With the icy burst of winter coming, there is nothing quite like grabbing a cup of freshly heated hot chocolate and settling down on the warm couch alongside family, ready to watch a classic holiday film. For many Milford High School students, the new Christmas movies cannot compare to the ones they watched growing up. Nostalgia plays a huge factor in people’s favorite Christmas movies, why they watch them, and how many times they will re-watch them. As teenagers grow up and are always yearning to get older, these films are something that hooks them back to their childhood.
According to Statista, in the United States, the most viewed Christmas movie of all time is “Home Alone,” directed by Chris Columbus and written by John Hughes. Many students can think of reasons why this is such a beloved film, but it all comes down to sentimental memories from their adolescence. “Every time I watch Home Alone it reminds me of when I watched it for the first time growing up,” explained senior Taegen Skatzka.“Every year, me and my family watch it and I feel like that is one of the main things that allows it to have so many viewers. The tradition and nostalgia from our childhoods,” Many other Christmas films create the same effect.
“The Grinch” is another timeless classic about the town of Whoville and the Grinch who tries to steal Christmas. Many students watch this movie every year as tradition. There have been several versions of this movie in different filming types; the original 1966 Grinch is senior Kennedi Pattinson’s favorite Christmas movie for many different reasons, “I used to watch it every year as a kid with my family and it is a special memory for us,” she said. She explained how the show every year makes Christmas feel like Christmas, “Every time we watch it, the holiday spirit comes to life and it has been a fun Christmas memory for years now.”
Another movie that connects many of the same feelings for high schoolers is “The Polar Express.” This film, premiering in 2004, is much closer to when current high schoolers were born. “The Polar Express was the movie that I and my sister watched every Christmas Eve,” Senior Avery Graskewicz said, “I can’t even remember the first year we started doing it.” This movie dials into the real spirit of Christmas, another reason why teenagers love it.
As students get older and the childhood Christmas spirit they once had doesn’t surround them anymore, they look to memory about the things that bring them back to it. Senior Marisa Merz also explained her fondness of the Polar Express, “This is the movie my whole family watches every year together, and it reminds me of Christmas as a kid.”
There are many more films like these that stir up a reminiscent feeling and it’s different for everyone. Milford students also love “Elf”, “Christmas Chronicles”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolf”, and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. Merz, just as much as “The Polar Express”, showed her love for Christmas Vacation as well. “Every time I watch it it is so funny, and it is my family’s all-time favorite Christmas movie.”
There has been an abundance of new Christmas movies on Netflix and Peacock each year, junior Chloe Knight thinks that most of them are just recreating what other Christmas movies have already done. “I feel like a lot of them are predictable and any of the romance Christmas movies are very similar to Hallmark,” Knight said, “The best movies are the ones we binge-watch as kids.” Some of these newer movies include “Love Hard”, “The Knight Before Christmas”, and “Operation Christmas Drop”. It is safe to say that the Christmas film classics are going to remain teenage favorites for the next holiday seasons and throughout their whole life.
In conclusion, although there are many Holiday movies and new ones each year, none compare to the one students grew up watching and enjoying with family and friends. These traditions will live on through many of our lives and our kids’ lives as well.