This is an enjoyable 42 minutes of the origins of the American Christmas traditions which I shall want to watch every year. Just to note that the copy I watched went mute around the 16 minute mark and seem to flicker fast forward a bit so hopefully I didn't miss much of the movie at that period. The film does include the various religious traditions of Yule and sun worship and the Roman Saturnalia as well as the Christian. There is the development of the American Christmas via the poems of Clement C. Moore and the forming of the Santa figure by Thomas Nash and then Santa's modernization in the 1940s by Norman Rockwell. There are details of how the 1940s songs 'White Christmas' and 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' caught the public imagination. The world of film and TV are represented by Capra' 'It's A Wonderful Life' and 'Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol' and 'Charlie Brown's Christmas' that have become essential viewing at Christmas for many. It mentions Halloween as the beginning of Christmas shopping spree but I suggest that may have been brought forward a bit in the last decade since. Christmas TV Movie channels now start up in September to get people in the buying mood as well as for Christmas generally. I was surprised that Cyber Monday gets a mention in 2010 but I've just checked to find that Cyber Monday originated in 2005. I was also surprised that Christmas had a trick-or-treat element in it's history but a lot more rougher than today's Halloween version. No mention of the candy cane in this film but I've checked that this was a German church tradition with the cane representing the shepherd's crook in Nativity plays.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
