Parents and Gender in Holiday Romance Movies
It's December, which means winter holidays, cold weather, hot cocoa, cheery music, and hastily-made Christmas movies on every channel! It's been a fun annual tradition with my family to watch those cheesy holiday romances, the kind that you can find airing almost every hour on Hallmark or Lifetime Channel. In fact, Hallmark has made such movies a part of their brand since its first popular Christmas movie in 2006. They've been releasing around 40 new holiday movies a year for the past few years, with Lifetime channel releasing 26 this year and other years releasing closer to 20. And that's not even counting the many copycats from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and several other smaller film companies. It's what the podcast American Hysteria amusingly calls the Christmas Movie Industrial Complex. The holiday romance movie has become a staple for many families, and, with so many churned out each year, it's fascinating to think about the messages and through-lines betwee...