Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

Is Die Hard a christmas movie?

  • Total voters
    179
The plot of the film really has nothing to do with Christmas, so no.

How so many of you voted "yes" is beyond me.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Yes. Because not only does it take place around the Independence Day holiday, but the running theme of the movie is combating oppression and declaring earth's independence and sovereignty.
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Die Hard takes place on Christmas eve, and there are references to Christmas all through out the movie in dialogue. John's wife is even named Holly.

The OST is filled with Christmas music.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/soundtrack

Winter Wonderland, Christmas in Hollis, Let it Snow, Ode to Joy, Jingle Bells, etc.

It's a Christmas action movie.
 
Viva said:
The plot of the film really has nothing to do with Christmas, so no.

How so many of you voted "yes" is beyond me.
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It's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas office party, with xmas references and santa hats through out.

Even the screenwriter says it is a Christmas movie.
 
Die Hard takes place on Christmas, has multiple references about the importance of Christmas, has holiday cheer and Santa hats. Christmas movie.

It is also a Christmas book.
https://www.amazon.com/Die-Hard-Christmas-Illustrated-Holiday/dp/1608879763

Also cracks me up to see him flying with a shoulder holster and Beretta 92FS. It's a pain in the ass to bring your duty gun on a plane now.
 
The Diplomat said:
It's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas office party, with xmas references and santa hats through out.

Even the screenwriter says it is a Christmas movie.
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What themes presented in the film relate to Christmas?

None, from what I've gathered.

It is set during Christmas Eve, sure, but that's really the extent of it.
 
Viva said:
What themes presented in the film relate to Christmas?

None, from what I've gathered.

It is set during Christmas Eve, sure, but that's really the extent of it.
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I'll just let the guy who wrote the movie do the talking:

 
Viva said:
I suppose I never framed it under that context, but I'll be damned it makes a lotta sense.
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Yeah. To me, if Die Hard were set on Xmas eve in a complete vacuum, devoid of any references, music or clothing, then I'd get it. But they are all there, through out the whole movie.
 
The Diplomat said:
Yeah. To me, if Die Hard were set on Xmas eve in a complete vacuum, devoid of any references, music or clothing, then I'd get it. But they are all there, through out the whole movie.
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Well shit, I now know what I'm watching tomorrow.
 
The Diplomat said:
Yeah. To me, if Die Hard were set on Xmas eve in a complete vacuum, devoid of any references, music or clothing, then I'd get it. But they are all there, through out the whole movie.
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Let me ask you this, in your opinion, do you only need to put in some Christmas music and some Santa references and some dialogue about Christmas and set it in December to make it a Christmas movie? Or does there need to be more to it than that?
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Let me ask you this, in your opinion, do you only need to put in some Christmas music and some Santa references and some dialogue about Christmas and set it in December to make it a Christmas movie? Or does there need to be more to it than that?
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Well, some Christmas music, Santa references, set on Christmas eve....if it looks like a duck.

No, I don't need more than that. There can be more than one type of Christmas movie. Not everything needs to be a family friendly movie where you open presents at the end.

Do you think Home Alone is a Christmas movie?
 
The Diplomat said:
Well, some Christmas music, Santa references, set on Christmas eve....if it looks like a duck.

No, I don't need more than that. There can be more than one type of Christmas movie. Not everything needs to be a family friendly movie where you open presents at the end.

Do you think Home Alone is a Christmas movie?
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Home Alone is a Christmas movie, yes, because it's ultimately about the value of family and togetherness. The heart of the movie is not Kevin McAllister fucking up some robbers, it's Kevin coming to the realization that he doesn't REALLY want to make his family disappear, as well as his mom's desperation to get back to him.

Also, I don't necessarily believe that every Christmas movie has to be family friendly. Bad Santa isn't family friendly. But I do think that at the core there has to be some meaning or message that is consistent with the traditional values of the holiday.

Now if you want to argue that Die Hard does this--and I conceded earlier that perhaps an argument could at least be made, even though it's a weak argument--then that's one thing. But I do not feel like just dressing up any story in Christmas garb makes it a proper Christmas movie. Clothes alone do not make the man.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Home Alone is a Christmas movie, yes, because it's ultimately about the value of family and togetherness. The heart of the movie is not Kevin McAllister fucking up some robbers, it's Kevin coming to the realization that he doesn't REALLY want to make his family disappear, as well as his mom's desperation to get back to him.

Also, I don't necessarily believe that every Christmas movie has to be family friendly. Bad Santa isn't family friendly. But I do think that at the core there has to be some meaning or message that is consistent with the traditional values of the holiday.

Now if you want to argue that Die Hard does this--and I conceded earlier that perhaps an argument could at least be made, even though it's a weak argument--then that's one thing. But I do not feel like just dressing up any story in Christmas garb makes it a proper Christmas movie. Clothes alone do not make the man.
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You're right.

Hey guys, check out this awesome painting of Halloween-

sledding-to-town-chuck-pinson.jpg


and this one of a palm tree

oh-christmas-tree-craig-wade.jpg
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Just remember, the movie is also set during Christmas, there are multiple Christmas references, etc.


Iron_Man_3_theatrical_poster.jpg



Of course there are people out there arguing that it's a Christmas movie too, but nah, I'm not buying it and I suspect most people don't regard it is such.

https://aliceroth.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/57-reasons-why-iron-man-3-is-a-christmas-movie/
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Anything that reminds one of christmas can be a Christmas movie. I think Edward Scissorhands is a Christmas movie, some people don't see it.
 
The Diplomat said:
Anything that reminds one of christmas can be a Christmas movie. I think Edward Scissorhands is a Christmas movie, some people don't see it.
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Well I'd never want to discourage outside-the-box thinking.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Diplomat said:
Just know that in this situation, it'd be more inside the box, because you're in the minority regarding Die Hard being a Christmas movie :p
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Well in that case I was talking about Edward Scissorhands, but fair enough.

I'll just say this about Die Hard and probably leave it at that:

If it was May and someone walked in on you watching Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story or Bad Santa, they just might cock their head in confusion and ask, "You're watching Christmas movies?" But if they walked in on you watching Die Hard then they wouldn't think anything of it.
 
I don't personally consider this a Christmas movie. I don't really feel the Christmasy vibe from it, other than when they're bumping Run DMC in the limo. But it probably just comes down to the fact that it was never a Christmas movie with my family growing up. Die Hard was something I would watch any time of year when I wanted to see a badass action flick. But at Christmas time the movies that we would watch were Scrooged and Gremlins, plus stuff like the old Rudolph claymation and Grinch cartoon. I respect other cultures and belief systems to a point so if other families consider it a Christmas movie than who am I to say otherwise.
 
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