Christmas culture and the European mind, as explored in film

Even in the multicultural era, those who push for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan and other holidays to share equal footing with Christmas have encountered resistance in the United States. Across the country, the idea of saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" has become a political football of sorts, and it is one of the few areas that the Christians of European-descent in America have really dug their heels in. As a result, the Christmas season continues to be a time of heavily identity-oriented cultural expression. Nowhere is this clearer than in the films that accompany the season.

Scene from the classic American film A Christmas Story

First of all, there is A Christmas Story, which offers a look at Christmas in the American Midwest around 1939, and put the "flyover state" of Indiana in the spotlight. We see a time when Christmas traditions played a major role in everyday life; there were massive street parades, toy wonderland displays at department stores, department store Santas, lights, songs and celebratory rituals that brought together families. Many of these traditions were the same ones that boomers saw in their own young childhoods, traditions that continue to some degree up to the present. The film is rich in nostalgia, notably covering the hard, simple times leading up to the most prosperous period in the history of the United States. Because of its appeal, the film often airs twenty-four hours a day, non-stop, from December 24th to 25th.

Another important American film is Home Alone, which conveys comparatively-similar themes and messages, albeit in a more modern context. We have already written about the film in great length, and we recommend that you give the article a read rather than have us repeat what has already been said. Evidently, the film is an annual holiday hit overseas, too.

So just how do these works match up with the modern products of Euro-Christian culture an ocean away, and what does Europe think of America's classics? Journalist Emily Tamkin made a point to find out:
Special thanks to the research in "This Christmas Watch These Classic European Holiday Flicks and Home Alone," by Emily Tamkin, Foreign Policy

The United Kingdom has Love Actually. For those who have not seen it, the film takes place in London, England and tracks a number of vastly-different couples as they try to deal with their love lives in one bizarrely interrelated tale. As one might expect, the film takes place during the frantic month leading up to Christmas Day.

Russia has the Soviet New Year’s classic, The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! The basic plot is this: Zhenya is supposed to go home to his apartment in Moscow after getting drunk with his pals in a bathhouse. His friend is supposed to fly to Leningrad. However, they are both so inebriated that Zhenya ends up on the plane. This being the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the streets have the same name, and the buildings on them all look the same, and the keys all work for all of the locks. And so it comes to be that Zhenya ends up going to his Moscow address in Leningrad, and finds himself in an apartment owned by Nadya. Romantically tinged comedic hijinx ensue.

Russia has since given us 2011's Yolki, or "pine tree" - the name given to the film that Americans know as Six Degrees of Celebration. The plot is that a young girl in an orphanage claims her father is then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. As proof, the fellow orphans want her to get him to say the words “Father Frost helps those who help themselves” in his annual New Year’s address. Her would-be boyfriend puts a plan into action to get the message to Medvedev (played by Medvedev, because 2011 was a simpler time) through - wait for it - six degrees of celebration.

Sweden takes a different approach. Every year, Swedes watch Donald Duck on Christmas Eve on television. It is followed by Kan du vissla Johanna?, the story of a young boy who wishes for a grandfather he can love.

Finland took a different direction and gave us Rare Exports. Set in Finland’s Lapland, which is said to be the terrestrial home of Santa Claus, it tells the story of a Santa who awakens from his slumber to go on a killing spree. Also, in Finnish, the word for Santa Claus literally translates to Christmas Goat. Scary stuff.

Poland prefers America's Home Alone, and Poles have reportedly been known to protest on social media when the film is not aired. In Poland, the film is called Kevin sam w domu (Kevin Alone in the House) and is more commonly known as "Kevin".

The Czech Republic has its very own interpretation of Cinderella as a Christmas story, with a twist. It is called Three Wishes for Cinderella, a Czechoslovak/East German film made in 1973. In the film, Cinderella is a sharpshooter with three magical wishes, and she makes Prince Charming work for her hand. The film is still popular in the Czech Republic, and in other countries, too.

Norway, for example, is a country where the story is so loved that the government paid for the film to be digitally remastered. Norway also watches Germany’s favorite, Dinner for One, every New Year’s Eve.

Germany is probably surprised that Dinner for One is not watched the world over. Other titles that are regularly played during the holiday are Three Wishes for Cinderella, under the German title Drei Haselnüssse für Aschenbrödel, and Home Alone, better known as Kevin Allein zu Hause (Keven Alone in the House). Because they just could not resist, television networks have also been known to play Schindler's List on Christmas. No, I kid you not.

France has a Christmas film that literally translates into Father Christmas Is a Stinker (Le père Noël est une ordure). Also, the country has Mom, I Missed the Plane, which is the French title for, yes, Home Alone.