“What did I just watch?!” was the phrase I used after finishing a particular cheesy Christmas movie recently, which many people online had been raving about.
In fairness, I knew it would be bad based on the trailer, the plot, all of it… and yet, I watched it anyway.
According to psychologists, watching Christmas movies is less about the things that traditionally make a good film and more about what it represents, usually offering themes of hope and redemption as well as nostalgia at this time of year.
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“There is something about watching a Christmas movie, even if it’s terrible, that’s to do with giving yourself permission to really let go,” Perth-based psychologist Amelia Twiss tells 9honey.
“It’s a time when we forget our responsibilities and the demands on us, and we truly switch off and have some down time.
“This includes not needing to critically evaluate a movie for its quality, allowing us to enjoy it for the purposes of entertainment and social connection. Of course, it’s always fun to laugh about how bad a movie was once you’ve watched it with your loved ones.”
London-based film psychology expert Justin Spray agrees, telling 9honey even “bad” Christmas movies give us the warm fuzzy feels that are good for our mental health.
“I think it’s because they are ticking off the things we expect to see in a Christmas movie. They give us a bit of nostalgia, there’s a bit of escapism, there’s a bit of the magical, they’ll have some elements of wonder and magic in them that feed into the myth of Christmas,” Spray, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society, says.
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*What’s your favourite Christmas movie? Tell us here!”>“So they’re ticking off the psychological things that we need from a film at this time of year and that bypasses our critical quality [control] and we end up watching a load of nonsense because it’s picking up on a load of other stuff.”
Rewind and re-watch
Spray says psychologically, people like familiarity, hence why we tend to watch the same movies ritualistically each year.
He also believes that while we might re-watch our childhood favourites as adults, we tend to get something different from them as we grow and change.
“I will watch say It’s A Wonderful Life as an adult, and [now] being an adult with family, I see it differently than I would as a child,” Spray tells 9honey.
“But I think [for some films] it’s the nostalgia. If we saw Home Alone or something as a child and you just keep returning to it, it becomes part of your own individual culture … So, I think we never kind of grow out of that story, that’s why we return to it, there’s nostalgia, familiarity.”
Twiss, also a member of the British Psychological Society, believes kids are informed by the choices of the adults around them, in terms of what becomes an annual tradition later in life.
“Children are socialised by the adults around them, so if the adults they are with at this time of year are watching Christmas movies, kids will inevitably be pulled into this and will begin to internalise watching Christmas movies as a ritual for this time of year,” she says.
Hate-watching Christmas movies
Spray agrees there’s “a bit of that going on” when it comes to “hate-watching” particular Christmas movies.
“I think there would be people who would do that [because] you do watch them ironically,” he says.
The psychologist and filmmaker laughs that even he’s watched some “awful dribble”, from start to finish.
“I was watching it despite myself, knowing that it was gonna manipulate my feelings in a certain way,” Spray admits of Hot Frosty.
“And I’m gonna go with it because it’s Christmas, and I love the myth or the idea of the magic of things coming alive.
“All those other reasons you might watch a film, all those just get scrubbed out at Christmas, when you just want to watch something hopeful, magical and nostalgic.”
Ties that bind
Both Spray and Twiss agree that regardless of the quality of the movie, it provides us with “social bonding” as we talk about the flicks at other times of the year.
“Because if other people have watched it, it then supports your own kind of social bonding,” Spray says.
“What these films do, they celebrate social bonding and supportive relationships, which is a lovely thing, and just recognising that there is hope and that humans are connected with each other.
“There is evidence that if we engage with those feelings, our well-being is affected and it could have quite profound effects on our well-being and mental health.”
Spray adds that when we re-watch the same films over and over again, it’s ”reinforcing those social bonds” and giving us another layer of “connection with our community”.
Similarly, Twiss says the ritual of watching these films is more about the spirit of togetherness than the actual movie on-screen.
“People love Christmas movies because they are safe and predicable and don’t require much ‘work’ to engage with,” Twiss tells 9honey.
“They allow us to experience escapism, relaxation and nostalgia. As these are usually family movies, we can enjoy them in a family setting without expectations – it’s more about being together.”
‘There’s nothing to be ashamed of’
Twiss says we shouldn’t be embarrassed if we have a love of cheesy Christmas films – in fact, the opposite is true.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to loving a cheesy Christmas movie,” she tells 9honey.
“Nostalgia is generally a positive thing for our mental health, reminding us of meaningful times and people we hold dear to our hearts.
How the stars are decorating for Christmas
“Watching a safe feel-good movie can be a great way to regulate your nervous system and give you valuable time to rest and restore your well-being.”
It’s a sentiment Spray agrees with.
“If we looked at the stories that we lean into, they are ones which give us hope that the world can change in a positive way, that individuals can change in a positive way, that people could come together and support each other,” he tells 9honey.
“So that is one of the reasons why we enjoy particular Christmas movies, because they generally have that kind of story in them … we see acts of kindness, people being kind to other people, then we feel more hopeful about humanity and are then inclined to help our fellow humans.
“Engaging in these kind of stories and feeling that feeling is important for our mental health.
“So it’s not something we should be ashamed of, it’s something we should be encouraging and we should encourage others to watch films where people are supporting, being kind and lovely to each other. It’s not cool, but it is a great thing.”
So, if you’re looking for a guilt-free reason to dive into the best of the Hallmark-esque Christmas movie collection on your favourite streaming service, there you have it!
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