We have not yet finished untangling the Halloween cobwebs from the windows when the catalogs of the television platforms are filled with new titles of christmas movies. It doesn’t matter if we don’t normally see stories like that. Christmas films suddenly appear as an almost necessary procedure to get through the days leading up to Christmas Eve. And also the days after, it must be said. But why do we like them so much?
In reality, Christmas movies can have very different plots, but the vast majority of them are Romantic comedies. A young woman with a successful job returns to her town at Christmas, she meets her teenage boyfriend and discovers that they never decided to separate from her. She leaves everything in the big city and opens a small business in town, to start a new life with him. Add to that a good dose of snow and maybe some dramatic memories, but not much, and you have the perfect Christmas movie formula.
Romantic comedies are a double-edged sword. Some may perpetuate certain toxic behaviors. In fact, in Love Actually, the queen of Christmas movies, we have a good example of this, with the character played by Andrew Lincoln, who, in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, compulsively records her during her wedding. Both this and the famous scene on the posters, in which he proposes to her, are shown as some of the most romantic scenes in cinema, despite the fact that, if that happened in real life, we would be aware that it entails quite a bit of toxicity. But romantic comedies also have good things. And of course, that includes Christmas movies too.
The importance of the principle of familiarity in Christmas movies
One of the great attractions of Christmas movies is that, although new titles are released every year, some, like the one mentioned above, Love Actuallyor the fun Home alone, We usually see them year after year.
That fulfills something very important, known as the familiarity principle. The surprises, with few exceptions, are pleasant, as they activate the brain’s reward systems. In fact, continuing with the Christmas theme, it is the reason why we like advent calendars so much. However, it is also comforting for our brains to not have to process anything new.
Even if it is a story that we see for the first time, Christmas movies all follow a very similar structure, so They will be equally familiar to us.
The important role of nostalgia
In reality, the stories in Christmas movies are quite bizarre. Who has been in the position of falling back in love with their teenage love at Christmas and having it turn out well? However, they have everything to make us feel nostalgia.
Family dinners, carols, the extremely exaggerated Christmas decorations… With this, they call for nostalgia. Even if we continue to have a happy Christmas, that representation of Christmas often takes us back to past holidays. When, according to our biases, everything was better. That, As explained by Fielding Graduate University, It makes us feel psychologically well.
Furthermore, Christmas movies depict calm scenes, in which the stress of cities never exists. The characters live calmly, enjoy their families, eat sweets, enjoy ice skating… They are all clichés with which a prevailing calm is presented that, in a certain way, It rubs off on us.
Ideal to watch alone or with family
Wildschut & Sedikidesin their book on the Psychology of Nostalgia, indicate that sharing a movie can improve intimacy and social relationships. If we add to that that these are easy-to-follow films with happy endings, they have everything to create a pleasant atmosphere. Therefore, it is great to watch Christmas movies with your family, partner or friends.
But, of course, there’s nothing wrong with watching them alone either. After all, it is a way of self care. Expose ourselves to a relaxing story, without surprises, that we know will end well.
In fact, those happy endings and positive emotions in Christmas movies are very beneficial for us. He explains it in statements to Daily Mail the psychologist Pamela Rutledge. “The happy endings“Emotions of joy, laughter and happy tears trigger our neural reward centers, changing our body chemistry and making us feel physically good, as well as lifting our spirits.”
Those reward centers They are the same ones that are activated when we submit to stimuli such as sex or eating chocolate. The first perpetuates the species and the second gives us energy. Both stimuli are evolutionarily beneficial, so our brain rewards us with a pleasant shot of dopamine, so that we are left wanting more. The same thing happens with Christmas movies. Therefore, if we can see them only as fiction and ignore the toxic representation they sometimes make of love, they are a perfect complement for these holidays.