[For one season, American capitalism lies to us about what it
values. The American Christmas Movie promises us that love matters
more than money, that cruel bosses are bad but also lonely, that
family togetherness is more important than the perfect dinner. The
Christmas Movie business exploits our desire to believe this, but we
do – and we should.]
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A WORKING-CLASS CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS  
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Kathy M. Newman
November 19, 2022
Working Class Perspectives
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_ For one season, American capitalism lies to us about what it
values. The American Christmas Movie promises us that love matters
more than money, that cruel bosses are bad but also lonely, that
family togetherness is more important than the perfect dinner. The
Christmas Movie business exploits our desire to believe this, but we
do – and we should. _

,

 

If you have an extra 10 million dollars lying around, little Ralphie
Parker’s house from _A Christmas Story _(1983), is for sale
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The iconic mustard colored house, located on the outskirts of
Cleveland, is currently owned by Brian Jones, a superfan of the film.
Over the last twenty years, Jones has turned the fictional Parker
homestead into a museum, hotel, and gift shop complex devoted to _A
Christmas Story_. It’s a highly rated attraction that draws more
than one million tourists per year!

Jones may have timed the sale of the house to coincide with _A
Christmas Story Christmas_ (2022),
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original film, which debuted on HBO Max in November. The sequel was
co-written by Peter Billingsley, the actor who played Ralphie in the
original. To save money, the film was made in Bulgaria! Now 51,
Billingsley plays a grown-up Ralph who is trying to publish his first
sci-fi novel, mourn the death of his father, comfort his mother, and
give his wife and kids a decent Christmas. After the “old man”
dies, Ralph brings his family to Hohman, Indiana, where he grew up,
about an hour south of Chicago, circa 1973.

_A Christmas Story Christmas_ has me thinking about some of the rules
of the American Christmas Movie, and, especially, what kinds of
stories we tell ourselves at Christmas about love, money, capitalism,
and class.

Rule #1: American Christmas movies are big business based largely on
repeats, spin-offs, and merchandise. _A Christmas Story_, according
to _Vanity Fair_
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started as a “low budget fluke.” It cost a paltry 3.3 million in
1983 and made nearly 20 million at the box office, but it was quickly
forgotten. It became a sleeper hit when, in the 1990s, TNT and then
TBS started running it as a Christmas Eve marathon. Today
the _Christmas Story_ universe is holiday gold for everyone who has
a piece of the action. A stage production currently running
in Pittsburgh
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can buy a full sized leg lamp
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leg lamp Halloween costumes
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leg lamp cookie cutters
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and a statue of Flick
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his tongue stuck on a pole. There is even merchandise related to this
year’s sequel—a Blatz beer Christmas star
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Fan love, and fan labor, are crucial to the meta-popularity of _A
Christmas Story, _which you can see on this incredible Facebook page
[[link removed]] started by _A
Christmas Story _actors.

Rule #2: In Christmas movies, we were all once working class – and
we are still struggling financially. Set in 1940, _A_ _Christmas
Story_ lovingly imagines a time when the typical American family had
an icebox instead of a refrigerator, a monotonous nightly meal of red
cabbage and meatloaf, a furnace that never worked properly, a car that
frequently broke down, and a kitchen in which the family took most of
its meals. In the sequel, we’re in the 1970s, and everyone is just
barely getting by. Ralph’s boyhood friend Flick owns the Hohman town
bar, and it’s full of working stiffs hiding from their families. His
pal Schwartz is so hopelessly in debt to Flick that he must risk his
life on a dangerous sledding dare in order to pay it off. Ralph’s
broke status is self-imposed; he’s quit his job for a year to try to
make it as a novelist. He has to break into Flick’s bar to get the
Blatz Beer star for the top of his family’s Christmas tree, and his
car is such a jalopy that the trunk won’t close and someone steals
all the family’s Christmas presents.

While Christmas movies often begin with the struggles of being working
class, they often end by reminding us that love matters more than
stuff. In the original _A Christmas Story, _when Ralphie finally
gets the Red Ryder BB gun, he nearly shoots his eye out — as
everyone told him he would. The film ends with Ralph’s mom and dad
enjoying a tender moment, happy even after the Bumpus hounds ruined
Christmas dinner and Ralphie broke his glasses—a difficult item to
replace for a family like theirs in 1940. As they watch the snow fall,
the Christmas carol “Silent Night” plays in the background.

_A Christmas Story_ and its sequel are
mostly _not_ sentimental—Santa and the elves are jerks, Ralphie
and his dad are cursing fools, little brother Randy is weird and
gross, and Ralph’s mom doesn’t stand up for herself in her
marriage. But in this moment, we believe in this couple and in this
family.  All seems right with the world.

Rule #3: The American Christmas Movie rejects consumerism. The
wealthiest characters in these filmsusually have the least access to
love and happiness. In _Elf_, when Walter Hobbs has to meet with his
boss on Christmas Eve, he realizes that the true meaning of Christmas
is embodied by his son, Buddy, a bizarro Christ figure if ever there
was one. For working-class characters, Christmas movies insist that
focusing too much on presents is a problem – as we see Ralphie and
his family don’t have a lot of stuff, and as a result, they have
more love.

But love and stuff also come together in Christmas movies. In _A
Christmas Story Christmas_, after the presents are stolen, Ralph’s
old man saves the day from beyond the grave: before he died, he had
purchased and wrapped Christmas presents for everyone and hidden them
in the basement. As that plot line suggests, Christmas is “really”
about love, but gifts can be a manifestation of love and connection.

As a radical activist who also loves Christmas, this can be a
confusing time of year. I don’t love economic exploitation, but I do
love Christmas. I love Christmas movies, too. They work to sell me
stuff and ideology, but they also critique commercialism and
exploitation. See what subversive messages you can find in a holiday
classic. I triple dog dare you!

Kathy M. Newman

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