Why The Force Awakens IS a Christmas Movie
Just hear me out on this one
In the next week or so, there’s going to be a ridiculous amount of articles written by film bloggers and fans about what is the best Christmas film of all time. I’ll be straight up, I’m preparing one of those myself right now. But, as I was playing around in my head what would be included in the best Christmas films it dawned on me – what defines a Christmas film? Is it the fact it’s set over the Christmas period or that it is released during that time? The former is the more typical stance people take. I mean people call Die Hard a Christmas film based on the fact that its set on Christmas Eve. But I feel when it comes out should carry some weight too.
For me, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a Christmas film. YES, I said it.
Firstly, cast your minds back to the week before Christmas in 2015. The Star Wars saga was finally getting a reboot and this small indie film called The Force Awakens was coming out. But, even before it had been seen – what info did we have on the newest film from JJ Abrams. We had a couple trailers and some TV spots, but that was mainly it. You know what really gave some clues? THE TOYS. Those folks at Disney ain’t stupid they wanted the new film to be, by design, a Christmas film so that people would see it and then kids would beg their parents for all the available toys and merch for Christmas and from Santa.
I remember walking past Oxford Street and you could literally not escape the onslaught of Star Wars Xmas goodies. Sure, the Disney store was packed out. But, I saw shops like Topman and Primark selling Force Awakens Christmas jumpers and socks too. I haven’t even delved an inch into the film itself – but it’s quite clear whether you like it or not, the big dogs at Disney were trying to force it to be a Christmas movie.
Furthermore, look at the poster for this film and indeed the other two in the trilogy – Christmas-y colours! Ok, this is a slight stretch. But, look the overuse of red and blue. What colours symbolises Christmas? Red – obviously. What do people like in those cold and dark December days is a bit of warmth and light…. the light side. See what I did there?
The plot is pretty generic and virtually identical to A New Hope, which I have no problem with. But nostalgia is very much a festive thing and celebrating good times is what December 25th is all about. But what makes this Christmas-y is John Williams’ score. I mean listen to Rey’s Theme below. It sounds so much like the Harry Potter one and has a bit of a jingle to it. A John Williams score, in a good way, has a similar formula he tends to follow and it’s a big sort of upbeat vibe.
Ok the film itself, for those who don’t know Santa Claus isn’t a Jedi. We don’t know whether he exists in this world. But look! There’s a shit tonne of snow and there’s Chewbacca. He might as well be the big loveable figure. Kylo Ren is a great villain, but he doesn’t get truly menacing until the next film. So for now, I’ll say that this is a good family viewing film that all can gather round the sofa for. There’s nice themes of friendship, heroism and bravery – all worthy of the festive spirit.
The real point I’m trying to make is that Christmas films aren’t just based on what their plot revolves around. It is more the nostalgia you associate with them. I remember a friend getting me a Star Wars mug for Christmas for example. But, with that, it demonstrates how the corporate message and goals will dictate how a bigger film with no Christmas elements in its plot can be defined as a Christmas film.