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Hallmark
Christmas Movies and Finding Hope |
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Some may argue that the Hallmark tradition of Christmas movies is just
simply good business for Crown Media the parent company and nothing more
than that. If that is the case then why is it good business? What makes
so many people want to tune into the movies each holiday season and why
in recent years, including 2018 have Hallmark Christmas movies
consistently been some of the top rated shows in their time slots?
Perhaps it is a longing on the part of many for a time when things
seemed simpler. Whether they actually were or not or perhaps our
memories of yesteryear have become a bit fuzzy is not the point, because
that longing for a simpler time, when stress is replaced even for a few minutes with the joy of knowing that things can be better, is
still real.
What is often overlooked at Christmas, as families get together or there
are office parties to go to and friends to visit, is there are those who
spend Christmas alone. That loneliness combined with the merriment that
exists and should exist at this special time of the year can often be
painful to those for whom Christmas just becomes another day to try and
forget. There are no presents under their trees, if there are trees at
all. There are no family members and therefore no traditions to carry
on. What the Hallmark Christmas movies do for at least some is remind
them of happy memories and perhaps give them hope that someday Christmas
may be special again and that indeed they may experience love in their
lives again.
Hallmark movies have actors and actresses who look like the guy or girl
next door, sweet as apple pie or whatever other analogy you want to use,
but their characters often are dealing with real issues, rebuilding
their lives after a divorce or someone passed away or a struggling
single parent or a myriad of other issues. Not all of the characters are
dynamic as we note with Tom Everett Scott’s character Jonathan in the 2017
movie Christmas Connection. Jonathan is a single dad and a journalist
whose extended family is warm and corny as they come and when he meets
Sydney played by Brooke Burns, he does not know how to navigate the
romantic scenario that starts to bubble to the surface, because his life
has been focused entirely on his career and his young daughter. Michael
Rady’s character Matt Larson in Christmas In Homestead who is the mayor
of the small town, the innkeeper, a widower and a single father of a
young girl is as blemished as they come. He is opposed to anything
that involves change and when confronted with movie star Jessica McEllis
(Taylor Cole) his world is turned upside down. In Road to Christmas we
meet the Wise family and the matriarch Julia Wise, television gourmet
celebrity who annually produces a Christmas special. What she lacks
however is the ability to bring her three adult age sons home for
Christmas each year.
Despite the glossy surface impressions and the predictable endings to
the movies not everything is syrupy sweet, because these characters
reflect the lives of, or at least part of the lives of many people and if
in the end they find happiness, well is that not what we all hope for?
Some may be reading this opinion piece and be saying oh that writer is
just a romantic and you would be right, but he is also a realist and he understands that although not all endings are predictable and not
all are of the fairytale variety in real life that as long as there are people who
are kind and as long as there are those who believe in love in all of
its various shapes and forms then we can still have hope in a world
that is far from perfect and perhaps we can find a little corner of happiness
and hopefully share that with others.
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Hallmark
Christmas movies may not be for everybody. We realize that some people
due to religious beliefs or for other reasons may not celebrate
Christmas, but for some who do celebrate Christmas the movies do hold a
special place. We all know how the movie is going to end. Whether it is
Danny and Maggie in Road to Christmas or it is Joy and Ben in Christmas
Joy or it is Jessica and Matt in Christmas In Homestead we know
eventually they are going to fall in love. We also know that it is
likely going to happen during the last five minutes of the movie and yet
some of us feverishly watch the clock and say quietly hurry up and do
it.