The first thing was I started unintentionally saying "Merry Christmas" to people instead of "Happy Holidays", and this was a direct effect of consuming so much Hallmark. Back in my teenage years, I trained myself to say "Happy Holidays" to people, knowing that Christmas is not a universally celebrated holiday. Saying "Happy Holidays" is inclusive, and doesn't cast assumptions upon other people (or feel like a push). It's got nothing to do with a "war on Christmas" because there never, ever was such a thing. FAKE NEWS! The war on Christmas was a construct of the far-right to try (and succeed) at sewing division, and painting anyone who doesn't celebrate as "other". The "war on Christmas" was really the start of far right wing war on anyone who doesn't fit their white, hetero, Christian mold.
I don't think Hallmark, as a company, is necessarily a "right wing" company, but their television output certainly services that community and their more puritanical sensibilities to a fault. A Salon article release on December 25 this year paints Hallmark movies as fascist propaganda, and while it does certainly makes its case, I think it is also quite a stretch. Hallmark's intention isn't outright to exclude people and groups from their programming, instead they're trying to slowly defrock Christmas of its religious meaning, making it a universal holiday for everyone to celebrate.
And if Hallmark is trying to "universalize" Christmas, it's for one reason: profit. This is a company who makes most of its money from Christmas related items, whether it's greeting cards or ornaments or decorations, it's products are ubiquitous leading into Christmas and almost forgotten the rest of the year. If they want to grow their business, they need to grow their audience, and to grow their audience, convincing people that Christmas is now really a non-denominational holiday is their approach.
The next thing was the realization that I was no longer consuming Hallmark movie ironically. I mean, I understand perfectly that they are terrible, TERRIBLE movies. Even the very best of them couldn't really be put up on the big screen in a theatrical situation. They're cheap and wonky by design, and aren't meant to hold up to any real artistic standards. But once you start taking them together as a whole, as a genre on their you, you start looking at them in relation to one another and some definitely float to the top where the remainder mostly sink. Knowing this, and then consuming based on this knowledge is somewhat depressing. I was enjoying Hallmark movies for their awfulness... I never wanted to examine them for what made them good (and what makes any aspect of them good, 90% of the time, is the personality of the performer, like Ashley Williams or Nikki DeLoach, but even their charms are often not enough for a terribly conceived, written, or directed movie).
It's only been the past two or three years that Hallmark's Christmas movie output has seemed to explode. I think this is the same reason why superhero movies are dominating the box office and fantasy has exploded on TV. It's all escapism. There's nothing tangibly real about most Hallmark movies. There's nothing remotely honest about them. Grown-ass men and women in their 30's, 40's and 50's mincing around dating and romance and relationships like pre-teens, not a hint of sexuality or, in so many cases, any tangible emotional connection. It's all escapist, otherworldly clap-trap. And there's comfort in that. You can get lost in the goofy surrealism of it all (and I have), and the rote repetition. Pop culture critic Emily Van Der Werff wrote an amazing article about Hallmark and their recent Christmas Convention in New Jersey, but among their most salient points raised by Christmas TV expert Joanna Wilson was this:
We return to the same programs year after year, whether it’s Rudolph, whether it’s Charlie Brown Christmas, whether it’s the Grinch, whether it’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Hallmark movies, even if they’re new, they’re old. They’re the same. That’s the point.”And that's the nail on the head. Hallmark has figured out a Formula with a capital "F". The best Hallmark will keep you watching, and even entertained, the worst of them are even more entertaining for their awfulness, and the middling ones are as acceptable holiday background as the Fireplace Channel.
The above linked articles do highlight my unease with falling into the Hallmark trap. The insidiousness of it is not exactly fascistic (maybe a little) but capitalism at its most disgustingly brazen. Buy more gifts, send more cards, add more decorations, bake more, eat more, watch more, consume consume consume.
I don't know if I just need a break or if I've basically broken myself from Hallmark movie output at this point. I may dip back in throughout the year when I need some "comfort food", but then I don't know if I can take comfort in this product anymore. Having consumed so much this year my eyes are very wide open to its faults, and I don't know if I can look past those enough to continue to enjoy them.
Maybe I need to look outside the Hallmark mold, focus on Lifetime, Netflix and other channel outputs that are daring to work in a different, less structured, less comfortable, less exclusionary formulae.
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That said, following our Toast and Kent's X-Mas Advent Calendar experiment, here's what I loved this year:
Ashley Williams - in roles old (Christmas In Evergreen 2017), and very old (Snow, Snow 2), and even a charming performance in a terribly stupid new one (Holiday Hearts), she has such wonderfully delightful energy that makes her kind of perfect for terrible movies like these.
Vanessa Hudgens - Hallmark has their "Christmas princesses"... quite a few of them at this point, but Netflix has one of their own. If we're doing a Christmas Advent Calendar again next year, I'll want to start with a Hudgen Netflix picture. Plus, Netflix puts quality production value into their films, they don't adhere to formulae as rigidly, there's sparks of sexuality, and they connect their movies in very delightful ways.
The Christmas Club - Hallmark's most enjoyable movie this year. The leads, Elizabeth Mitchell and Cameron Matheson had real chemistry that made them utterly delightful to watch every single moment. It's still not a great movie, but I just adored the sparks between these two.
Evergreen - through one okay film and two very middling ones, I have really grown to like this silly little town where Christmas is the be-all and end-all. Seeing the same cast year after year (even though I watched all three this year) really gives the sense of community and provides a true sense of continuity that no other Hallmark-esque Christmassy thing seems to have. If I go back to Hallmark next year for one thing, it will be for Evergreen. FOR EVERGREEN!
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