-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Why do people think that Die Hard is a Christmas movie?
- Thread starter Ballpoint Ren
- Start date
yes and then it would be a thanksgiving movie.
And if it was during holloween, it would be a holloween movie.
Home Alone (the first one), Die Hard and Charlie Brown are my go-to Christmas movies every year. Each exude big time holiday vibes that get me in the mood for
deckin some halls, making lists and checking them twice and rocking around any Christmas tree.
deckin some halls, making lists and checking them twice and rocking around any Christmas tree.
Why is the op gatekeeping christmas movies on top of insulting members ?
fuck off you douche
Its the best christmas movie
fuck off you douche
Its the best christmas movie
Is Home Alone a Christmas movie? I mean it could have been set at anytime of the year and it would have had the same effect.
OP
OP
No, I'm specifically talking about Die Hard. I know what I posted.
I'm not sure where I insulted anyone, but don't you think calling someone douche is kind of rude?
But it didn't. It took place at Christmas.
If you're going to play the "If I change a thing about a movie, it's no longer about that thing!" game, we're gonna be here a long time.
But what if it took place on a bus... And that bus couldn't go under 60 miles per hour? Would it still be a Christmas movie then? 🤔
OP
OP
Bet. The overarching plot of the movie has little to do with Christmas. Though there's a little bit of Christmas peppered throughout the film, like when Al is singing Let it Snow, John is just a New York cop who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He did his due diligence to stop a terrorist threat because he's a cop and it was his duty to respond when there's no local law enforcement in the building. The fact that it takes place on Christmas Eve (within the universe of the film) is coincidental and has no bearing on John's motivations to stop Hans and save the hostages.
but as a comparison, home alone has a some drama/action entirely unrelated to Christmas - being left alone by your family and your home being broken into - all in service of the heart of the movie which is recognizing the importance of family. You could literally say the same thing about die hard. A lot of Christmas movies have drama unrelated to Christmas but where Christmas is an important part of what ties the film together.
this thread does kind of come off as you wanting to nitpick what's a "christmas" film and what's not. Why would you want to make rules about what people like to watch during this season
"If you remove the christmas stuff from the movie it has nothing to do with christmas" is a kinda mediocre argument since that applies to like almost every christmas movie.
OP
OP
Yup. Because it's an action movie that takes place on Christmas. Not a Christmas movie that has action scenes.
Numerous Christmas gags/references/songs not enough for you?
How is home alone a Xmas movie?
All it is about is neglectful parents leaving their child home alone and said child having to survive from being killed.
Just because people are wearing Santa hats and Xmas music plays, does not mean it's a Xmas movie. It's about surviving in a ruthless world where criminals will try and do anything to get to their prize.
All it is about is neglectful parents leaving their child home alone and said child having to survive from being killed.
Just because people are wearing Santa hats and Xmas music plays, does not mean it's a Xmas movie. It's about surviving in a ruthless world where criminals will try and do anything to get to their prize.
Hmm. Is there tinsel on the bus?
Several people upthread mentioned Home Alone (which you neatly avoided addressing), which is another in a long line of Christmas movies that could be changed to not be Christmas movies without a huge amount of reworking.
The fact that a movie can be de-Christmased relatively easily doesn't disqualify them from being Christmas movies.
Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It's an action movie that takes place at Christmas.
If Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then 'Santa's North Pole Sluts 12' is also a Christmas movie.
If Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then 'Santa's North Pole Sluts 12' is also a Christmas movie.
Nah, that would ruin the scene I'm thinking about adding where the bus jumps an overpass. Tinsel is well known to be un-aerodynamic.
Home alone is not a Christmas movie, it's a heist movie that takes place during Christmas.
Why is this a problem?
Gotcha. Not a Christmas movie in my books.
You just listed two Christmas movies. I don't understand what you are saying.
The first is about reconciling with loved ones and machine guns for the holidays.
The second is about experiencing the joys of giving.
OP
OP
Yeah because this thread isn't about Home Alone, it's about Die Hard.
