Some themes seem to be a common occurrence in films during the holiday season. The focus is set on a few topics year after year that connect back to Christmas. Several of these are a part of our favorite Christmas films, but others we feel are a bit overdone.
We have laid out some popular tropes that seem to come up during the holiday season and have been incorporated into classic films. Some have been turned into Christmas magic, while others fall short of the mark. Keep reading to learn about five Christmas movie tropes we love and five we hate.
LOVE: Christmas Magic
Several movies rely on the trope of Christmas magic, and it is something we all love to see. It brings us back to our childhood when Santa was real and flying reindeer did exist, as we remember that Christmas was a time for fantasies to come true.
There might be bills to pay and personal problems to handle during this season, but these movies remind us what Christmas is all about. We can look at films like The Santa Clause series and The Polar Express to add some of this magic to our holidays this year.
HATE: Christmas Needs To Be Saved
It always seems like something has gone wrong with Christmas in holiday movies and it constantly leads back to Santa. He has been delivering presents for hundreds of years with his elves, and yet, this year everything goes wrong. It doesn’t make any sense that such a flawless system would suddenly develop several issues during one holiday. There are some good movies with this trope like Fred Claus and Noelle, but for the most part, this is a holiday plot that is way overdone in movies.
LOVE: Miracles Happen During The Holidays
Some people might say that this coincides with magic, but we have to disagree. A Christmas miracle is something that has a one-in-a-million chance of happening, and yet it still does. There is no magic involved except for the joy of the holidays bringing people together and solving problems.
They make us believe that everything can fall into place even though it all looks like it is falling apart. There are so many movies to watch, like Home Alone, Love Actually, and The Holiday, that are just a few examples of this trope at its finest.
HATE: Focus On An Adorably Sweet Child
We do tend to associate Christmas with children, but that doesn’t mean that every movie has to feature a precocious kid. There are naughty and nice children, and the children in these movies are not showing their true colors. Cindy Lou Who might have helped the Grinch, but it is unrealistic to assume she acts that sweet and innocent all the time.
There are other films where children’s actions and demeanors are too twee to handle, and we are overwhelmed by their presence. This doesn’t mean we hate children in all movies, but it is a trope that we feel filmmakers try a bit too hard to make work.
LOVE: Christmas Brings Love
There are several different types of love like agape, eros, and philia. Christmas movies cover them all, and it is a trope that we love to see in these films year after year. There are so many ways to spin the stories and different groups to focus on.
We discover what it means to share the holidays with family, friends, and significant others. One of the newest movies to come out with this trope is called Last Christmas, but some other older films include Four Christmases, A Christmas Carol, and A Christmas Prince.
HATE: Putting On A Holiday Show
The holidays bring about a lot of productions and shows, but this is one trope we would like left out of the movies. These types of movies are only good if they are done well, and often the writers like to cut corners. But it’s precisely these kind of sequences that need to have an excellent score and a storyline that keeps viewers interested. This is one trope we would like to see left off of the big screen unless filmmakers are ready to put in the time and effort to make it win more than a few awards.
LOVE: Family Is The Only Gift You Need
Many people focus on the gifts they give or receive during the holiday season, but we often forget what the holidays are really about. The focus should be on family and spending time with the ones you love, rather than complaining because you weren’t gifted everything on your Christmas list.
These films help us regain a perspective on what the holidays are all about and there are few that we don’t like. Some of the movies we recommend with this trope include The Santa Clause, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Elf.
HATE: Overdecorating
Some movies put a focus on decorating for the holidays and taking it to the next level. But many families don’t have the time or money to go all-out every year like the rest of the block, and these film only make them feel worse about it.
There shouldn’t be such a big emphasis on this small part of Christmas when so many other things matter more. It is not to say that Christmas with the Kranks isn’t a great movie, but this trope is one we would rather avoid over the holidays.
LOVE: The Holidays Are Horrible
There are so many Scrooges out in the world who hate the holidays and we love the movies that expose them. It shows the many reasons why people choose to skip Christmas altogether whether it’s family, a personal preference, or just their attitude toward life in general.
We love to watch as they transform into holiday-loving human beings because their character arcs seem more in-depth than some other tropes we see during the holidays. There are so many perspectives that can use this thinking, which is why this is a trope that will never grow old.
HATE: The Attempt To Save Something
This might be the most common trope involved in holiday movies, as the characters in the films work together to save something. This is usually a place that is beloved by the community that some mogul is trying to tear down and develop. Others focus on the job aspect as they try and keep everyone employed despite the lack of profits made by the business.
These usually end with someone falling in love and the beloved something being saved from permanent destruction all because the season happens to be Christmas. It has grown quite tiresome over the years and it is one trope we would like to never see again.
