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Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today! ❄️ Romantic comedies set around the holidays have been criticized for being formulaic, but their big problem isn't...
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00:00Romantic comedies are a beloved genre any time of year,
00:03but they've got a particularly stronghold on the holidays.
00:06It's a whimsical time of year when everyone's coming together and…
00:10wondering why are you still single?
00:12You don't know further then, eh?
00:14I don't know.
00:15You career girls can't put it off forever, you know?
00:19It can be grating, to say the least.
00:20But Cuffing Season does also have the habit of getting us daydreaming about
00:25what if some unconventional or wacky romance did happen for us,
00:29like falling in love with your house share owner's hot brother,
00:32or a snowman with so many abs coming to life and asking you to a dance.
00:36In recent years, holiday romcoms have become something of their own industry,
00:40pumping out dozens of titles annually, almost exclusively straight to streaming.
00:45These movies are generally very formulaic escapism that promises the audience an amusing,
00:50if not particularly creative, love story unfolding during the happiest time of year.
00:55We see an ambitious city girl travel to a small, incredibly festive town,
00:59where she finds a handsome man who will give her the yuletide spirit she was lacking.
01:03This always changes her life for the better, showing that all she needed was a whirlwind romance
01:09and lots of Christmas cheer.
01:11It's a formula that works very well, captivating viewers looking to unwind by watching something
01:17with low stakes, attractive stars, and guaranteed predictable story beats and happy endings.
01:22While more creative plots could be refreshing,
01:25their core audience doesn't seem to want their comfort movies to change too much.
01:29With that being said, even fans have started to notice and comment on
01:33how glaring some of the genre's problems still are even today.
01:37So let's take a closer look at how holiday romcoms long-time dedication to old-fashioned messages
01:42about gender roles and lack of representation held the genre back,
01:46and how it's finally changing to meet the times, and we're getting even better,
01:50more enjoyable romcoms as a result.
01:53Romantic comedies can send some questionable messages about dating, love, and marriage.
01:58When it comes to holiday-themed romcoms, finding a partner becomes a race against time,
02:03since many female protagonists want or believe they need a boyfriend or a fiancé or a husband
02:09by Christmas, usually to impress or at the very least appease their families.
02:14Hence why we see so many stories about pretend relationships.
02:17While some of our holiday romcom heroines pine over finding Mr. Right,
02:21some of them are content, or even happy, being single.
02:25You know it's a holiday when my sister shows up alone.
02:27Don't rub it in, she's obviously sad.
02:30I'm not sad.
02:31Are you sure? You look really sad.
02:33The usual set-up sees this stereotypical high-powered businesswoman,
02:36a lawyer, journalist, ad executive, etc., who's burnt out or mistreated at work, often both.
02:42She's always busy, which means she has zero extra time for dating or settling down.
02:47And in this specific subgenre, she's also usually considered a Christmas-loathing grinch.
02:53When she travels to a small town, usually her hometown,
02:56she's judged for her singlehood and questioned about her love life.
02:59Even with distractions, like saving a small business from a big corporation or
03:03organizing a major Christmas event, she manages to meet an attractive guy with enough
03:08Christmas spirit for the both of them.
03:10Sometimes they hate each other until they realize they're actually soulmates.
03:14Or maybe she rekindles a romance with an ex-boyfriend.
03:17Or realizes she should have been with her best guy friend all along.
03:22Any emptiness, loneliness, or uncertainty she's experiencing is remedied by falling in love.
03:27While going all out for Christmas, of course.
03:29That's right, the true reason for Christmas is husband.
03:33This reduces her to a damsel in distress who needs a man to show her how to lighten up and be happy.
03:38Whether she's trying to follow her dreams or save a local bar.
03:41Character growth and development rely on romance.
03:44An underlying message that women can only find themselves with the help of a handsome handyman
03:49or incognito royal.
03:50One of the most common tropes is a woman choosing love over her career ambitions.
03:55It's almost a joke at this point, the trope of the city girl leaving her life of corporate success,
04:00to marry a man who will relieve her of the burden of ever having to be in charge of her own life.
04:05Sometimes she feels lost searching for her true self, or questioning what she really wants in life.
04:10But she can't figure that out unless she has a man to guide and inspire her to do so.
04:16While Netflix is certainly self-aware, The Merry Gentleman debuted in 2024,
04:20and still has the trope of a career woman abandoning her dreams for a guy she's known less than a month.
