Nostalgia, movies and Christmas
It maybe August but the urge to watch a Christmas film is strong…
I don’t know why but recently I’ve really wanted to watch a Christmas film even though we are deep in the middle of summer. I want to sit down on the sofa, have a cup of tea, wear fluffy socks and lose myself in the snow, Christmas vibes and twinkling lights.
I’m not sure if it’s because the British summer has been a wash out so far, with all of the rain resulting in bringing on the autumn feels. Or that as its a time of uncertainty I want to reach for the comfort blanket of a favourite film. Or perhaps its because I’m really craving something familiar and nostalgic and the warmth and love surrounding Christmas films is beckoning me in like a hot chocolate and a crackling fire.
I’m quite a traditionalist when it comes to watching films that are portraying certain times of the year and I never tend to watch them outside of the season they are set in. So the urge that I have to want to watch a Christmas film now is really testing my resolve. I guess I try to watch them only at Christmas because this time of year is my favourite and a lot of the films I have watched for many years are linked to my childhood and teenage years.
One of the films I always watch at Christmas time is a personal favourite of mine, While You Were Sleeping starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman. Although it’s not technically a Christmas movie, as to my disbelief I found out that it was released in the US in April 1995 and then in the UK on the 25th August. So at the time it definitely wasn’t marketed as a Christmas film. I can’t quite believe that it was released in August in the UK, as it fulfils all the tick boxes of a Christmas romantic comedy and is peak Sandra Bullock at her rom com height. It is Christmas for me, when I watch it I know all is good in the world. Perhaps this is why I want to watch it now.
Another film I traditionally watch at a set time is Easter Parade at you guessed it… Easter, I am a serial re-watcher of this film and no matter when I am I try and watch it over this period. It brings back memories and it’s a timeless classic staring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Ann Miller. Set in New York, Don Hewes played by Fred Astaire tries to teach inexperienced Hannah Brown (Judy Garland) to be his next Broadway partner. It’s a beautiful musical and surprisingly enough Easter centric. I would recommend a watch, it will leave you wanting to buy an Easter bonnet and parade down 5th Avenue. I love Judy and Fred in this film and it always makes me smile.
Looking at these two films, it makes me realise that maybe I like to watch these at certain times of the year as they are touchstones of time passing but they always remain the same. I found a really interesting article about this and why we tend to re-watch films and tv from The Atlantic and have included the link to the article below.
This section particularly stood out to me:
“One of the nice things about old movies is that they can’t surprise us. We know how they end, and we know how we’ll feel when they end. This makes the re-consumption of entertainment a bit like “emotional regulation,” Russell and Levy write. New books, movies, and TV shows can deliver spectacular thrills, but they can also waste our time and disappoint us. Old movies never disappoint us: We get older, they stay the same age. Returning to familiar entertainment is, to be perfectly stiff about this sort of thing, emotionally efficient. We’ll get exactly the emotional payoff we’re looking for—no surprises.”
Maybe it is good to have some nostalgia and emotional regulation. I think I will pop on a Christmas film and let the joy and comfort wash over me.
Do you have any movies you re-watch over and over again? Do you only watch certain films at a specific time of year or do you like to watch them all year round? Let me know :)