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luckykaaWe've been watching a lot of Christmas movies recently. Christmas is just a setting. They each have their own genre, but the genre is entirely dependent on who the protagonist is. Tell the same story with a different protagonist, and we end up in a very different genre.
Some are more obvious. Miracle on 34th Street is a whimsical family movie, but also a courtrooom drama - especially from Fred's point of view. It's a Wonderful Life is only a Christmas movie from the Angel Clarence's point of view. For George, it's an episode of The Twilight Zone, and for everyone else, it's a soap opera. Others are less obvious.
A Christmas Carol (any version)
Marley has his own redemption story, What is Marley's reason for appearing to Scrooge? He realises he can make amends. This is more strongly hinted at in the original story, where Dickens tells us:
Marley realises he's in a position to do some good even as a ghost. This is possibly his only chance. He's close enough to Scrooge to provide a warning and maybe was involved in persuading the other ghosts to intervene.
As a result Marley saves 3 souls. Scrooge, obviously, then that Tiny Tim, and - as we see, the death of Tiny Tim destroys Bob Cratchet - so Marley saves a third soul there.
Home Alone
This one is obviously intentional. From Kevin's point of view, he makes a wish, and his family disappears. He makes another wish, and the family comes back. He has no idea about the power outage, or the set of contrivances that resulted in his family flying to Paris without him. We see them losing his ticket and getting an airport shuttle to the airport, but Kevin doesn't. Of course it could taken as a fantasy from a more objective point of view as well. It's a staggering coincidence that all this happens when Kevin makes a wish.
Old Man Marley is in his own movie. It's probably a short arthouse film about a man whose pride has left him estranged from his family.
Harry is Wil-e-Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
This should really be Sally's story. She's the one who has most character development. Here she's in a comedy drama about personal development. A similar structure to something like The Devil Wears Prada.
Sally is shy and awkward. She's smart but kept down by a cruel and unloving father figure, who essentially treats her as a slave. She has a vision and realises that the dear friend, Jack Skellington - who she is in love with but he's oblivious to her affections - is going to make the worst mistake of her life. She needs to fight against her insecurity and do what she can to prevent the disaster. Talking doesn't work. Jack is too focussed on the task at hand. She comes up with a cunning plan to create a thick fog but that's foiled. Ultimately she has to use all her wits and guile to got to Oogie Boogies lair, rescue Sandy Claws, and save both Jack and Christmas.
Sally is by far the most proactive character here, and she's the one who actually has to develop. Sally at the start of the movie wouldn't dream of going to Oogie Boogie's lair, but near the end she does, not because she wants to but because she has to take the risk.She ends up a lot more confident, and gets recognised by Sandy Claws as the only person with any sense,
Asflickums observes, this point of view deals with a bit of a plot issue in the main storyline. There isn't a romantic subplot between Sally and Jack. He's not interested, at all. In the story of Ragdoll to Riches, that subplot is definitely there,
The Mean One
This is a more obscure movie - the premise is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, retold as a horror movie.
However, it has all the hallmarks of a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Successful careers woman returns to a small town. The town has lost its Christmas spirit, but she joins up with an awkward but harming local and together they save Christmas. It even has a friendly jolly man with a beard who helps them out, and the Santa archetype is common in these movies,
Die Hard
This essentially defines its own action movie subgenre. However, Hans Gruber is the anti-hero of a slasher movie. The same genre as Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Hans is part of a group with a plan for the holidays. It's not a very festive plan; it involves robbery and murder to cover their tracks. But it's a plan. And at this point they think they're in a third genre of film - a heist movie. They have an elaborate plan that involves other people reacting in predictable ways. Unfortunately they aren't sympathetic enough to be in that sort of movie.
Things start going wrong when one of the group turns up dead, with a message, "Now I Have A Machine Gun. Ho. Ho. Ho", mocking them. As is typical, they split up and try to deal with the menace. They never see him until they are about to die. As far as the criminals are concerned this is a supernatural monster that won't stop until they all die.
