A little less has been put toward two Christmas movies turning 15, both of which have come into my life or will be coming into my life in the next two days.
Given the dearth of holiday classics released in the 21st century, what are the odds that two of them would have come out in 2003?
Those movies are of course Love Actually and Elf. Some people hate the former while others love it dearly; most people seem to have at least a limited fondness for the latter. There seems little argument, though, that they are the two most prominent 21st century entries on the list of popular holiday films, and they both came out in the same year.
They also happen to be the last movie I saw in the theater with my then-girlfriend, who was my most serious relationship prior to meeting my wife, and the movie I saw on the weekend we broke up, the seeing of which contributed to one of our final arguments. Considering that I spent the better part of the next year regretting our break-up, you'd think I'd sentimentalize the one I saw with her (Love Actually) while cursing the one I chose to see with my friends instead of spending that afternoon with her (Elf). Yet the critic in me rises above my viewing circumstances and names Elf one of my top 100 movies of all time, while relegating Love Actually to a spot somewhere south of mediocre on my Flickchart (it currently ranks 3023 out of 4778). Though to be fair, I saw it only that one time all the way through.
Of course, neither of these movies was actually part of my Christmas season per se in 2003. I saw them on November 15th and 22nd, respectively, and my girlfriend and I were broken up before Thanksgiving. And besides, that's all really more of an aside than what I came to talk about here today.
We'll be watching Elf on Christmas Eve this year, a second viewing for my older son and a first for my younger. They actually started to watch it one Saturday morning a few weeks ago before I went and yanked the remote control out of their hands. It was too special to waste on a Saturday morning. If they want to watch it in that context on subsequent viewings, fine, but the first one needs to be with us and a bowl of popcorn on the night before Santa brings them their presents. My older son was only five when we watched it in 2015, so this probably qualifies as something of a first viewing for him as well. The younger one turns five just a week after Christmas.
I had no plans to have Love Actually play any role in my holiday season, until I went out running this morning and they were discussing the public's love-it-or-hate-it relationship to this movie on The Slate Culture Gabfest. The discussion became animated enough that it took up nearly 30 minutes of my nearly 38-minute run. They didn't mention that the movie was turning 15 but I suspect that was the reason for the discussion. (Check that; they said that the movie was "only 15 years old" in decrying its retrograde gender politics.) While three of those discussing it were decidedly anti-, those being the regular hosts (Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner), they did bring in former Slate editor David Plotts to defend its glorious schmaltz. (And he's not the only one -- someone in my Flickcharters group on Facebook, whose opinions about movies I respect, has it ranked as her #1 movie of all time.)
More than take a position on these movies myself, since I think I've indicated my feelings so far, I really just want to muse about the unusual congruence of holiday-related cinematic magic that year. Because you know what? Those weren't the only two Christmas movies released that year.
If we go back to Flickchart, and this time look at the global lists rather than my own, the next TWO 21st century Christmas movies appearing on their global "Holiday Film" chart are both from 2003. Now I should say, this chart is a bit problematic as it also includes films from other holidays (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) and films whose holiday connection is a bit slight (Batman Returns) -- not to mention having Die Hard as its #1 film (to answer the previous debate). What can you say, the site attracts some genre enthusiasts.
But that doesn't change the naked fact that after Love Actually (#16) and Elf (#19) on this chart, the next 21st century film is a Satoshi Kon 2003 anime, Tokyo Godfathers (#22), followed by Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa (#31), also from 2003. Even setting aside the fact that Tokyo Godfathers (which takes place on Christmas Eve) is probably ranked higher as a result of the biases of this particular user base, that's fairly astonishing.
You have to go down to 39th on this list before you finally get another 21st century movie, Christian Carion's 2005 film Joyeux Noel (which is actually quite good, so good on the Flickchart community for recognizing that). That's followed by #42 The Holiday (2006) and #44 Rare Exports (2010).
So what was it that caused us to need -- and to be able to produce -- such enduring Christmas escapism in 2003? I could try to posit some kind of theory based on my own political biases, like we needed some good comfort food to get us out of the fetal positions we'd adopted when George Bush became president, or perhaps to heal from 9/11. But the former implies that these movies appeal disproportionately to liberals, which is obviously not the case -- the lone admitted conservative on the Gabfest panel, David Plotts, was the one who defended Love Actually. And as for 9/11, well, the need for comforting art does not necessarily engender the ability to produce it.
It could be just one of those things where Hollywood is sharing a head space around a particular time, like there being two asteroid movies made at the same time, or two Truman Capote movies, or two remakes of The Jungle Book. However, none of the four movies above appear to have much in common with each other, though I haven't seen Tokyo Godfathers. In fact, one of them (Bad Santa) doesn't even try to tug at your heartstrings, as it's fairly rancid as Christmas movies go.
I'm wondering if part of the key to the endurance of Love Actually and Elf in particular is that no one has tried to make a sequel. That's rare at a time when Hollywood picks any and all IP clean of all its potential profits. Hollywood may have done that slightly less in 2003, but they're making up for it now, and in fact, those 2003 movies would probably be prime targets. In fact, Bad Santa itself got a sequel in 2016, and it was total shit. Let's hope that's a lesson to its 2003 brethren, which so far have not been touched.
So I'm looking forward to my Elf viewing, and having written this, feel like I should probably give Love Actually another chance to win my heart.
Then again, hearing the Slate folks tear apart some of its more problematic elements cured me of most of my desire for a revisit.
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