04:26Starring Britt Robertson as Ashley Davis, a Broadway dancer who's been a part of a Christmas-themed show
04:31called The Jingle Bells for 12 years, whose life is flipped upside down when less than 5 minutes in,
04:36we see her get replaced with a younger dancer.
04:40While her age is not explicitly stated in the movie, the actress is just 34 years old.
04:45For the first time in years, Ashley returns to her hometown of Sycamore Creek for the holidays.
04:50Right away, she has a meet-cute with local carpenter Luke,
04:53inexplicably getting tangled in Christmas decorations he's hanging outside of her parents' small nightclub,
04:58The Rhythm Room, because holiday rom-com heroines are often clumsy or socially awkward in some way
05:03to make her a relatable every-girl.
05:05While her parents and older sister nudge her in Luke's direction,
05:08they're thankfully not nearly as invasive and obnoxious as some rom-com families.
05:13Ashley lived in New York for over a decade, working tirelessly for her Broadway dream,
05:18and didn't have time or energy to date or settle down.
05:20While she and Luke don't exactly go through an enemies-to-lovers trajectory,
05:24they make little jabs at each other's occupations,
05:26though it's mainly Luke who repeatedly calls her a diva and a city girl.
05:31To save her parents' business, she puts together an all-male Christmas Spectacular,
05:35to draw in customers and raise enough money to cover the rent debt.
05:38But she's unexpectedly offered her old job back, along with a raise and a three-year contract.
05:45Although they're sad she'll have to leave on Christmas Eve,
05:47her parents recognize the rare life-changing opportunity.
05:51Luke and the other married gentlemen take the news hard and leave Ashley feeling guilty.
05:55But if I don't go now, then I'm gonna lose everything that I worked for.
06:02What about everything we worked for?
06:03But especially Luke, who in true rom-com fashion makes it all about him,
06:08painting her as a bad person for abandoning him,
06:11a guy she's known for a couple of weeks,
06:13and the entire town to be what he considers an elitist city girl,
06:17to do, you know, her job that she loves.
06:19I was starting to fall for you Ashley.
06:21Thank you for showing me who you really are before I did.
06:24You can guess how this ends.
06:25The end of the year can be so hectic, from buying presents, to visiting family,
06:29to making sure you find the love of your life before the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.
06:34But there's thankfully at least one important part of life that you don't have to stress over anymore,
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07:47It's no secret that movies of this genre tend to be very focused on heterosexual love and marriage,
07:52and traditional masculine and feminine roles.
07:54A rugged guy who knows his way around a toolbox, and the uptight professional gal,
07:58make up a lot of the pairings we see in Hallmark and Hallmark-like movies.
08:02A man who stays in a small town is the hero of the story.
08:05An honorable guy who knows what really matters.
08:08Rural living with an emphasis on community and simplicity.
08:12Bonus points if he's a caring single father with a precocious kid,
08:15meaning the lucky lady can have an instant nuclear family.
08:18Even if she didn't want this specific life, as soon as she meets the right guy,
08:22she magically realizes it is what she wanted all along.
08:26These movies may be centered on independent, ambitious women with demanding careers at first,
08:31but their drive is seen as a hindrance to romance,
08:33which is apparently supposed to be what matters most, especially at Christmas.
08:38This framing is of course at odds with what we know in the real world,
08:41that women should be able to follow their dreams, make mistakes, evolve and change,
08:46without having their entire life defined by whether they're in a relationship or not.
08:50Newsflash, women no longer need a male companion to solidify their happiness.
08:55I just want my baby sister to be happy.
08:58I was happy.
08:59Holiday romcoms aren't exactly known for diversity.
09:03Many classics like Love Actually and The Holiday mostly or only feature white characters,
09:08even in large casts.
09:10Even in recent years, the Hallmark Channel faced backlash for their mostly all-white,
09:14heterosexual cast and characters across their huge number of holiday films.
09:19When asked about why that is, rarely does the company give a straight answer.
09:23However, in a 2023 interview with Vulture, Hallmark's Executive VP of Programming,
09:28Lisa Hamilton Daily explained,
09:30Our movies are about romances. They're not issue-driven movies. Those are not the stories we're telling.
09:36If Hallmark movies are supposedly centered on love, community and kindness,
09:39what does it say that diverse characters are largely left out?
09:43I'm Emily Kringle for Hallmark, reminding you to stay straight out there.
