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Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect ofChristian media, the topic first appearedin literature andin music.Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptations ofChristmas novels, in the forms ofChristmas films,Santa Claus films, andChristmas television specials.
It also includes animation, comics, and children's books, includingA Charlie Brown Christmas,How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, andFrosty the Snowman.
Many Christmas stories have beenadapted to movies andTV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on TV. Since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year during the holiday shopping season. Notable examples are the many versions of the balletThe Nutcracker, the 1946 filmIt's a Wonderful Life, and the similarly themed versions of Dickens'A Christmas Carol, in which the elderly miserEbenezer Scrooge is visited by ghosts and learns the errors of his ways. By contrast, the hero of the former,George Bailey, is a businessman who sacrificed his dreams to help his community. On Christmas Eve,a guardian angel finds him in despair and prevents him from committing suicide, by supernaturally showing him how much he meant to the world around him.
A few films based on fictionalized versions of true stories have become Christmas specials themselves. The story behind the Christmas carol "Silent Night" and the story of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" are two examples.[1][2]
Films revolving around theNativity story of Christmas are regularly produced such asThe Nativity Story (2006),The Star (2017), andA Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).[3] Sometimes, family films and classics boasting special effects and/or uplifting messages, but having no real relation to Christmas, are telecast during the season as part of the holiday programming.The Wizard of Oz, for instance, was always telecast during the Christmas season between 1959 and 1962.[4] The action filmDie Hard is seen by some as a Christmas film, as it takes place on the holiday, and is often viewed during the season,[5] although whether or notDie Hard should be considered a Christmas film has been debated due to its story not being about the holiday itself. Others in this category includeIron Man 3,Lethal Weapon,Batman Returns,Eyes Wide Shut,Female Trouble,Shazam! andDoctor Zhivago.[6][7][8][9][10]
In theUnited Kingdom, during the 2000sITV usually showed aJames Bond and/or aHarry Potter film(s) during the Christmas Holidays whilst theBBC showed theChronicles of Narnia and/orHigh School Musical films. And for many yearsChannel 5 have shown American/Canadian made-for-TV Christmas films during the weeks before Christmas.
In North America, the holiday movie season often includes release of studios' most prestigious pictures, in an effort both to capture holiday crowds and to position themselves forOscar consideration. Next to summer, this is the second-most lucrative season for the industry. In fact, a few films each year open on the actual Christmas Day holiday. Christmas movies generally open no later than Thanksgiving, as their themes are not so popular once the season is over. Likewise, thehome video release of these films is typically delayed until the beginning of the next year's Christmas season.
American Christmas-themed films are also broadcast on theHallmark Channel and its companion channelHallmark Movies & Mysteries, which during the holiday season generally feature new films along with reruns of favorites from prior years. ActressesCandace Cameron Bure,Lacey Chabert, andDanica McKellar, along with actorNiall Matter, are frequently featured in lead or major roles. The films themselves generally feature a similar theme of a person who has "lost the Christmas spirit" and through "Christmas magic" regains it (commonly by a romantic encounter; frequently one of the two in the romance is a single parent or has lost someone special around a prior Christmas season). Another theme plays on the "big city-small town" dynamic, whereby a lead character has either left a small hometown for the big city (and has had to return), or a big city person has to go to a small town, in either case deciding that the small town is where they should remain. A main character will also have a Christmas-sounding name (such as "Holly") and/or the small town will (such as "Christmas Valley").
The settings are usually in the northern United States, or in a mountain area (such as Colorado), where snow (and the ensuing "White Christmas") are used as a backdrop for the film (though the films themselves are often filmed in British Columbia due to favorable film tax benefits).
As of 2020The Grinch is thehighest grossing Christmas film of all time.Green Book was the last movie with a Christmas setting to win theAcademy Award for Best Picture.
Before 1962, whenMr. Magoo's Christmas Carol premiered, true Christmas specials made for TV were either adaptations of stories such asA Christmas Carol (with live actors), or the Nativity Story, or episodes of variety shows highlighting Christmas music. They were often hosted by such celebrities asPerry Como,Jane Wyatt, orFlorence Henderson. (A notable exception wasThe Spirit of Christmas in 1950, which, although featuring an appearance byAlexander Scourby, who also narrated, starred the Mabel Beaton Marionettes.)
This all changed once variety shows began dying out in the late 1980s and Rankin-Bass began producing more and more Christmas specials.
One notable television special usually seen at Christmas wasAmahl and the Night Visitors, commissioned byNBC and telecast annually in the U.S. from 1951 to 1966. It was the first opera written especially for television. Composed byGian-Carlo Menotti with a libretto in English by the composer, the opera told of a disabled beggar boy living with his (presumably) widowed mother in the Holy Land. They are visited by the Three Wise Men who are on their way to see the Christ Child, and when Amahl offers his crutch as a gift, he is miraculously cured. In 1978, it returned to television, with less success.
TV programmes which have had special Christmas episodes in theUnited Kingdom includeTop of the Pops (from 1960s-2006),Morecambe and Wise (1970s),The Two Ronnies (1980s),Stars in Their Eyes,Only Fools and Horses (both 1990s), and more recently,Doctor Who,Top Gear (both 2000s),Downton Abbey (2010s),The Repair Shop andThe Masked Singer (both 2020s).
