Many of us watch A Christmas Story every year, whether by choice or not. With streaming, we have to seek out most of our holiday watches, but the 1983 Christmas classic is one of the few that plays regularly all season long, much to the pleasure of those of us still enamored by it. But why are we so enrapt with A Christmas Story 40 years later?
If you’ve watched A Christmas Story with fresh eyes recently, you know that this film is (and we say this with all the love and admiration required of the film) nuts. There isn’t a strong plot. The main character’s goal is to procure a BB gun for Christmas by any means necessary. Multiple characters in the movie are quite frightening. It’s kind of amazing that this film has such a chokehold on the American public.
Emotions Rule in the Case of ‘A Christmas Story’
But that chokehold is powered by one very strong emotion: nostalgia. Set in the 1940s, A Christmas Story evokes a longing for Christmases past. Many viewers can relate to the unbridled joy of receiving a gift for Christmas that they waited all year to open, and watching the kids trudge to school through the snow and fall asleep next to the tree feel like personal memories whether we had similar experiences or not.
Touching on nostalgia in a different sense, A Christmas Story has been playing for 24 hours straight on TBS on Christmas Day for years, and before that, it was one of the only Christmas movies that audiences could count on airing each year. The movie is also appropriate for virtually all audiences – some parents might have qualms about the leg lamp, but all things considered, it’s a pretty innocuous detail.
Ian Petrella, Peter Billingsley, Scott Schwartz, and R.D. Robb in ‘A Christmas Story’
While other family films run the risk of annoying parents, A Christmas Story is a crowd-pleaser, and therefore an overwhelmingly popular choice for families whose tradition is to watch the same movie every year at Christmas. In one way or another, many Christmas movie lovers have a strong memory of watching this film as a kid.
The Film Engages Non-Celebrants, Too
A Christmas Story is also rife with widely known pop culture references. The Red Ryder BB Gun; Ralphie’s pink bunny costume; and Randy whining, “I can’t put my arms down!” are all part of our collective consciousness. Those who have no business watching Christmas films but want to understand all parts of the zeitgeist are led to watch the film, as are cinephiles who’ve heard its praises sung now for decades.
A Christmas Story insidiously seeped into the holiday traditions of millions, and through its cozy imagery, and perhaps by sheer force, it’s stayed. We’d imagine it’s going to stay for years to come.
A Christmas Story is streaming now on Max.
