Why Die Hard IS a Christmas Movie!
Yes, I’m taking the controversial stance that ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie. I quite enjoy this film. It’s one of my all-time favorites & I think is the greatest film of the action genre. For those that unfamiliar with the film, go watch it & then come back here to this article.
Okay you watched it? Great! Let’s continue.
Let’s cut the small talk & get down to business. I think there are 3 main reasons that ‘Die Hard’ is a certified Christmas movie. First & foremost it takes place during the Christmas season (duh). Secondly, it features heavy themes that can be found in the average Christmas film. And finally, I think the genre of Christmas films is a loose genre that makes it easy to classify the film as so.
The film takes place at a Christmas party on Christmas Eve. In my opinion, this is the main thing that makes it a Christmas film. That may be a low bar, but I think that is enough for other films. Look at ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ which is often cited as one of the top Christmas movies. The movie starts & ends on Christmas, but is really just a fictional biography of George Bailey, with most of the film not even occurring on Christmas. ‘Love Actually’ is another film that features a loose Christmas storyline. It no doubt has some storylines that focus more on Christmas than ‘Die Hard’ does, but also many that just don’t. However, both of these films are unquestionably considered Christmas films. Now you may ask, doesn’t that open it up to many more movies than just ‘Die Hard?’ And I would say, sure! Why the heck not? If the film is set on Christmas, it can justifiably be considered a Christmas film. Now Christmas has to be more than just one scene (e.g. ‘Ted’), but if the film takes place during the Christmas season, that’s enough for me (so films like ‘Batman Returns’ & ‘Iron Man 3’ could also be eligible).
Another argument I’ve read is that since the film wasn’t released in the summer (July 15) it wasn’t meant to be a Christmas film. I have two things to say to that. Firstly, what was intended doesn’t really matter. I think most filmmakers intend to make a good movie, but bad movies still exists, so intention gets you nothing in my book. Execution does. Many old Christmas films came out in the summer. When was ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ released? I’ll save you a Google. June 11. ‘Holiday Inn?’ August 4. ‘Christmas in Connecticut?’ August 11. And even the aforementioned ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ had a limited release on December 20, but didn’t have its wide release until January 7, which yes technically is close to Christmas, but also like so far away if you think about it. Most Christmas films in the last few decades are released post-Thanksgiving, but release date is by no means a requirement of a genre. I’ll also just point out in case there’s some smart aleck reading this that’s like ‘well it doesn’t actually take place on Christmas, it’s Christmas Eve.’ Well turd nugget, go watch ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ which ENDS on Christmas Eve. We never even make it to Christmas.
Secondly, ‘Die Hard’ features themes found in other holiday films. No, it’s not Santa, magic, or snow. Now this isn’t a requirement, but I think it’s a good supporting argument that ‘Die Hard’ has the themes of family. John McClane traveled to LA to try and reunite with his wife & kids. He gets caught up in all that junk because he is trying to un-estrange himself from his currently estranged wife. Family serves as a big motivator for John & I think pushes the Christmas setting over the edge to a Christmas movie. Christmas films both with and without Santa heavily center on family. With Santa you have ‘Fred Claus,’ ‘The Santa Clause,’ ‘Elf,’ & ‘Arthur Christmas.’ And without Santa you have ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,’ ‘A Christmas Story,’ ‘Home Alone,’ & ‘Christmas with the Kranks.’ A holiday party being the setting is also enough of an argument for me, look at a movie like ‘Office Christmas Party,’ which is again, undeniably a Christmas film. ‘Die Hard’ is just that except if terrorists attacked the party.
Next, the genre of Christmas movie is what I would categorize as a supporting genre of film. You have your main genres of comedy, drama, action, horror, etc. and then you have your sub-genres of those romance, satire, adventure, slasher, etc. and then you have supporting genres. They’re not sub-genres of a main genre, but they need one of those other genres. Think of it like sports. There are sports dramas & sports comedies, but a movie can’t just be exclusively a sports movie. Or musicals, there are musical drama, musical comedies, but never just musicals. And Christmas movies are the same way. ‘Die Hard’ being a 100% for sure action movie doesn’t mean it’s not Christmas. It’s an action Christmas movie. Like how ‘Elf’ is a comedy Christmas movie & ‘The Holiday’ is a Christmas romance movie. It’s simple movie genre math. And if there’s one thing I am confident in my knowledge of, its movie genres.
Finally, and I’m adding this in after I’ve written the rest of the article, but it bolsters my claim, the general population agrees. I conducted a Christmas film survey (you can find that article in ‘Other Stuff’!) and received back 105 answers. I asked the responders their opinions on this debate and 25 said they didn’t know, 28 said it was not, & 52 said they think it is. So nearly double the amount of people who answered my survey think it is! Eureka!
So if you haven’t yet, go watch ‘Die Hard.’ And remember a Merry Christmas to all and a yippee ki-yay to mother———s.
And you know what? ‘Die Hard 2’ is a Christmas movie too! ;)
