Why we love holiday movies: A reflection on the source of true joy
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2023
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Holiday movies like Elf offer “feelings of hope and renewal” because of their cheesiness and predictability. In a world where North Korea has fired an ICBM with the range to strike the US and COVID may spike again this Christmas season, we often need the distraction that holiday films provide. But there is only one source for true joy, hope, and renewal.
Author: Jim Denison, PhD
Narrator: Chris Elkins
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good day and welcome to the Daily Article Podcast. Today is Wednesday, December the 20th, |
| 0:07.5 | 20th, 23. I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's article written by Denison Forum co-founder and CEO, |
| 0:14.5 | Dr. Jim Denison. I must begin with a confession. I'm not a big fan of Christmas movies. I'd rather watch |
| 0:21.7 | football over the holidays and catch up on novels. In fact, I had not seen Elf consistently ranked |
| 0:27.6 | among the best Christmas movies until our grandkids recently asked to watch it with us. I now |
| 0:33.3 | understand why it's so popular, but I'm not changing my mind about the predictability and |
| 0:38.1 | cheese factor of many holiday movies. It turns out that's why they're so popular. Dr. Pamela Rutledge, |
| 0:45.4 | a media psychologist and director of the Media Psychology Research Center, explains, you would |
| 0:51.1 | almost be disappointed if they weren't a little cheesy and predictable because that's why you're there. |
| 0:56.8 | You're there to have a feel-good movie, this lower stress, and it reinforces feelings of hope and renewal, and all those things that Christmas is supposed to bring. |
| 1:06.5 | In quote, Dr. Rutledge is obviously right about our need for hope and renewal these days. |
| 1:12.9 | North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile this week that has the range to strike |
| 1:18.0 | anywhere in the mainland United States. The CDC is warning that hospitals and emergency rooms |
| 1:24.1 | could be forced to ration care by the end of this month as COVID-19 hospitalizations |
| 1:29.6 | rise while influenza and RSV cases remain high. The volcanic eruption in Iceland, the deadly |
| 1:36.6 | earthquake in China, the powerful storm in the northeastern United States are reminders of our |
| 1:41.8 | finitude and frailty. The ongoing hooty attacks on international |
| 1:45.9 | commerce illustrate the susceptibility of the global economy to terrorists. There is much about the |
| 1:52.5 | world that is not in our power to change. Which of these stories can you impact through your |
| 1:57.9 | personal influence and capacities? The good news, which can be the bad news |
| 2:02.2 | as well, is that the resources most foundational to American democracy are as much within our |
| 2:07.8 | grasp as when our nation was founded. Speaking in 1926 to commemorate the 150th birthday of the |
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