John McClane here is a bogeyman, similar to Jason Voorhees in the later Friday 13th Films or Michael Myers from Halloween.
Some are more obvious. Miracle on 34th Street is a whimsical family movie, but also a courtrooom drama - especially from Fred's point of view. It's a Wonderful Life is only a Christmas movie from the Angel Clarence's point of view. For George, it's an episode of The Twilight Zone, and for everyone else, it's a soap opera. Others are less obvious.
A Christmas Carol (any version)
Marley has his own redemption story, What is Marley's reason for appearing to Scrooge? He realises he can make amends. This is more strongly hinted at in the original story, where Dickens tells us:
"The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; ... The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever."
Marley realises he's in a position to do some good even as a ghost. This is possibly his only chance. He's close enough to Scrooge to provide a warning and maybe was involved in persuading the other ghosts to intervene.
As a result Marley saves 3 souls. Scrooge, obviously, then that Tiny Tim, and - as we see, the death of Tiny Tim destroys Bob Cratchet - so Marley saves a third soul there.
Home Alone
This one is obviously intentional. From Kevin's point of view, he makes a wish, and his family disappears. He makes another wish, and the family comes back. He has no idea about the power outage, or the set of contrivances that resulted in his family flying to Paris without him. We see them losing his ticket and getting an airport shuttle to the airport, but Kevin doesn't. Of course it could taken as a fantasy from a more objective point of view as well. It's a staggering coincidence that all this happens when Kevin makes a wish.
Old Man Marley is in his own movie. It's probably a short arthouse film about a man whose pride has left him estranged from his family.
Harry is Wil-e-Coyote in a Road Runner cartoon.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
This should really be Sally's story. She's the one who has most character development. Here she's in a comedy drama about personal development. A similar structure to something like The Devil Wears Prada.
Sally is shy and awkward. She's smart but kept down by a cruel and unloving father figure, who essentially treats her as a slave. She has a vision and realises that the dear friend, Jack Skellington - who she is in love with but he's oblivious to her affections - is going to make the worst mistake of her life. She needs to fight against her insecurity and do what she can to prevent the disaster. Talking doesn't work. Jack is too focussed on the task at hand. She comes up with a cunning plan to create a thick fog but that's foiled. Ultimately she has to use all her wits and guile to got to Oogie Boogies lair, rescue Sandy Claws, and save both Jack and Christmas.
Sally is by far the most proactive character here, and she's the one who actually has to develop. Sally at the start of the movie wouldn't dream of going to Oogie Boogie's lair, but near the end she does, not because she wants to but because she has to take the risk.She ends up a lot more confident, and gets recognised by Sandy Claws as the only person with any sense,
As
flickums observes, this point of view deals with a bit of a plot issue in the main storyline. There isn't a romantic subplot between Sally and Jack. He's not interested, at all. In the story of Ragdoll to Riches, that subplot is definitely there, The Mean One
This is a more obscure movie - the premise is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, retold as a horror movie.
However, it has all the hallmarks of a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Successful careers woman returns to a small town. The town has lost its Christmas spirit, but she joins up with an awkward but harming local and together they save Christmas. It even has a friendly jolly man with a beard who helps them out, and the Santa archetype is common in these movies,
Die Hard
This essentially defines its own action movie subgenre. However, Hans Gruber is the anti-hero of a slasher movie. The same genre as Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Hans is part of a group with a plan for the holidays. It's not a very festive plan; it involves robbery and murder to cover their tracks. But it's a plan. And at this point they think they're in a third genre of film - a heist movie. They have an elaborate plan that involves other people reacting in predictable ways. Unfortunately they aren't sympathetic enough to be in that sort of movie.
Things start going wrong when one of the group turns up dead, with a message, "Now I Have A Machine Gun. Ho. Ho. Ho", mocking them. As is typical, they split up and try to deal with the menace. They never see him until they are about to die. As far as the criminals are concerned this is a supernatural monster that won't stop until they all die.
John McClane here is a bogeyman, similar to Jason Voorhees in the later Friday 13th Films or Michael Myers from Halloween.
