The Reel World: Christmas movies

As I sit on my parents’ couch writing this, my sister and I are watching our family’s favorite Christmas movie, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000). Yes, it is the live-action version; sorry, Boris Karloff fans. Some may chide me for “starting Christmas too early” and “forgetting about Thanksgiving,” but I disagree for two reasons. First, I think Thanksgiving is an overrated holiday, and I simply regard it as the teaser trailer for Christmas. Also, in my opinion, the Christmas season starts on September 25.

Every Christmas season, I realize that almost every family I know has an agreed-upon household favorite Christmas movie. These decisions aren't taken lightly, and many people have very strong opinions about the merits of their preferred Christmas film. Many (myself included) also pass serious judgment on other families for their family Christmas favorite with a level of passive-aggressive rancor usually reserved for PTA meetings and block party gossip. For example, when people tell me that their family's favorite Christmas film is “Elf” (2004), I simply smile and politely ask, “So, you're an Adam Sandler fan as well?”

The factors that determine a family’s favorite Christmas movie are varied: Generational divide, background and philosophy all come into the equation. For example, my father, who was raised in small-town New Jersey in the 60s and 70s, believes no Christmas film can match “A Christmas Story” (1983). My maternal grandmother, who grew up in Queens in the 50s, is partial to “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946). If I had to estimate, she’s seen it about 12,000 times, and she cries each and every time she watches it.

The concept of the “family favorite” movie can also be observed with Disney movies. In our family, it is “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000). We’re sort of like Disney hipsters on this note; most people we know are passionate devotees of films like “The Little Mermaid” (1989) or “The Lion King” (1994). I think the reason we never took to the more quintessential Disney fare is somehow tied to the fact that nobody in our family has ever been a singer or played an instrument. Therefore, we were never drawn in by those films’ famed musical numbers. I should mention that, when I researched this article, I found a website that ranked Disney songs by their strength, and it put many of those from “The Emperor’s New Groove” near the bottom.

Our choice in family films says a great deal about the character of our family, in my opinion. Both “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Emperor’s New Groove” are heavy on comedy and mostly light on sentimentality, with a banter-driven style of humor and many pop culture references. Accordingly, a typical conversation between my sister and myself contains at least four references to “Bend It Like Beckham” (2002). Some families want to go around the table saying what they’re thankful for. In lieu of that, we continued our family tradition of teasing my grandmother about her traumatic first Thanksgiving dinner, when she forgot to make mashed potatoes.