of romance looming around the corner. A found family tale, platonic friendship romances or even a standard classic self-discovery around the holiday’s saga, just the self-discovery part minus the added boyfriend.
In short, it would be nice to have a wider selection of Christmas movies that don’t exploit women’s loneliness or play into the tired trope that the only way a woman can really be happy and please her family is to settle down and find a man. Why does everyone think for a woman to be happy during Christmas she has to be in a relationship? It would also be nice not to see the other side of the spectrum of women, those who have larger career aspirations and whose main goal is to climb to the top in their field, be villainised and repeatedly painted as the Christmas antagonist. Why is the career driven female character depicted as self-centred and heartless as a result? Whats’ so wrong with a woman wanting to get to the top of her field, and remain single in the process?
These kinds of movies are fun to indulge in every now and again, but isn’t it time to look beyond these tired tropes and to expand our holiday catalogues? In short, women should be allowed to enjoy the holidays without constantly feeling inadequate about their career, relationships and life in general.