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The curious festive magic of the holiday movie, and why we shouldn't think too much about it

It's beginning to look a lot like... people need to think about what makes a holiday movie. Never mind Die Hard, does It's A Wonderful Life even count?

Features by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Wed Dec 11 2024

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“Okay, so is Batman Returns a Christmas movie? It definitely takes place during Christmas, and there’s a lighting of the tree scene…!”

Cast your mind back a couple of weeks, and it’s Thanksgiving where we’re having what might be considered a traditional discussion: what does and doesn’t constitute a holiday movie. It’s important business at this time of year, when some people — I’m one of them, I admit — find ourselves lining up playlists of festive-themed viewing to maintain that holiday mood as best as possible regardless of anything else going on in their lives or the wider world at the time. As anyone who’s paid any attention to Netflix’s front page in the past few weeks can tell you, holiday movies are a big deal, but… what is a holiday movie these days?

It's A Wonderful Life... but is that festive enough for this time of year?

Once upon a time, that was a very simple question to answer: it’s a movie explicitly about the holidays. There are many classics that fit under this umbrella: Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas in Connecticut, White Christmas, and any version of A Christmas Carol that you see fit to appreciate. (My choices would always be either A Muppet Christmas Carol or Scrooged.) It’s a narrow definition that leaves no room for doubt: a holiday movie is a movie that is explicitly about the holidays.

The problem with that definition is, it leaves off some of the best classic holiday movies of all time… and I’m not talking about Die Hard. (Although, that counts as a holiday movie as far as I’m concerned. If it’s good enough for Philomena Cunk, it’s good enough for me.) I don’t think many people would argue that It’s A Wonderful Life is anything other than one of the greatest holiday movies ever made, and yet… it’s not actually a movie about the holidays. In fact, most of the movie doesn’t even take place during the holidays. Even the part that does isn’t actually about the holidays in any literal or specific way, as much as taking the values and themes of the holiday and finding something new to say about them. It might be heresy to say it, but you could arguably take Christmas out of It’s A Wonderful Life and leave the movie mostly intact, aside from losing a bell or two.

That said, you can’t push It’s A Wonderful Life out of the holiday canon, can you? (Or Holiday Inn, the movie that gave the world the song "White Christmas," even though it's set across an entire calendar year.) So let’s expand the definition to include thematic connections and at least one scene that references the holidays. That way, you don’t just let George Bailey back into the gang, but open up the way for things like The Thin Man — that Christmas Party scene! — as well. Yes, that means that Batman Returns could be included, if you want, just as, if you really want to stretch the definition as far as you can take it, Mean Girls makes it in because of the Jingle Bell Rock number. (It’s what the inventor of the toaster strudel would want, if we’re honest with ourselves.)

The true meaning of Christmas (movies)

The definition of holiday movie or Christmas movie shouldn’t be something set in stone and unchanging, because in many ways, that feels antithetical to the Christmas Spirit. Instead, what’s required are those stand-bys of this time of year: an open heart and a willingness to invite new friends into the fold. Everyone’s holiday movie canon should be based on what feels right to them, with no-one else able to shame you for including something truly unexpected or unlikely on the list. (Or, for that matter, excluding anything… except for, you know, at least one version of A Christmas Carol, in one of its many forms. There are so many, how could you skip all of them?)

Trim your own tree, is what I’m saying — but if you need some guidance, here are five of my must-see holiday movies to get you started:

Christmas in Connecticut
It’s A Wonderful Life
The Thin Man
Scrooged
Batman Returns (Look, it’s how we started this whole thing off…!)

Ho ho hope this helps you plan out the rest of your December viewing. I mean, you've already tackled Merry Little Batman, right...?

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.