{"id":2128686,"date":"2023-12-19T08:04:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/die-hard-is-an-anti-christmas-movie\/"},"modified":"2023-12-19T08:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:09:43","slug":"die-hard-is-an-anti-christmas-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/die-hard-is-an-anti-christmas-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Die Hard&#8217;: The Unconventional Christmas Flick"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdie-hard-is-an-anti-christmas-movie%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2128686&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is &#8220;Die Hard&#8221; a Christmas\u200c Movie?<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>1988\u2019s \u201cDie Hard\u201d is many things. It is arguably the definitive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-complete-guide-to-gina-caranos-post-mma-career\/\" title=\"The Complete Guide to Gina Carano\u2019s Post-MMA Career\">action film<\/a>. It\u200c introduced the\u2062 world to the incomparable talents\u2063 of Alan Rickman and Bruce Willis. It solidified the career of director\u2062 John McTiernan and made him the most\u2064 important action filmmaker of\u2064 the \u201980s. It\u2019s one of the most rewatchable\u200b and\u200b quotable films of the \u201980s. But of all the things one can say\u2064 about \u201cDie Hard,\u201d it is simply \u2064not a Christmas movie.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s \u2064also not,\u200d not a Christmas movie. It\u2019s something else entirely. It\u2019s an anti-Christmas\u200d movie.\u2064 This is why every year a debate erupts on\u2062 the internet over whether it\u200b is truly a Christmas film.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1318959492\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-be60152e1e1535c15491334f2264b41e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-be60152e1e1535c15491334f2264b41e\"><\/div>\n<p>There are at least two kinds\u200d of Christmas movies. The\u2064 first are movies that\u200b are actually\u200c about Christmas, films like \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d\u2064 from 1983. As\u2064 the title\u200b suggests, it\u2019s a story about Christmas, told from the perspective of a midwestern elementary-aged boy. The second type of Christmas movies are \u2063films that are \u200bset during Christmas, but really the plot is seasonally\u2063 interchangeable. For instance, \u201cHome Alone\u201d\u2062 is set during Christmas, but it could have been set during \u200cThanksgiving and\u200c relatively little would change. \u201cPlanes, Trains,\u2062 and Automobiles\u201d likewise is set during Thanksgiving but could have taken place at Christmas.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Christmas Movie Genre<\/h2>\n<p>I think it\u2019s fair to say that the \u2064first category is the real Christmas films. Films that start with\u2063 Christmas\u200c as an essential element and \u2062are clearly about Christmas are obviously Christmas movies. The problem \u2064is that Christmas is so much more evocative \u2062than any other holiday that by \u2063setting your film at\u2064 Christmas, \u200dyou\u200c have done something to it. There\u2019s a reason we don\u2019t really have a genre called summer movies\u200b or Easter movies. Setting a film at Christmas is a \u200dstorytelling choice.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, Shane Black, the genius writer and director behind amazing films like \u201cKiss\u200d Kiss,\u2062 Bang Bang,\u201d \u201cLethal Weapon,\u201d and \u201cIron Man 3\u201d sets virtually all his films at Christmas in L.A. He does this in part because it gives a film a particular vibe, a\u2063 complicated noirish one. Anyone who \u2063has lived in L.A.\u200b and experienced an L.A. Christmas understands why this is, and it\u2019s difficult to convey\u2062 to the uninitiated. There is something about L.A. that is at odds with Christmas \u2063itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDie Hard\u201d almost could\u200b be a Shane\u200b Black film, since it is set in L.A. at \u2064Christmastime. \u201cLethal \u2062Weapon\u201d beat it \u200bto cinemas by a year. But \u200bthere are a surprising \u2064number of action \u200cfilms\u200b set at Christmas in L.A. \u201cCobra\u201d \u2063from 1986 was \u2063Stallone\u2019s attempt at an L.A. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/where-have-all-the-sex-scenes-gone\/\" title=\"Where Have All the Sex Scenes Gone?\">cop movie<\/a>. Inexplicably, it is set at Christmas. William Friedkin\u2019s \u2063nihilistic \u201cTo\u2063 Live and Die in L.A.