Christmas must see movies

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Also, I enjoyed Miracle on 34th Street when I saw it a couple years ago, but I don't know if I'd be able to watch it again as I don't expect for it to age well. Its mental health politics aged really poorly. Kris Kringle in that movie was a person with dissociative identity disorder who needed actual, professional mental health care,
WARNING: spoilers below
not for the courts to recognize him as Santa Claus and further feed into his mental illness and to facilitate unhealthy coping mechanisms.
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I prefer the one with Christian Bale and Winona Ryder
Me too! That's my favorite. I didn't care for the Greata Gerwig version. I think I've seen them all, including the Susan Dey and William Shatner version. Which was still a fun watch.



Also, I enjoyed Miracle on 34th Street when I first saw it, but I don't know if I'd be able to watch it again as I don't expect for it to age well. Its mental health politics aged really poorly. Kris Kringle in that movie was a person with dissociative identity disorder who needed actual, professional mental health care,
WARNING: spoilers below
not for the courts to recognize him as Santa Claus and further feed into his mental illness and to facilitate unhealthy coping mechanisms.
I have to disagree He was the real Santa Claus! At least that's what I wanna believe!



I have to disagree He was the real Santa Claus! At least that's what I wanna believe!
I don't think it was ever stated that he was the real Santa Claus. He just thought he was real in the film.



I don't think it was ever stated that he was the real Santa Claus. He just thought he was real in the film.
I agree with that.

What I'm saying is it's a matter of belief, even in the film some chose to believe he was the spirit of Christmas.



I agree with that.

What I'm saying is it's a matter of belief, even in the film some chose to believe he was the spirit of Christmas.
Some people believing he was real is fine. That isn't all that happened though. Going through so much trouble to get him legally recognized as Santa Claus by the government wasn't the proper way to handle his case. They should've given him proper mental health care instead.



If anyone wants to join the Holiday Movie Hall of Fame, there's still time. Everyone is welcomed. The guidelines are on the 1st post. I'm the host and if you have any questions about what a Hall of Fame is or how it works, just ask me Link below:
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=62674



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.

You left out Bah Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006).
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Some people believing he was real is fine. That isn't all that happened though. Going through so much trouble to get him legally recognized as Santa Claus by the government wasn't the proper way to handle his case. They should've given him proper mental health care instead.

I think the point of the movie is that he IS the real Santa Claus. He didn't need mental health care because there was nothing mentally wrong with him.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I've seen The Bishop's Wife 1947 but can't really remember too much about it. Maybe it needs a rewatch.
Does anyone know if a Christmas Film Noir exists?
Every year I watch most if not all of the following, FWIW:

The Bishop's Wife
If not my favorite Christmas movie, it's on the short-list. Being a die-hard atheist, I always struggle with people putting Christianity into Christmas, but there's not too much of it and it's really just a lovely film. With Cary Grant being Cary Grant.
If anyone wants to join the Holiday Movie Hall of Fame, there's still time. Everyone is welcomed. The guidelines are on the 1st post. I'm the host and if you have any questions about what a Hall of Fame is or how it works, just ask me Link below:
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=62674

I almost nominated The Bishop's Wife in the Holiday Movie HoF. My final two choices were either The Bishop's Wife or The Year Without a Santa Claus, and I decided to go with the latter because it's more of a light-hearted family movie, and it seemed to fit in better with what everyone else had already nominated.



Also, I enjoyed Miracle on 34th Street when I saw it a couple years ago, but I don't know if I'd be able to watch it again as I don't expect for it to age well. Its mental health politics aged really poorly. Kris Kringle in that movie was a person with dissociative identity disorder who needed actual, professional mental health care,
WARNING: spoilers below
not for the courts to recognize him as Santa Claus and further feed into his mental illness and to facilitate unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Gee wiz....I didn't see the movie from a psychodiagnostic point of view. I just thought it was a dumb but likable Christmas movie. I suppose that, if someone did that now, after their 30 days in the crazy slammer, they'd be court-ordered to take a daily pill that resulted in something like tardive dyskinesia so instead of pretending to be Santa, he'd be shuffling around looking like a Walking Dead wannabe.

Personally, I'd prefer him to be a cheerful but deluded Santa, especially if he can grow his own beard.



I think the point of the movie is that he IS the real Santa Claus. He didn't need mental health care because there was nothing mentally wrong with him.
If the idea is that he actually was the real Santa Claus, this idea would've had to have been hammered into the film much more, and I don't see any evidence which makes it clear that this is the case. The closest it comes is a loose implication with the final scene, but even with that, much doubt could still be raised towards his true identity.

Gee wiz....I didn't see the movie from a psychodiagnostic point of view. I just thought it was a dumb but likable Christmas movie. I suppose that, if someone did that now, after their 30 days in the crazy slammer, they'd be court-ordered to take a daily pill that resulted in something like tardive dyskinesia so instead of pretending to be Santa, he'd be shuffling around looking like a Walking Dead wannabe.

Personally, I'd prefer him to be a cheerful but deluded Santa, especially if he can grow his own beard.
DID isn't treated by locking people up in jail or giving people drugs which drastically impair your mental state. It's treated by psychotherapy (which is talk therapy), hypnotherapy, or adjunctive therapy. It doesn't reduce you to the state you're describing one bit. Regardless, I get it's a silly film, but even silly films can have problematic messages. Mental illness is a difficult concept to represent in films. Oftentimes, movies either stigmatize the people with them or (with this film) misrepresent the proper ways of dealing with it, which can make for films which make people who've had DID in the past uncomfortable. I've grown more sensitive to this over the years, and it makes me feel uncomfortable when movies are dodgy with the subject matter. Really, it's just a pet peeve of mine. I understand that some people wouldn't be bothered with this (which is perfectly fine), but to my eyes, it bugs me.



You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.
Scrooged (1988)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Elf (2003)
Home Alone (1990)
Bad Santa (2003)
Black Christmas (1974)
Office Christmas Party (2016)
Friday After Next (2002)



If the idea is that he actually was the real Santa Claus, this idea would've had to have been hammered into the film much more, and I don't see any evidence which makes it clear that this is the case. The closest it comes is a loose implication with the final scene, but even with that, much doubt could still be raised towards his true identity.
I've seen the classic film and the remake a few times and it never, not once, occurred to me that we weren't meant to believe he was actually Santa.

Because the heart of the film is about belief. And that only works if (1) he is real or (2) it's unsure if he's real. If we are meant to think he ISN'T Santa, it seems like the whole message of the film is pointless.



I've seen the classic film and the remake a few times and it never, not once, occurred to me that we weren't meant to believe he was actually Santa.

Because the heart of the film is about belief. And that only works if (1) he is real or (2) it's unsure if he's real. If we are meant to think he ISN'T Santa, it seems like the whole message of the film is pointless.
I guess I can get behind that.



Also, I will highly recommend the documentary Jingle Bell Rocks, about a guy who obsessively collects Christmas music and his own complicated relationship with the holiday.

Among other things, it turned me onto some neat Christmas music, like this one:



(Also, I just realized that this is the same band that sings "Congregation"?)