Opinions on Films
Mamata Elangovan
Staff Writer
It’s that time of year you know and love, the season’s cheesy holiday flicks, watched by all, loved by few, and now we get to find out what people actually think about these productions.
“I grew up in a busy household, so I felt like I was parked in front of the TV quite often. For me, I always loved holiday movies because they get me into the holiday spirit, and I just love that. Some of my greatest memories are of watching a movie with family during the holidays,” recalls Ms. Christensen.
Well bring out the holiday cheer! The most memorable vibes can also come along with how you set up for your movie watching experience. Nimisha Gupta (11) has her own way of getting into the mood.
“I just really like Christmas, I like the lights, the whole holiday feeling. Winter and fall is my most favorite part of the year. In winter, you have the heater on, you wrap a blanket around yourself, grab some hot cocoa, some snacks, and you’re just in the mood to watch movies. The weather isn’t too hot, not too cold, but just right.”
However, there is a difference in the vibes of the movies depending on when they were released. There are holiday classics and stories with a more modern twist to them.
Sarvani Vungutur (10) says “The older ones, they give me a sense of nostalgia, but I kind of like the new ones, because they give a twist on the concept of Christmas.
Alas, there is a feeling that there is not much diversity in holiday films. Holidays other than Christmas are often left unrepresented, the cast is perpetually white, the general plotlines tend to revolve around romance and misunderstandings, and they all tend to merge together.
Ms. Christensen remarked, “When it comes to holiday movies, I think they do try but I would like to see more in the leading lady or leading man or leading whatever to be more a part of the story, rather than a background character. There was one movie that I did see recently that I really love. It has Kristen Stewart in it. It was about a gay couple goes on for Christmas, and one of the gay couple, that woman, does not tell her family so it’s like a whole big thing. And I really loved it because it was a lot more about different types of relationships that you’re going to see during the holidays and I really loved that because it was kind of important to me. Like it’s important to understand that it’s not going to be just like guy-girl, there’s going to be different types of relationships, and it kind of made it a little bit more normalized and I really think it was such a great movie.”
Others have had a bit more difficulty in finding representation around this time of year.
Gupta feels that, “For different ethnicities and stuff, usually it’s not as diverse in the traditional ones, but the more recent ones have gotten more diverse. I can’t really recall any other ones.”
Now for the truth, the moment you’ve been waiting for, movie suggestions. What has really caught attention these folks’ year, what pulled at their heartstrings.
For Ms. Christensen she “really liked the one with Kristen Stewart, Happiest Season, what I noticed about her is that now that she is an out and proud gay woman, I feel this different sense from her now, maybe its because she’s older, but maybe it’s this calmness in her as an actress, and I absolutely adore her now. I found it to be so beautiful that it talked about many other ways, like people are going to bring home different people for Christmas, and that is going to be normal and it’s great to see it be reinstated in a movie.”
Gupta remembers that “There is only one new one I watched this year, I only watched The Princess Switch:Switched Again, I wasn’t really into it much, they just added another cousin who brings in more trouble, and she finds a new guy too. There are some that are coming that I’m interested in like A California Christmas, it’s about a carefree lifestyle on the line, and a wealthy charmer posing as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer. It’s always about saving Christmas, and we need to do something about a community to stop the sale of the land from a wealthy man, then the wealthy man will feel the spirit of Christmas and spread goodwill. It’s about California, so I wanted to see what it was going to be about.”
These are just two suggestions for the holiday season, and they both seem like great choices. One brings in the rustic charm of California and mixes it in with traditional Christmas concepts, while the other tackles some more modern experiences and attempts to strike a chord with its audience. What I know is that both of these suggestions are going to be in my to-watch list for this Christmas.
Eagle Era 