Die Hard: The Great Christmas Movie Debate
It’s that time of the year once again. The time when we gather together — in person or virtually (because who doesn’t like a good argument on Facebook or Twitter) — and resume one of the greatest debates of our time:
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
If you had asked me this question as recently as a month ago, I would have said: Die Hard is a movie that takes place during Christmas. Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie.
However, as we all should with all our opinions, I decided it was time to reexamine my thoughts on the matter. I heard in the Carey Nieuhoff Leadership Podcast in his conversation with Pastor Adam Hamilton that people tend to have “strongly held, weakly formed opinions.” (P.S. that was a great conversation, I encourage you to take some time to listen to it)
Framing the Debate
One of the great controversies of our day somehow circles around the 1988 action movie Die Hard. There are those who say Die Hard is a Christmas movie. There are those who say it is not. People on both sides of the argument are passionate about defending their particular point of view.
Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong. That seems a little (okay, a lot) wishy-washy. How are we to decide on this debate? I think the best way is to come to an agreement on some definitions. Like most things in life, this argument has the great disservice of people looking at it from different points of view without taking into account the perspective of the other side.
So, let’s get on the same page — or at least be willing to stop with the dogmatic way of thinking that one way is the only way.
Defining “Christmas Movie”
What makes something a Christmas movie? That is the question that we really need to settle before we can go any further.
Is a Christmas movie:
- a movie that tells the religious story of Christmas?
- a movie in which Christmas plays a central role?
- a movie that takes place during Christmas?
I think a person’s answer to that question goes a long way in determining where they come down in the Die Hard debate.
Let’s consider the question from each point of view:
A Christmas movie is a movie that tells the religious story of Christmas.
If this is your criteria for a Christmas movie, then you have a very limited pool of choices when you want to watch a Christmas movie. Even some generally accept Christmas “classics” do not fall into this category. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Nope. Santa Claus is Coming to Town? Nope. That one with the Heat Miser fella? Nope. It’s a Wonderful Life? Guess what… NOPE! Even A Christmas Carol doesn’t fit that description, with all its various iterations including one of my favorites, The Muppet Christmas Carol.
If your sole criteria for a Christmas movie is that it tells the story of Jesus’ birth, then you are pretty much limited to…
- The Nativity Story — I watched this once. I actually laughed out loud when Jesus was born just as the light of the star was coming into the stable, and everything looked so peaceful. I don’t know about you, but that was not my experience with the birth of either of my children.
- A Charlie Brown Christmas — Which mostly gets included due to Linus’ retelling of the Christmas story from Scripture, the rest of it is about presents, and trees, and… other stuff… I don’t remember.
- The Star — a more recent addition to this list, the animated story of the animals connected to the story with an all star voice cast.
- VeggieTales’ Saint Nicolas episode/special — The story of the actual person… sort of… with a VeggieTales twist to it. (On a side note, did you know that the real St. Nicholas once punched a heretic at an ecumenical council? Well, actually, there is some doubt that it really happened, but I like the story and I’m going to go with it anyway.)
Frankly, I can’t think of any others that would go on this list. Put those four on repeat, and forget about your precious Hallmark movies (which may not be such a bad thing!)
So, let’s move on to the next point of view…
A Christmas movie is a movie in which Christmas plays a central role.
Now, this opens things up quite a bit. There are a lot of movies where Christmas plays a central role. The aforementioned Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town would fit into this category. By taking away the religious element, we are opening ourselves up to any movie that features a story with Santa Claus (The Santa Clause and it’s moneygrabs, er… sequels, Fred Claus, The Polar Express), North Pole elves (Elf… and others, I’m sure. I feel like elves are mentioned, but largely ignored in Christmas movie lore), Christmas presents (Jingle All the Way, A Christmas Story), etc.
Ironically, though, I’m not so sure that we could still include It’s a Wonderful Life in this list. That’s right, I said it. Let’s think about it for just a minute: what about It’s a Wonderful Life has to do with Christmas?
It’s about a man, George Bailey, who has had a run of bad circumstances and is now contemplating suicide. His guardian angel watches the stories from his past like saving his brother from drowning, preventing the pharmacist from accidentally poisoning a kid, building a non-slums option in town for the people, and preventing the bank from going under. None of this has anything to do with Christmas.
When he sees the consequences of never being born, things just get worse: Potter runs the town (now named Potterville; what kind of real estate mogul names everything after himself, geesh!) and everybody is miserable, George’s wife never gets married or has kids, his brother dies as a child and as a result an entire transport of soldiers die during WWII. Again, nothing to do with Christmas. The only reason Christmas is mentioned is because George goes out to the bridge on Christmas Eve when he is contemplating suicide.
And so, if you want to include It’s a Wonderful Life, a widely accepted Christmas classic, on your list of Christmas movies, you are now forced to move to Definition #3…
A Christmas movie is a movie that takes place during Christmas.
This option, as it is the most broad of all options, includes the previously mentioned movies, and opens the door on a lot of… unconventional Christmas movies:
- Lethal Weapon — in a moment of clarity the other day, it dawned on me that Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie… at least in this sense of what constitutes a Christmas movie. It takes placed at Christmas. Jingle Bell Rock provides the soundtrack to the opening scene. Our introduction to Riggs occurs at a Christmas tree lot. The Murtaugh house is decorated for Christmas. If I remember correctly, the closing scene in the movie is a Christmas party at the Murtaugh home (I may not be remembering that correctly; it’s been a while since I’ve watched it).
- Gremlins — that’s right, the 1984 dark comedy/horror film about the cute little mogwai who spawns dozens of evil little monsters when one of the rules for care gets broken. It takes place during the Christmas season.
- Krampus — another horror movie featuring the ancient demonic spirit that punishes children who have misbehaved, kind of like the anti-Santa; this also opens the door to other Christmastime horror movies that we aren’t exactly going to sit around and watch with our families annually (unless your family is kind of screwed up. No judgement, just an observation).
- And, of course, as I have already described…. It’s a Wonderful Life.
So, let’s get back to the original purpose of this post: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
When we look at these options, we find ourselves in quite a pickle, don’t we?
Bruce Willis himself has said that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie (in the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis). However, one of the writers of Die Hard said on Twitter just last year that it is. Well, what’s your criteria? Who are you going to go with on this one?
A couple years ago, I would have told you that there is no way that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Heck, even a month ago, I would have said that; however, after thinking about it extensively, and after processing some of the information that you see above, I have to say…
DIE HARD IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE!
Now, take my hand, join me, and together we can share this with the world!