The 1982 animated taleThe Snowman has been screened for many years during the Christmas period (usually Christmas Eve or Christmas Day), and the 1991 short animated film,Father Christmas, by the same artist and company, is usually broadcast around the same time.[citation needed]
Adaptations of novels fromCharles Dickens are also common around Christmas time. Along withA Christmas Carol (the most popular due to its Christmas season setting, and the message portrayed), these also includeBleak House (2005),Oliver Twist (2007) andGreat Expectations (2011), among others. These adaptations usually featureall-star casts.
Christmas Day begins at 12 at night with the showing ofMidnight Mass on theBBC. In addition, the monarch annually broadcasts a10-minute speech on Christmas Day at 3 p.m. Many long-running Britishsoap operas have Christmas specials, usually involving a dramatic storyline developed over several weeks which culminates at Christmas. Often these stories are tragic, involving a death, divorce, a dramatic revelation or similar event.
Most Christmas specials in the UK are specially commissioned separately to aproduction season, and many are extended from the usual episode length. For example,the 2007Doctor Who Christmas special was 71 minutes as opposed to the standard 45 minutes, was broadcast six months after the third series had finished and four months before the fourth series started. UK Christmas specials may or may not feature the holiday itself as part of the narrative.
While the season receives almost universal acknowledgement on British TV, some channels and programmes have tried "alternative" or "anti-Christmas" ideas. One example isChannel 4 which has run anAlternative Christmas message since 1993. In 2009, two movie channels renamed themselves for the season;Sky Movies Screen 2 becameSky Movies Christmas Channel andMovies 24 becameChristmas 24.[11] From 2010, changes to Sky Movies line-up meant that Sky Movies Showcase was used for Sky Movies Christmas Channel. On 16 November 2012, two music channels renamed themselves;Bliss becameBlissmas andGreatest Hits TV was rebranded asChristmas Hits TV.
In the United States, many television series (particularly those of a family-oriented nature) produce a Christmas episode, although seldom outside of a season's production block. Stand-alone Christmas specials are also popular, from newly created animated shorts and movies to repeats of those that were popular in previous years, such asRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer andA Charlie Brown Christmas. Some local affiliates provide theYule Log, a block of time either on Christmas morning or both during the evening hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning showing footage of a fireplace, coupled with popular Christmas music. Some local affiliates that provide theYule Log simulcast Christmas music from a radio station playing it.
EveryChristmas Day,ABC (since 1996) airs aChristmas parade at Walt Disney World Resort and along with its sister cable network,ESPN (since they jointly acquired broadcast rights to the league in 2002),NBAgames featuring some of the league's best teams and players, broadcasting a doubleheader (or as many as five games between the two networks in certain years);[12][13] the NBA's Christmas Day games are notable as they historically serve as the league's first game telecasts on over-the-air network television each season.NBC airs theVatican Midnight Mass service atSt. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve night (having broadcast the service annually since 1972, typically in place of the network's regular late-night programming), and usually airs an ice skating special (often on the weekend prior to or of the holiday).[12][13][14] Additionally,CBS usually airscollege basketball games the day after Christmas while NBC airs aPremier Leaguesoccer match that same day.
Christmas specials based onclassical music have also been well received. Among them, in addition to the previously mentionedAmahl and the Night Visitors, have been the many telecasts of the balletThe Nutcracker, andconcert specials featuring musicians such as theBoston Pops, theMormon Tabernacle Choir, theCincinnati Pops, and theAtlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Many radio stations begin to addChristmas music to their rotation in late November, and often switch to all-Christmas programming for December 25. Some do for part of or all of December 24 as well. A few stations switch to all-Christmas music for the entire season (some beginning as early as mid-November); in Detroit, 100.3WNIC in 2005 started Christmas music day and night on midnight of October 31 because programmers believed that at least some listeners who are attracted by the Christmas music will remain loyal listeners when the station reverts to its standardformat onBoxing Day. Radio stations also broadcast traditional Western art music, such as the "Hallelujah" chorus fromHandel'sMessiah. Among other pieces inspired by Christmas areTchaikovsky's balletThe Nutcracker and the popularsuite drawn from it, andJohann Sebastian Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" (BWV 248). Some radio stations play Christmas music commercial-free the entire day on Christmas Day, with only interruptions for Christmas messages from station personnel and personnel from the station's parent company. Others, like 96.5KOIT in San Francisco do on both part of or all of Christmas Eve and the entire day Christmas Day. Frequently, the first song played on an "all-Christmas" station is the popular tuneIt's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.
TheMusic Choice channels have over the past few years have begun playing Christmas music as early as the beginning of November, instead of waiting till after Thanksgiving.
The UK music industry features the battle of the bands and artists to make it to the Christmas No. 1 spot, recognised on the first Sunday before, or on, Christmas Day. Many of these songs are festive, while others are novelty songs that remain but briefly at the top of the chart. Gospel singerCliff Richard is a fixture of Christmas charts, appearing nearly every year, and subsequently being mocked for doing so. In more recent years the Christmas chart has been dominated by the winner ofThe X Factor and various social media backed records aimed to hijack the charts.
As with television, British radio programmes also schedule Christmas specials. These mainly include comedy shows such asI'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue andThe Now Show.
