Christmas movies

From Media Musings and Everyday Spirituality:

Honestly, I really enjoy watching Christmas flicks. They seem to be some of the most morally clean films out there as a whole. But taking a step back from the simple enjoyment of it all, you realize that what’s been done to the celebration of Christ’s birth is a tragedy.

“The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why.” – G.K. Chesterton

What’s your reaction to some of the most recent Christmas films?

• Scrooged (1988)
• Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
• The Santa Clause (1994)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Elf (2003)
• Christmas With the Kranks (2004)
• The Polar Express (2004)
• The Santa Clause 2 (2006)
• The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
• Four Christmases (2008)
• Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Steve Valentine (2009).

One of my many complaints about the Harry Potter series is that Christmas is treated as a winter holiday, utterly divorced from any spiritual meaning. She makes no effort to explain how her characters understand the person and work of Jesus.

Older movies

• Miracle on 34th Street.
• It's a Wonderful Life.
• Charlie Brown Christmas Special.
• White Christmas.

Links

• [Christmas Season].
• "Too Many Turkeys from Tinseltown:" "The magic ingredient for a classic Christmas film is a touch of misery, not the manufactured merriment of today’s movies."