does anyone watch Hallmark xmas movies? I don't understand how I got addicted to them
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Anonymous
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When I was at my inlaws' last week, we ended up watching about 5,000 of these Hallmark Xmas movies. (My MIL loves them.) They are so so not my life - I am a city person, no kids, already happily married, Jewish, don't particularly like Xmas - but I ended up getting a little obsessed with these movies.
Like, getting obsessed with them on a couple of levels - one, trying to figure them out: what needs or desires they are tapping into with the target audience. And also trying to figure out why in the heck I got so into them. Re: needs - it seemed like the key was that there was a young-ish woman who feels under-valued in nearly every part of her life. Through celebrating Christmas, she ends up winning the heart of a man who appreciates her and also teaching him the meaning of Christmas - primarily family, tradition, and community. And it's all with the background of being (mostly) white and well-off. There is often a tragic child in the mix there, too, who helps a resistant adult learn that there's more to life than work and the big city. The people are all super super bland and generic. Just about entirely white. In many cases, not even especially nice or interesting. Why are these so fun to watch? Why am I still thinking about them, days later?? |
Anonymous
| They’re great. Always have a happy ending. More people should watch them! |
Anonymous
| So relaxing so watch! They’re just mindless fun. |
Anonymous
| Best Xmas movie I've ever watched was Hallmark, film version of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" starring Patty Duke. |
Anonymous
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Yep, and it's always Danica McKellar (Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years) or Lacey Chabert (Claudia Salinger from Party of Five). Jodie Sweetin has done one or two as well.
There's no appeal for me. To me, they're like Danielle Steel books - way too formulaic for my taste. Except in the Hallmark movies, it's okay to carry a little extra weight, while in Danielle Steel's books the main characters are always tiny waifs of women. |
Anonymous
| I've been watching them for the past 3 years. So cozy, feel-good and addictive. I love their mysteries as well. |
Anonymous
| Watching one right now! |
Anonymous
| The Post has a long article about these movies! You’re not alone. |
Anonymous
| I too watched a million of these this week. They’re mindless but oh so formulaic. Always a lonely 30something with woman with a “girly” job (baker, department store manager, b&b owner) who changes her whole world around for some pretty basic white man. Max of three people of color in each movie, with a total of 6 lines between them. They’re peak whiteness. |
Anonymous
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The clothes, houses, kitchens and decorating all have a look of perfection.
They make everything seem pleasant , clean, orderly and managed. It's the deepest desire of women. |
Anonymous
| The pinnacle of western civilization ^^^ |
Anonymous
This is OP - and I think that has a lot to do with it! This clean and orderly world - but where people are grateful for you micromanaging everything! I hadn't thought of it like that before. It's a party planner who gets to plan every detail, or a house decorator who gets to pick every detail, or a parade organizer who gets to plan every detail - and there's some dude with plenty of money who is glad to participate and then thanks her for her efforts. That is 100% not the world I live in - like, not even a little tiny bit - and I don't think it's what I want. But I still find the movies deeply reassuring. (My MIL, I will add, did not appreciate my husband and me sitting around trying to figure out what was going on with the movies. She kept saying, "I just like them. I think most people just *like* them.") |
Anonymous
Too cold, too Caucasian |
Anonymous
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A Ranking of Hallmark's Most Iconic Holiday Movies Based on How Problematic They Are
http://www.marieclaire.com/culture/g14454845/hallmarks-holiday-movies-snowflake-scale/ |
Anonymous
| Black woman who doesn't even celebrate Christmas and I watch them all the time, I love them. |