Although we are far from Christmas, Christmas movies always fill us with nostalgia. A streaming platform, arranged to broadcast 24 hours with this kind of genre during the whole month of July. The success was so resounding that, by public demand, they extended it for another week. However, film critics label them as bad, so why do we like them so much?
Christmas movies spread happiness
According to a study conducted in Denmark, we all keep in our brains some Christmas memory that makes us happy. Colored lights, gingerbread, Christmas carols and Christmas decorations, make our brain feel something very close to happiness. And movies related to this theme transport us to those idyllic moments.
The film industry created an exclusive genre to group them, the Christmas one. It is not new, it is as old as the cinematographer. Until some time ago, they were movies that could be seen at that special time of the year. The truth is that they are sweet, even childish. They fill us with emotion and, more than one, end up with tears in their eyes. So much so, that we no longer have to wait until that date to see them. They can be chosen on movie platforms throughout the year.
Research shows that these movies relax us and give us pleasure
According to a survey done by coach Sally Henderson, an expert in Christmas traditions, our brain generates dopamine when we watch one of these movies. This neurotransmitter produced by the brain is the cause of pleasurable sensations and generates relaxation. So, when we watch a Christmas movie, these sensations are present in our head and make us stay for hours in front of the screen.
Another study indicates that more than 70% of people feel comfortable watching these movies. This is so, because in their plot not a single bullet is fired and there are no betrayals. They maintain a happy rhythm, so dopamine is constantly generated in our brain.
They disconnect us for a while from the reality in which we live.
Likewise, their success lies in the fact that they disconnect us from our reality. The world we live in produces stress, anxiety and in some cases anguish and fear. Christmas movies allow us a total disconnection from reality. For about 90 minutes, or however long the movie lasts, we only focus on happy events, romance and festivity. Whatever the plot, things usually end in harmony. It highlights the relationships of couples and with family and friends gathered around the Christmas table.
In this category of cinema, we also find values that we don’t often find in the everyday. Love, happiness, forgiveness, altruism, hope, humility, something that in other genres we cannot see. These are virtues that are not grouped together, at least not all together, either in the same film of another genre or in life itself.
Someone said that films about Christmas are like fables for children, liked by grown-ups. However, how nice it would be if we could learn from these fables to behave as the fictional characters do. We could live in a more empathetic, friendly and happy world.
The truth is that this film genre connects us with the child in each of us. With those feelings that everything in the past was better, even if the reality of that past is distorted in our memories.