I'm pretty confident in thinking that when John first saw the terrorists walking into the suite with machine guns he wasn't thinking "aw fuck, there goes my Christmas." Or for that matter, he could have given Al any Christmasy themed name like Nick or Rudolph, but he chooses Roy instead because of an old action/cowboy movie star.
Taking place on or around Christmas is enough for me, especially when the seasonal flair is a noticeable part of the setting & atmosphere. You can make the same argument against Halloween. It's a Horror movie that takes place on Halloween. There's nothing vital to the plot there. Michael could've happened to kill his sister a couple months later.
Which would've made it a Christmas movie
Halloween is set during Halloween, but really it's just a movie about a psychotic escaped serial killer Instead of trick-or-treating and costumes.
So it's not a Halloween movie, right?
Wow, I was just a couple minutes too slow I guess.
So it's not a Halloween movie, right?
Wow, I was just a couple minutes too slow I guess.
OP
OP
It's as much or more of a Christmas movie as It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas movie.
Arguably Christmas is more important to the plot of Die Hard than It's a Wonderful Life. It also ends with an iconic Christmas song and it snowing Bearer Bonds in LA. The movie only works during Christmas. A primary theme is family reconciliation.
Arguably Christmas is more important to the plot of Die Hard than It's a Wonderful Life. It also ends with an iconic Christmas song and it snowing Bearer Bonds in LA. The movie only works during Christmas. A primary theme is family reconciliation.
I think people 'want' it to be a christmas movie so they have an excuse to watch die hard when everyone else wants to put on Love Actually (which isn't really a pure Christmas movie, but whatevs). Maybe if you're older you want something that you can do as a tradition on Christmas that isn't cloying or sugary like most Christmas movies are.
i dunno. You don't really need an excuse to watch Diehard. I mean Diehard 2 is also set at Christmas and yet no one watches that. Me personally, I'd watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also not a Christmas movie just set around that time of year.
i dunno. You don't really need an excuse to watch Diehard. I mean Diehard 2 is also set at Christmas and yet no one watches that. Me personally, I'd watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also not a Christmas movie just set around that time of year.
The Grinch is not a Christmas movie, you could change the holiday to Easter and it'd be an Easter movie.
The central theme of home alone is entirely Christmas related. It's not a heist movie, it's a family reconciliation movie that uses a heist in service of that theme. The heist is secondary to the story surrounding the relationship between Kevin and his family (largely his mother).
While not every Christmas movie has to have family reconciliation as a theme of the movie it's prominent in a lot of Christmas movies.
I don't think of it as being much of Christmas movie because hardly any of the most memorable scenes of the movie have anything to do with Christmas. It's the dead terrorist in the Santa hat and that's just about it.
Last edited:
The constant reruns during the Christmas Period in the 90's and 00's has placed this into the public's psyche of being a Christmas movies.
Must have watched this countless times in the TBS 9pm time slot.
It's now considered a Christmas movie but not in the Christmas movie genre.
Must have watched this countless times in the TBS 9pm time slot.
It's now considered a Christmas movie but not in the Christmas movie genre.
It's a modern day Christmas tale, which replaces the fantastical and old fashioned idea of an obese man in flashy red robes somehow hitting down a chimney, with a real-life hero, who valiantly puts his life on the line to save his wife and all the other innocent employees of Nakatomi Plaza from a group of German terrorists led by a handsomely dressed super criminal.
All the ideas of Christmas: to spend time with your family, to think about others, to not be selfish and so forth, are perfectly encapsulated, without needing to evoke the imagery of a holiday which has long since abandoned all these ideas in a cynical merger with consumerist mania. Instead of buying presents, it's about giving the most precious present anyone can give: your help to those in need.
In that sense:
and a happy holiday season
All the ideas of Christmas: to spend time with your family, to think about others, to not be selfish and so forth, are perfectly encapsulated, without needing to evoke the imagery of a holiday which has long since abandoned all these ideas in a cynical merger with consumerist mania. Instead of buying presents, it's about giving the most precious present anyone can give: your help to those in need.
In that sense:
and a happy holiday season
I haven't seen Gremlins in ages.
Gonna need to get on that for the Christmas season.
