As Christmas fast approaches, families across the globe are starting to sit down to watch their favourite Christmas movies. This can span anywhere from Will Ferrell's Elf to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But what about the more divisive ones? When you think of a debatable Christmas movie, maybe you'd think of The Nightmare Before Christmas; however I believe the most famous example is Bruce Willis' Die Hard.
Before I delve into the longstanding debate on Die Hard's "Christmas validity", I feel I should tackle a different question: what is a Christmas movie, and why is Die Hard so divisive? Of course, the first part has an easy answer: a Christmas movie is simply any movie that puts you into the Christmas spirit, right? Well, yes, but sometimes no. That simple definition may work for the most famous, easily digestible Christmas movies; however, if we go by that definition alone, we now invalidate movies like Krampus (2015) and Black Christmas (1974), both undeniably Christmas movies.
I feel as if there are two main characteristics that can define whether or not a movie can be dubbed a 'Christmas movie'. The first is any movie containing a staple of Christmas as a holiday. These are themes of family, hope, wonder, home, and sometimes redemption. The most obvious example of having four of the five is Elf, which makes it an almost perfect example of a Christmas movie. The second characteristic would be an appearance of any 'Christmas characters'. This spans anywhere from Jesus and Santa to Krampus and Jack Frost. Of course, having these characteristics alone doesn't automatically constitute a Christmas movie, but they can be an easy way to differentiate between what is and isn't. However, this second characteristic isn't totally relevant for the discussion at hand.
Secondly, why is Die Hard so divisive? Well, this question is much less simple. Those who deny its validity often cite the violence and name the simple fact that its set during Christmastime as its only defining factor, while people who believe it is, in fact, a Christmas movie will dub it as almost the same as Home Alone and that movie simply being "Die Hard for kids". This statement isn't completely false; both movies have quite similar stories if whittled down to their simplest forms, but it's also not completely true either. Yes, both movies contain the main character sneaking around a building, slowly defeating a small group of intruders; however, that isn't even the main driving force for either.
In Die Hard, John McClane's main motivation is keeping his wife, Holly Gennaro, safe. We follow Bruce Willis' character as he travels to Nakatomi Plaza to visit his wife during a Christmas party and potentially rekindle their lost love for each other. This is swiftly interrupted by a group of terrorists, led by the late Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, at which point he is forced to take them out one by one, all on his own. Right from the start, we're quickly shown the disconnect between John and Holly when we find out that McClane decided not to move with his wife when she was offered a position in a promising career opportunity at Nakatomi Plaza. It's clear that John didn't fully believe in her career trajectory for one reason or another, leading to their eventual split as he stayed in New York. This proposes that small themes of family are present throughout the entire movie, even within all the violence and death. A staple of Christmas movies and Christmas in general is family reunions. This motivation is obviously very widely known; it's a very important part of that story.
While you may think you remember Home Alone, the part that sticks in your mind - the slapstick of Harry and Marv running around being hurt by all of Kevin's traps - actually only takes up about 20 minutes of that story. The main plot throughout the movie is Kevin learning to live by himself now that he's convinced his whole family has disappeared, with a B plot of his mother attempting to get back to him by any means possible. During Kevin's story, he feels he has to fill the hole that his family left. This includes food shopping like his mother would, shaving like his father, and facing his fears where he could usually rely on Buzz. His main fear, in particular, is the man who lives across the road, named Marley. Buzz leads him to believe that this man is a serial killer, which Kevin obviously believes instantly. Throughout the movie, Kevin is confronted by the fear of Marley multiple times, all of which he chooses to escape. However, the final time, he sits in church, and Marley finds him. We come to find that Marley has a much deeper story than we could've imagined, as he tells Kevin of his estranged son who he is too scared to call out of fear of rejection, and they bond over their loneliness involving their family. They both share in a moment of redemption before Kevin decides to defend his home.
Not only is this the reason Home Alone is a Christmas movie, but it's also why the other five, aside from Lost in New York, fail. In Home Alone 2, they manage to take the right lessons from the first, also having a character that acts as an emotional core and spiritual rock for Kevin, dubbed 'Pigeon Lady'. Unfortunately, the next four flip that on its head completely, doubling down on the slapstick and completely removing any emotion, relying solely on the Home Alone name to be considered a Christmas movie or even be put into production.
For some, Die Hard could be considered more of a Christmas movie than Home Alone, as it does contain more typical 'Christmas imagery', that being a Santa hat and the words 'Ho Ho Ho' written on the body of a corpse. However, due to it only containing any themes of family, I'd only consider this partly a Christmas movie, but it can still be enjoyed year-round. Home Alone, however, is completely a Christmas movie. Not only does it contain themes of home, family, and plenty of hope, but there are also many deliberate attempts at making this feel as Christmassy as possible, including every room in the McCallister household being only red and green.
Finally, there is a possible final argument as to the validity of both of these movies, coming straight from Kevin McCallister himself. On the YouTube show 'Last Meals', Macaulay Culkin was asked, "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" to which he responded with a swift "no". Some would say this is the end of the debate, as it came straight from the horse's mouth, and I would be inclined to agree if it wasn't for his reasoning. He explained that Die Hard could've been set on any day of the year, but you could also give the same argument for Home Alone. Kevin's family could've been going away for Thanksgiving or even a random summer holiday; John McClane was only at Nakatomi Plaza for a Christmas party.