\u201d from 1985\u2063 is likewise set at Christmas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c50873d8173c615e4a85f2c8e35c522d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c50873d8173c615e4a85f2c8e35c522d\"><\/div>\n<p>It was clearly\u200b a trend \u200bin the \u201980s to set your L.A. action film at Christmastime.\u2063 I\u200c think the reason \u200bfor this \u200cis twofold. Film is a visual medium, and Christmas is the most visually oriented Western holiday. Setting a film at \u200cChristmas gives it some visual distinction. \u200bBut it also gives\u2063 it some thematic heft. Think about\u200d how many films don\u2019t really have a seasonal setting. Dates \u2062and times of year are relatively insignificant in a comedy like \u201cDumb and Dumber.\u201d Does it \u2063really matter what time of year \u201cCasablanca\u201d \u2064takes place?<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes Christmas can take over a film. \u201cHome Alone\u201d feels like\u2062 a Christmas movie because setting it \u200bat Christmas raises the stakes \u200cfor Kevin and his isolation from his family.\u2062 Missing \u200dout on the yearly Thanksgiving trip doesn\u2019t have the same tragic \u200dquality \u200cas being forgotten \u2062at \u200cChristmas. Christmas is about salvation, a cosmic reorientation away \u200cfrom the old pagan world into the new Christian one. I doubt that\u200d if the film had been set at Thanksgiving\u2064 one of the \u200bmost memorable scenes would have happened, the church conversation with\u2062 the old man. Christmas\u2064 conquers \u201cHome Alone\u201d in\u200b a way that \u200bno other holiday can \u200ctake over a\u2064 movie.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[READ:[READ:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/12\/08\/the-definitive-answer-to-is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Definitive Answer\u2062 To \u2018Is Die Hard A\u200d Christmas Movie?\u2019<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen ironic attempts\u2064 to\u200b show \u2063how \u201cDie Hard\u201d \u200dhas Christian themes, and that\u2062 is all they are: ironic. The apotheosis of this \u2064is the Nakatomi Tower advent calendars that commemorate each day by having Hans Gruber fall one more story. This is a very funny joke, \u2063but that is all it is. The\u200d comedic and \u200bironic nature of \u201cDie Hard\u201d is part of what\u200b makes it an action\u200d masterpiece.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-66de66939f24ac6735f6d9d437be892f fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-66de66939f24ac6735f6d9d437be892f\"><\/div>\n<p>But Christmas is not inherently funny\u2064 or ironic. It\u2019s the most serious\u2064 kind of holiday because it\u2019s about the meaning of life and death. Great Christmas comedies\u2063 like \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d \u200band \u201cChristmas Vacation\u201d are funny because of their silly human elements. \u200cChristmas celebrations can bring out the weirdest things \u200cin us because humans are\u2062 ridiculous, especially\u200b in familial settings.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">American Christmas: Sadness, Isolation, and\u200b Materialism<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cDie Hard\u2019s\u201d connection to Christmas is\u200d to parody the \u200dvery idea of heavenly justice. At the beginning \u200bof the film, John McClane is \u200dnot a family man. He has\u2062 failed his family. His children and wife have moved to L.A. He\u2019s deeply \u200cunhappy. There is nothing for him to celebrate this Christmas; his life is in shambles. Yes, the film ends with him being reunited with his wife, but as the franchise\u200d bears out, he\u2019s still \u200da\u2063 bad father\u200b and husband,\u200b so the reunion is fleeting. \u200bDefeating some extraordinary thieves hasn\u2019t changed him \u2062in any remotely moral way. He\u2019s \u200cnot improved as a person, he\u2019s\u2064 just killed some bad\u2063 guys and saved some \u2063lives.<\/p>\n<p>But maybe more important is the gleeful\u2064 abandon that the\u200d villains exhibit throughout the film. If you really want to understand what this film has to say about Christmas, you need to\u200c look no further than the scene where they finally open \u2063the vault. \u2062Beethoven\u2019s \u2063\u201cOde to Joy\u201d plays,\u200d reaching a \u2062crescendo when the\u2063 vault\u200b opens\u200b and \u200bthe bad guy\u2019s tech expert smiles and exuberantly says: \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bvillains are celebrating Christmas \u2014 but not\u2063 the\u200d Christmas of Christ and George Bailey. They are celebrating what American decadence has done\u200c to Christmas. This\u2062 film \u200cis taking the most cynical (and sadly \u2062often truthful) view of what Christmas has come to mean in America. Christmas means divorced loser dads having\u200c to travel cross country. Christmas means sadness,\u200d isolation, and materialism \u200dfor so many Americans.