10 Christmas Movie Tropes That Make No Sense

Christmas movies have some of the most recognizable tropes of any genre. With so many Christmas tropes, not all of them are going to make sense.

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One of the most beloved parts of the holiday season is the endless deluge of Christmas movies, whether from big studios to the actual hundreds that Hallmark churns out yearly. With, probably, thousands of festive films to pick from, there are tropes that continually appear in Christmas movies. In fact, Christmas movie tropes are probably the most easily recognizable out there for audiences. While most are heartwarming, some of these tropes just don’t make sense.

While most of these nonsensical can be ignored. Upon closer inspection, they stick out pretty obviously in the sea of holiday movies. Some of these overused tropes only appear in a couple movies, but others are tired staples of the genre that need to be retired.

Setting Up The Tree Last Minute

This is an example of a trope that doesn’t appear in every movie, but it makes viewers scratch their heads when it does. Typically, families have their Christmas trees up by the first week in December. In certain movies, the tree is shown being set up the week of Christmas and, sometimes, as late as Christmas Eve. Distatrious decorating is a cheesy trope audiences love to see, but it wouldn’t be as disastrous if it wasn’t last minute.

Decorating the house is one of the most important parts of the season, but it is understandable that other things, such as shopping, take priority. That is why it makes much more sense to set the tree up early, so it is already out of the way. Setting it up last minute seems like it would add stress to an already stressful time of year.

Losing Christmas Spirit Due To Not Getting The Right Presents

Having a character regain their Christmas spirit is one of the most common tropes in holiday movies. There are many different ways they lost their spirit, but one that makes no sense is they didn’t get the gift they wanted as a child. While it shouldn’t be the most important part, presents are undeniably a large part of Christmas. When an adult reveals they lost their spirit because Santa didn’t give them the presents they wanted as a child, they just come off as shallow.

A good example of this is in The Santa Clause. Charlie’s mom, Laura, and his stepdad, Neal, share that they both stopped believing in Santa when they were young because they didn’t receive a Mystery Date Game and an Oscar Meyer Whistle respectively. Neal may be one of the funniest characters in the movie, but this reason for not having Christmas spirit doesn’t paint him or Laura in a great light.

Characters Shocked No Store Is Open

It just isn’t a Christmas comedy unless something goes wrong on Christmas Eve. Characters must rush to the store for a last-minute gift, replace a tree or a multitude of other reasons. The fact that no stores are open just adds to the frustration. What doesn’t make sense is how the characters are shocked nowhere is open.

It should be common knowledge that many stores would be closed the day before Christmas, especially at night. These characters act like this is a new idea, and they are none too happy about it. Plenty of people have been frustrated stores are closed on Christmas Eve, but they at least expect as much.

Father Being Too Busy

It isn’t uncommon for businesses to be ridiculously busy around the holidays, but oftentimes in Christmas films, it takes priority over family. Unfortunately, this is a very real issue, but in the world of Christmas movies, there is usually an out the Father doesn’t take. Instead of spending time with his family, he has to make the “big deal” that could make or break his career.

It isn’t common that huge deals like this go through the week of Christmas, but holiday movies imply this is exclusively when these deals go through. Probably the most famous example in Jingle All The Way, which has several wild things that make no sense.

Save Christmas

If any issue arises during the holidays, it threatens the very existence of Christmas. At least, that is what some movies will have audiences believe. The big reason this plot point doesn’t make sense is if the characters had some kind of backup plan, this wouldn’t be an issue. To many, Rudolph is the definitive Christmas Special, but it suffers from this. The titular red-nosed reindeer saves Christmas because only his nose can cut through the dense fog.

If Santa would have had some kind of light before this, this would never have been an issue. There are numerous movies where Christmas is threatened because Santa is out of commission. One would think the North Pole would have someone to deliver the presents in these cases. Instead, it is usually a random human.

Having Time To Fall In Love

Christmas is no doubt the busiest and hectic time of year for many people. Besides this, leads in holiday from coms have time to meet, fall in love, and still get everything ready for Christmas. Love, at first sight, is a common romance movie trope, but oftentimes in Christmas-themed ones, the leads don’t like each other at first.

It is absurd to think that two people that borderline loathe each other can learn to love one another in the span of a week or so. Oftentimes, one of the leads has to get over some kind of trauma they have carried for years, but the magic of Christmas somehow makes it all go away.

Assaulting Carolers

A group of carolers randomly showing up at someone’s door isn’t as common as it once was. If someone isn’t expecting it, then it could very well be annoying. In Christmas movies, it isn’t uncommon for people to be rude or even assault carolers. The opening to The Adams Family is funny, but why not just ignore them?.

If the carolers notice the homeowner isn’t interested, then they will likely move on to the next house. Instead, these characters have to drive home how much they hate Christmas by verbally and physically assaulting these poor people. If nothing else, they could just politely ask them to leave.

Seeing Isn’t Believing

Often times in Christmas movies, there are characters that don’t believe in Santa in the beginning, who eventually come around by the end. The thing is, they should have believed by the middle of the film. Characters will see undeniable proof of Santa or the North Pole, and yet still take half the film’s runtime to actually admit they believe.

The Santa Clause has a great example of this. Scott Calvin walks around Santa’s actual workshop, but still takes a while to admit Santa is real. This trope is one people love, as it shows how even the most Scrooge-esque people can believe. Problem is, it takes more convincing than it should.

Small Kid Brings The World Together

Having a cute kid at the forefront of a Christmas movie makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense, is how this one naive kid can bring all of the adults together in the spirit of Christmas. The fac is, oftentimes adults ignore kids, especially in things the adult feels they know more about.

Cindy-Lou is one of the reasons Ron Howard’s Grinch is one of the best holiday movies from the 2000s. She consistently tries to get the town to believe The Grinch, a monster in their eyes, is a good guy. While she is right, it doesn’t really make sense why they would humor her in the first place.

Parents Don’t Believe In Santa

If Santa exists in a movie and a kid knows it, then the parents usually aren’t believers. This makes no sense at all because if Santa exists, he obviously brings presents. Since the parents don’t believe in him, where do they think the presents come from? Movies, where Santa exists, should be filled with believers for this same reasoning.

One could argue that Santa doesn’t visit houses where the parents don’t believe, but the presents are for the children, not for them. From Polar Express to Elf, parents not believing in Santa but accepting the fact presents just appear overnight is the Christmas trope that makes less sense as the years pass.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/christmas-movie-tropes-no-sense/