"Can Die Hard the 1988 action movie starring Bruce Willis as an NYPD detective hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife on Christmas Eve be called a Christmas film? The annual debate had officially reached my street WhatsApp group when a happily married couple decided to launch a poll. With 18 votes against four, the result from my road was a landslide yes. One neighbour even shared a picture of their Die Hard tree baubles to prove the point."
"The case against it seems to simmer down to the fact that Christmas is only used as a backdrop, not in order to reify some core message about togetherness, renewal or hope. The postwar era saw a boom in such Christmas films. Take festive classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), in which a man's suicide attempt is thwarted by a guardian angel who shows him the positive effect he has on the world,"
Die Hard's status as a Christmas film divides viewers, with local polls often returning strong support while an official British Board of Film Classification poll found more respondents opposed. The film's Christmas setting includes an estranged wife, a tree, and seasonal decorations, yet many viewers feel gunfights and hostage-taking undermine festive tone. Critics argue that classic Christmas films center on togetherness, renewal, optimism, or nostalgia, exemplified by It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and Miracle on 34th Street. The 1990s commercial boom, marked by Home Alone, encouraged wider use of Christmas trimmings across genres. Romantic comedies such as Love Actually and The Holiday face little debate about their Christmas identity despite varied thematic focus.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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