<\/p>\n<p>What \u200cit\u2019s saying about what Christmas has become is not untrue, but it is un-Christmas. It is an anti-Christmas movie. \u2064In some ways,\u2064 this\u2064 is as close America may ever come \u2063to the scathing moral indictment of Christmas envisioned by Dickens almost\u200b two \u200dcenturies ago. The difference is that <em>A \u2062Christmas Carol<\/em> ends with repentance and hope. \u201cDie Hard\u201d ends with a gunshot.<\/p>\n<p>Every year at his theater in L.A., Quentin Tarantino shows \u201cDie Hard\u201d to celebrate Christmas. And if\u2063 you\u2019ve seen any of Tarantino\u2019s films, that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/graham-if-democrats-call-witnesses-at-trial-we-will-call-democrats-thatve-used-inflammatory-language\/\" title=\"Graham: If Democrats Call Witnesses At Trial We Will Call Democrats That\u2019ve Used Inflammatory Language\">makes perfect sense<\/a>. His vision of the world melds \u2063with this film\u2019s take on Christmas perfectly. People\u200c love to have an excuse to\u200b watch this film because it\u2019s incredibly entertaining, so they use Christmas as their reason. \u2063It\u2019s a Tarantino-esque \u200bChristmas tradition. And that \u2062is why\u2063 the debate goes \u2064on, because this\u2064 film simply does \u2064not fit into what Christmas is actually\u2064 about.<\/p>\n<p>The continued popularity of \u201cDie Hard,\u201d and the perennial debate over whether it\u2019s a Christmas movie, shows that Christmas has not conquered L.A. or \u201cDie \u200dHard.\u201d Rather, in some sense, \u201cDie Hard\u201d\u2063 has\u200d conquered Christmas. That makes it, by definition, an anti-Christmas movie. And this is why the debate will \u2064go on: because it\u2019s a film that is fundamentally in\u200d conflict with the holiday it\u2019s used to celebrate.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u2064 In what \u2063ways does &#8220;Die Hard&#8221; fail to capture the true spirit \u2062of \u200cChristmas, and why do its themes of violence, materialism, \u2062and\u200d isolation \u2062make it an anti-Christmas \u2063movie<\/h2>\n<p><span>  \u200b Lt. The thieves, led by Hans Gruber,\u200b are ecstatic as they discover the riches \u200dinside. They laugh, they joke, and they \u200brevel in their materialistic success. This is a\u200b stark \u2062contrast to the true meaning of \u200cChristmas, which is often associated \u200cwith selflessness, generosity, and\u2064 love. <\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the setting of the film amplifies its\u2063 anti-Christmas sentiment. The Nakatomi Tower, where the majority of the action\u2064 takes place, is a\u2063 sterile and corporate environment. \u2062It lacks the warmth, coziness, and festive decorations that we\u2064 typically associate with the holiday season. Instead \u2062of being surrounded by loved ones and spreading joy, the characters in &#8220;Die Hard&#8221; are isolated, surrounded only by violence, greed, and chaos.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion,\u2064 while \u2063&#8221;Die \u2064Hard&#8221; may take place during Christmas and occasionally incorporate some\u2063 holiday \u200delements, it ultimately fails to capture the true spirit of \u200bChristmas. Its\u2062 themes of violence, materialism, and isolation make it an anti-Christmas movie rather than a true Christmas film. So the next time the \u2062debate arises, remember that &#8220;Die\u2064 Hard&#8221; may be a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ufc-legend-describes-post-fighting-career-im-glad-i-didnt-keep-fighting\/\" title=\"UFC Legend Describes Post-fighting Career: \u201cI\u2019m Glad I Didn\u2019t Keep Fighting\u201d\">classic action film<\/a>, but it\u2062 falls \u2064short of being a Christmas movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1988&#8217;s &#8220;Die Hard&#8221; is the ultimate action film, introducing Alan Rickman and Bruce Willis to the world. Director John McTiernan&#8217;s career soared, making him the &#8217;80s top action filmmaker. This movie remains highly rewatchable and filled with memorable quotes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":721,"featured_media":2128687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2128686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/721"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2128686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2128687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2128686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2128686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2128686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}