Why Do People Hate Their Jobs In Christmas Movies?
The holiday season is officially here! Everyone is filling themselves up with delicious cookies, sweets, candies and cakes. People are dressing up in red, white, and green, and the Christmas trees are up and ready for a great Christmas weekend. Another important custom of this holiday season is watching our favourite comfort Christmas movies. But no matter which movie you decide to watch, the storyline is literally the same in almost all of them. Amirite or amirite?
Most Christmas movies start with our protagonist being in this slump in their life and by the end of the movie, these problems are miraculously solved, and everyone is just beyond ecstatic and ready to celebrate Christmas. However, one of the most common plot lines in these Christmas movies is that the protagonist of the movie always hates their job and wants to follow their lifelong passion, but they are unable to do so because of one reason or another. Like in Falling For Christmas, Lindsey Lohan’s character hates having to work at the hotel and is struggling with what she wants to do in life along with her relationship. But, the magic of Christmas just brings her everything she ever needed.
Similarly, in Last holiday, 2006; Too close for Christmas, a Christmas miracle forces the protagonist to chase their lifelong dream and finally follow their passion towards a life full of happiness and success. Another famous and recent example of this would be Aimee Garcia’s character in Christmas With You. She is stressed because of her job and tired of her fake relationship. She is also treated like crap at her job and needs to find a way to escape. She finally does so by going off the tracks to meet her fan and Christmas magic not only brings her love but also makes her realise everything she needs to change to feel better and be happier. Isn’t that convenient?
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Another thing that is very common in such movies is that the protagonist ends up moving to a smaller town while leaving their old life and job behind to discover everything that they ever needed. How is that even possible? One of the biggest examples of this would be the Single All The Way. Peter is a famous photographer who hates his job because it doesn’t satisfy him. He then goes home for Christmas and ends up getting a small shop that his best friend Nick buys for him to sell plants because that is his true passion. He decides to do this and move back. FYI, he also finds love.
The same happens in A California Christmas where a rich man is forced to go to a farm to close a deal to buy it. He tries to go straight to her but ends up posing as her farmhand instead. She shows him everything she is doing to save the farm, he celebrates Christmas with her and her family, and he falls in love with the farm and her. So, he decides to give up his lifestyle, move there and help her save the farm. Honestly, in what world does that sound like something that would actually happen? Who does that? Nobody! It must be common somewhere because almost the same happens in Christmas Inheritance too.
If I’m being honest, for me, these movies only supply momentary happiness because I cannot relate to them. These plotlines are absurd because I honestly love my job no matter how difficult it gets from time to time. Working isn’t a burden for me. I bet this is true for most of us now. People have different reasons for working and choosing their jobs. Sometimes it’s merely a way to earn a wage because they don’t make their life only about their work and they are happy with that.
Why don’t these movies incorporate these realities? Instead, they just make us feel guilty for working a comfortable job and I feel like that really isn’t fair. Why does everyone have to quit their job and follow some creative passion? Like, for those of us who love our jobs, how can we ever, really relate to these movies? Maybe it’s time for the scriptwriters of Christmas movies to find some other problem our protagonist can deal with and some other way to make everything magical, huh?
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Let’s stop with this repetitive cliche and find some issues that the majority of people are dealing with and hence, can relate to. There are plenty of social issues out there that need to be commented on. Let’s make a change and not create movies which force people to rethink their life choices when we’re all fine and just want to kick back, watch a movie and relax. Sounds like a good plan, right?
