Description
Book SynopsisFilm plays a vital role in the celebration of Christmas. For decades, it has taught audiences about what the celebration of the season looks like from the decorations to the costumes and to the expected snowy weather as well as mirrors our own festivities back to us. Films like It's a Wonderful Life and Home Alone have come to play key roles in real-life domestic celebrations: watching such titles has become, for many families, every bit as important as tree-trimming and leaving cookies out for Santa. These films have exported the American take on the holiday far and wide and helped us conjure an image of the perfect holiday. Rather than settling the what is a Christmas film?' debate indeed, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are discussed within Analyzing Christmas in Film: Santa to the Supernatural focuses on the how Christmas is presented on the deluge of occasions when it appears. While most Christmas films are secular, religion makes many cameos, appearing through Nativity references,
Trade ReviewWe know that movies and television powerfully influence our expectations of what Christmas should be like, look like, and feel like. Lauren Rosewarne impressively scrutinizes nearly 1,000 contemporary works and shows us how their seasonal platitudes feed and sustain our notions of the holiday ideal. -- Hank Stuever, author of "Tinsel: A Search for America’s Christmas Present"
Table of ContentsIntroduction: “Hasn’t everything already been written about Christmas? Between Dickens and Dr Seuss?” Chapter 1: “The moment anyone puts on a Santa Claus costume they become a sort of semi-holy figure”: Faith and Belief in Christmas Chapter 2: “I feel, for some reason, that this is a good time of year for looking backwards”: Time, Tradition and Festive Nostalgia Chapter 3: “Can’t we pretend to like one another? It’s Christmas for heaven’s sakes”: Home and Family at the Holidays Chapter 4: “I hate baubles and I hate tinsel and I hate ticky tacky”: Stress, Sadness and Seasonal Depression Chapter 5: “Now is the time of year for the impossible to become possible”: The Supernatural in the Christmas Narrative Chapter 6: “Sell sell celebration”: Christmas, Commerce and Consumption Conclusion: “Snow melts, lights come down. It’s all just an illusion.”
