The Toxic Message About Ex-Lovers in Holiday Films |
Watching holiday films at our home is much like an endurance sport. While there is a strict “not before Thanksgiving rule,” once the stuffing has been put away, it’s no holds barred. We often print out the annual Hallmark checklist calendar and dutifully mark off each film as we watch. Over the years, however, our zeal has lessened as the roulette of the same storyline repeated does in fact become mildly mind-numbing.
At the recommendation of a journalist who ranked this year’s Christmas Above the Clouds as a favorite, we watched this retelling of the famous Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future made their appearances as we struggled with just how unlikeable protagonist Ella Neezer (a gender-swapped riff on Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge) was during the film. While these films typically have viewers rooting for the cantankerous protagonist by the end, in the case of this film, it felt she did not really deserve her college love and ex-fiancé, who she effectively dumped in favor of the corporate world.
Giving the “ghosts of exes past” trope another shot, I also watched Christmas Cupid from many years ago to see what exactly sat so........