09:47This line of thinking is disappointing, not only because it's offensive, but also because
09:52not representing marginalized communities sends the message that non-white, non-heteronormative
09:57viewers are just stuck with the harshest parts of reality and shouldn't get to see themselves in
10:02feel-good escapist movies. Hallmark didn't cast black actors as romantic leads until their 2018 lineup,
10:08with A Majestic Christmas, starring Jerica Hinton, and Memories of Christmas, starring Afro-Latina
10:13Christina Milian. However, black actors were already leaving their own rom-coms on the big screen in
10:19movies like Last Holiday, This Christmas, and The Best Man Holiday, which highlight moments of black joy.
10:24Contrary to the belief of many studio execs, stories where the main narrative isn't tied to a
10:29character's racial or sexual identities not only can and do exist, but are also enjoyed by audiences
10:35across the board. But TV networks and movie studios still miss the mark, often veering into stereotypes.
10:412020's Happiest Season, directed and co-written by queer actress and filmmaker Clea Duvall, was a big
10:46success for Hulu. It follows lesbian couple Harper and Abby as they visit Harper's parents for the first
10:52time. But despite the amazing cast that includes queer actors such as Kristen Stewart, Aubrey Plaza,
10:57and Daniel Levy, viewers still had critiques, namely that they thought they were going to get a cheesy
11:01and fun Christmas rom-com, but instead got a story about being closeted and coming out to one's
11:06conservative family. The problem wasn't with the storyline itself, in fact many found it to be
11:11deeply relatable. The issue is more something that crops up in pretty much any rom-com focused
11:15on characters who aren't exclusively straight and white. The story always ends up being centered around
11:20them suffering, instead of just having a quirky fun time in the way their straight white counterparts are
11:25allowed to do. Though the genre as a whole, especially on the streaming side, has had a difficult time
11:30stepping out of its style formula to begin to include new character types and storylines,
11:34things have been evolving. Though some studio execs might try to say otherwise, it's been proven over
11:40and over again that audiences do enjoy seeing varied and diverse stories on screen. And even Hallmark has
11:46found that it can absolutely find success with varied characters and stories even within its formulaic
11:52limitations. In November 2020, Hallmark released The Christmas House, its first movie with a same-sex
11:57couple in prominent roles, starring queer actor Jonathan Bennett of Mean Girls fame.
12:01Unlike Happiest Seasons, the Mitchell family fully accepts and embraces their son and his husband.
12:06I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of this operation.
12:10Thank you, Jake. Have I told you lately you're my favorite son-in-law?
12:15A month later, Lifetime, one of Hallmark's closest competitors, debuted their first LGBTQ-themed
12:21Christmas film, The Christmas Setup, led by real-life couple Ben Lewis and Blake Lee.
12:25It had most of the tropes people tune in for, a lawyer returning home for Christmas,
12:30a holiday-loving mom meddling in her son's love life, low-stakes conflicts, and a sweet kiss.
12:35I've never seen anything like it before.
12:39So are you a believer now?
12:46Netflix entered the holiday rom-com game in 2017 with A Christmas Prince,
12:50the story of a journalist-turned-princess, and Christmas Inheritance,
12:53about a rich party girl who has to prove she's worthy of taking over her father's company.
12:58And while these specific movies do fall into the old-school pattern for holiday rom-coms,
13:02the platform has since offered a variety of diverse and inclusive narratives to great success.
13:072018's The Princess Switch stars high school musical alum Filipino-American Vanessa Hudgens,
13:12along with a relatively diverse cast, in a modern take on The Prince and the Pauper.
13:17Netflix's first gay Christmas movie, Single All the Way, premiered in 2021,
13:21and delivered all the festive schmaltz in a comfortingly familiar plot.
13:25A Los Angeles social media strategist named Peter is unhappily single, and convinces his
13:30long-time very attractive best friend Nick, a freelance handyman, to pretend to be his boyfriend
13:35at Christmas. Peter's family lovingly support him and show no signs of bigotry. In fact,
13:40they're rooting for the couple. Naturally, the two friends end up becoming much more than friends in
13:44the end, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Holiday rom-coms are meant to champion love and
13:49connection, while also delivering heartwarming, sometimes hilarious, stories. They provide a
13:54comfortable, feel-good distraction from the stressful reality we live in, allowing us to
13:59turn off our brains and enjoy a fantasy. Escapist entertainment shouldn't be exclusive,
14:04everyone deserves to see themselves represented on screen, even in the most shamelessly sentimental
14:09movies. That's the take! Click here to watch the video we think you'll love, or here to check out a
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