We have reached the time of the year once again where the festive songs and films are back in full swing but what do we actually think of this Christmas business?
‘Tis the season once again that many start listen to Mariah Carey’s famous ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ which according to The Economist has earned ‘$60m in royalties since its release’ or Michael Bublé’s Christmas album with the famous songs, ‘It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas’, ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ and ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’ which according to an article written by The Express, ‘these three combined have earned £2,833,203’. It is clear to say that December is a golden month for the music and film industries who benefit from the festive season. But what do we truly think of these Christmas songs and films? Although they spread festive energy and Christmas cheer, some are problematic in their portrayal of gender roles. In the song ‘All I want for Christmas’, for example, the female singer asks ‘Santa’ (a man in the power to grant wishes and give her any gift he chooses) for a partner, a man to love. A man is the woman’s only Christmas wish and desirable gift. She doesn’t want anything else but a man. This can be thought of as diffusing wrong social ideas that one needs a man to be happy with one’s life and especially at Christmas. ‘It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas’ also portrays problematic gender roles in these following lines: ‘A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots Is the wish of Barney and Ben. Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jen’. The song perpetuates common gender stereotypes with what is gifted to children with the girls receiving dolls, meaning that girls must be ‘maternal’ and ‘docile’ and the boys are gifted pistols which diffuses behaviours of toxic masculinity. Granted this song is quite a few years old, the lyrics are dated in terms of gender representations. Perhaps some of the songs could have been slightly modified to accommodate today’s values and avoid the spreading of gender stereotypes and sexism.
However, although we are many to enjoy the festive feel that Christmas films and songs give us, it is a common joke that many of the films have the same plot with a love story and someone who is single, highly unlikeable or detests Christmas but by the end finds happiness and the love of his life and ends up adoring Christmas in a perfectly lit up house with a burning fire and a happy ever after. The production value is often also criticised. Indeed, I wouldn’t say I watch these for the cinematic elements or the craft. The most common issue is probably the plot which is highly unrealistic but it nevertheless always renders a Christmassy atmosphere and diverts the spectator, which are the main aims. Indeed, these films are predictable to say the least.
The new film with the much talked about return of Lindsay Lohan, Falling for Christmas, is a great example of this. The two-star review in The Guardian also points out the problematic issue portrayal of women in this film: ‘the lead female’s character arc which usually sees her soften from a tough city career woman to a supportive small-town housewife, from selling stocks to selling cookies. It might not be quite as severe here but the film does still see cooking, cleaning and caring for a gilet-wearing man with a beard as character development’. The film embraces stereotypes and clichés with barely any fraction of nuance. It starts with a highly stereotypical female character with what is described by The Guardian as a: ‘Paris Hilton, Lohan plays a spoiled hotel heiress who is incapable of doing anything for herself’. Some of the clichés are pushed so much that it can even be comical which was probably intended. The character played by Lohan even has caviar for breakfast. In addition, the boyfriend is as superficial and stupid as a person can be. The boyfriend is her boyfriend only because he has more Instagram followers than her and is therefore seen as superior to her which is already problematic. Although the protagonist is pretentious, ignorant and superficial at the beginning of the film (before she meets the man that will forever change her), she nevertheless still has prospects for herself at this point of the film. However, when she meets the man who is a small-town business owner, all she ends up doing is cooking and cleaning around the house. Even though she has become a better person by meeting this man (which is obviously highly unrealistic) after falling while skiing and having amnesia, she basically becomes a glorified housewife…The article from The Guardian skillfully defines this moment: ‘the film does still see cooking, cleaning and caring for a gilet-wearing man with a beard as character development’. I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a film that came out in 2005 but the fact that it came out in 2022 with this portrayal of women is not acceptable, in my opinion even if it is obviously a film that is not meant to be taken seriously.
However, Falling for Christmas is not the only Christmas film guilty of this. The 2020 rom-com, Holidate, with Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey, portrays characters that are highly stereotyped and that are rather sexist. The man named Jackson is afraid of commitment and the woman named Sloane, played by Emma Roberts, succumbs to societal pressures and more particularly to the pressure that her family are putting on her for not having found a partner, which further emphasises the sense the need to find a man. The fact that Sloane brings a stranger to the Christmas family gathering diffuses the sexist idea that a woman needs a partner to be happy and accepted within her family. An article published in The Montaclarion student online magazine in 2020, states this as well: ‘Sloane carries herself in a bitter way that further solidifies the film’s emphasis on the need for a romantic partner. Rather than standing her ground and finding love in a more natural environment, as a modern heroine might, she instead gives way to familial pressure.Sloane’s choice to secure a “holidate” contributes to the romanticization of partners and relationships, which can be beautiful, invigorating and a positive experience. This ideal also continues to trump celebrating independence and self-priority’. We DO want festive guilty pleasure rom coms but what we DO NOT want is the profusion of sexist ideas when 2023 is already around the corner.