The Spirit and Bedtime Stories are two new films that are aimed at the largest customer bases in the entertainment business: the action-packed PG-13 crowd-pleaser and the PG family-friendly comedic fare. Both of them open nationwide on Christmas Day.
The reason these films open on Christmas Day is because the film industry obviously expect Christmas to be a profitable time of year in which to offer to the American people two entertaining films.
Why would the film industry expect such a thing?
Christmas Day is an event that is synonmous with family to me. Christmas Day traditionally consists of arising, leisurely opening presents while consuming the hearty breakfast of earlier birds (if I may be pardoned the cliche), and a long, glorious day filled with scattered moments of isolated reading, long family meals, and a democratically chosen film as the weak daylight gradually vanishes.
Pastimes such as lengthy interludes on the computer are verboten, complete anathema. Isolated reading is tolerated in limited doses, provided the definition of limited only extends to a few hours at the most. Such amusements imply solitude, which is acceptable at other times, but, as my grandfather has put it so eloquently, "Christmas Day is a time for family, where you hide all the disagreements and patch up all the feuds that have accumulated over the previous year."
I have never questioned this statement, or the arrangement of events on Christmas Day. At times family can be annoying and troublesome; however, it is never a bad thing to join together in revelry with those closest and dearest to you.
But as I grew older, I am more and more accustomed to seeing or spending time with families who regard Christmas much as any other holiday; an excuse for merrymaking yet not necessarily a time exclusively for family. Relatives will fly in for Christmas, and extended clans will spend time together, yet they will often engage in events and activities that prevent any prolonged, nakedly bare social interaction with each other. This is probably due to the fact that often the reason the relatives fly in is because they live on the opposite side of the country, and the reason they live on the opposite side of the country is because not all the relatives get along. Most families do not subscribe to my grandfather's view of Christmas as a time for familial tolerance, apparently.
Hence, I suppose, the opening of films in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. Watching films in the theater implies a silent activity, wherein you can feel a sense of kinship with those you are watching the film with, but it requires little effort on your part to actually engage in social activities. Families probably engage in this activity to provide relatives with something "family-oriented" to do during the holidays, which promises not to raise tensions as much as say, a family game of Monopoly would.
Perhaps some may regard this as overly cynical. After all, surely most families get along with each other for a couple of holiday weeks each year...and isn't it fun to go to the movies in a crowd?
Yes, it undoubtedly is fun, but nonetheless not nearly as social as family board games. And perhaps I am overly cynical. Yet I know from personal experience that after one evening of extended clan gatherings, nerves can be strained. As Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas neatly summarizes: "Christmas is a perfect season for murder. The family who rarely sees each other is gathered together, leading to tensions. There is the heavy Christmas meal, which leads to indigestion...indigestion to irritability."
I misquote, but the general gist is clear. My argument is that families generally attempt not to engage in very social activities during the holidays, due to the aggravated disagreements that inevitable arise.
However, one wonders whether this has always been the case. My grandfather is 70 years old; he comes from a generation far removed from the present one. Perhaps his view is indicative of what previous generations did. They settled down to a grimly merry Christmas, resolved to ignore differences or talk them over.
Which holiday view is better? Surely a Christmas filled with hidden discontent and long involved discussions over disagreements is not nearly as pleasant as a few lighthearted days of half-serious social activity...
I, personally, prefer the former. Perhaps it is the result of my own nature; I prefer to resolve problems as they occur, and solve them as quickly as possible. I will face people in the open over disagreements. I pride myself on the fact that my one admirable virtue is I can forgive and repent as easily as I can argue and condemn.
Hence, I would rather enjoy a Christmas where disagreements can arise, and be resolved, from the petty (a dispute over a board game) to the serious (dislike of a sibling's boyfriend, for instance). Why?
Because after such a disagreeable incident has occurred, the family bonds of love and blood are vastly strengthened. Even if the problem is not resolved, facing it strengthens relationships. Anyone who has been in a relationship of any kind knows that facing a problem is far better than avoiding one.
And if one does engage in facing problems, one learns the true nature of relatives a lot sooner. And surprisingly enough, those people whom you see every once in a while, who always used to engage in the same tiring behavior, will display new depths and interests. Family holiday does not mean a time for avoiding unpleasantness in order to make cheer; it means a time for facing unpleasantness in order to have cheer.
But all these ruminations are far too weighty and serious for Christmas Eve. On my behalf then, I would like to put aside these unfitting topics and wish everyone a joyous Christmas. It may not be politically correct, yet the true way to enjoy the holiday season is to avoid political correctness, and revel in your own opinions and discuss them and debate them fervently.
The Modern Bacchus is such a person, for to engage in intellectual discussion is a hedonistic endeavor of a peculiar mental sort, and Bacchus always seeks hedonism.
Merry Christmas in a joyfully hedonistic celebration to all, then.
