The Indie Pen Dance: A ‘Die Hard’ Christmas Tradition

The Indie Pen Dance: A ‘Die Hard’ Christmas Tradition

December 7, 2011 · by shetrick · in ,

Although some might grow weary of the holiday talk, my Blog this week will be something out of the ordinary. This week, I want to tell you all about one of my favorite Christmas traditions: The Christmas movie.

Every year, we are assaulted by new Christmas movies, and they nearly always carry clichè- laden plot.  Almost all of them end up going “straight to DVD”, having not gathered the larger audiences intended to have been drawn in.  Although the new movies disappoint us, we know that we can always return to our old standbys.

We all have them- the classic and memorable Christmas movies that we’ve been growing up with since were wee little lads and lasses. Our parents raised us on them since we can remember. They carry incredibly powerful and fond memories of sitting around the television after the festivities of a long winter day, eating some sort of leftover, and knowing the fact that you and your family can enjoy something together. Now that you are thinking about it, doesn’t it just make you feel better about Finals Week being next week?

But the fact is that most of our society’s cherished holiday movies are not that different from the newer movies that didn’t seem to click with us. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is about a man who realizes how much he has impacted his family and friends, and where he realizes the value of his own life- a popular idea reused in some of the cheesiest movies known to man; Yet, the idea sticks to us as specific to “It’s a Wonderful Life”. “Elf”, “Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Home Alone”, etc. all have themes that are more heart-warming and family-oriented  than most.

Yet, when we talk about Christmas movies, we often leave out films that appeal to an older audience. In my experience, we always mention the family films, but in a much less frequency have we mentioned such films as “Scrooged” and “Die Hard”. I’ve mentioned the magic of being a college student several times before in this column- we are free of our normal constraints, and are allowed to create our own traditions when it comes to the holidays. The rules of previous movie viewing are no longer valid (unless you want them to be).

This is why I, on every Christmas Day with my family, watch “Die Hard”, “A Christmas Story”,  and “Scrooged”. They are films that I’ve grown up with as a Christmas tradition with my family. The latter two few movies may seem obvious as Christmas flicks, but most don’t consider “Die Hard” as a Christmas movie- even though it takes place during Christmas Eve, happens within a Christmas party, and involves lots of bloody gifts delivered by Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman. It’s not Christmas without the original “Die Hard” and a floor full of glass.

Happy Holidays from Brad Neely

By: Sarah Hetrick

 

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