Death is the Secret to a Successful TV Christmas Movie

DEATH IS THE SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL TV CHRISTMAS MOVIE

12/16/2020

The holiday season is usually the most difficult time of the year for families who have lost loved ones. Empty seats at the table or around the tree are painful reminders of those who are no longer with us. For so many of these folks, death and the holidays just aren’t a great combination.

For the makers of holiday movies, though, death is a favorite — if not necessary — ingredient in the recipe for a Hollywood-worthy happy ending. But as with most every element of these addictive stories, death itself, and the realities surrounding it, aren’t part of the fantasy.

hallmark's holiday happiness

There’s plenty of Christmas content out there, especially with today’s multi-device streaming options. Even so, Hallmark — yes, the greeting card company — has become the go-to source for a particular type of holiday movie. Each year, the original Hallmark Channel and its suspense-filled spinoff, the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, switch to an all-holiday lineup sometime in late October. Up to 50 million viewers devour at least one Hallmark holiday movie every year.

So what makes these movies so darned popular? As someone who fits right into the networks’ target demographic (women aged 25 to 54) and has admittedly fallen under the Hallmark movie magic spell, I’ll attempt to explain.

Simply put, Hallmark movies are an indulgent, uplifting escape from reality. Unlike real life, every single Hallmark movie, even a mystery version, has a happy ending. Viewers take comfort in the fact that before the credits roll, all loose ends will be tidily tied up, the always-attractive main characters’ life-altering decisions will be made and their problems solved, and every featured individual/couple/family will send us off as they hug, kiss, and/or sport happy, huge smiles.

For two hours at a time, we can forget our imperfect, busy, or boring lives and imagine that it’s actually possible to travel back in time, to serendipitously reunite with your childhood sweetheart, for the prince of an enchanting (if mythical) kingdom to fall for an American commoner, for beloved Main Street businesses at the brink of bankruptcy to be saved in their final hours, or that a sophisticated and successful big-city girl can find happiness in her hokey-yet-charming hometown

LIFE — AND LOVE — AFTER DEATH

Every holiday season, Hallmark movie writers crank out dozens of new titles (there are 40 first-run options in 2020 alone) that put a new spin on these timeworn tropes. No matter the storyline, though, the inevitably neat ending nearly always includes the coupling of two unusually good-looking adults. Most often, at least one of these individuals is a widow or widower (sometimes with one to three precocious, adorable children) still mourning the death of their impossibly perfect, seemingly-irreplaceable spouse.

Take a look at these excerpts from some of 2019’s and 2020’s plot synopses:

“Bakery owner Molly meets Josh, a widower who recently moved to town with his young son…”

“Newly widowed Kathy plans to skip out on decking the halls and trimming the tree this Christmas, trying to avoid anything that will bring back memories of her late husband…”

“The distraction comes in the form of a young boy, Danny, and his widowed father…”

“As she prepares for an interview for an overseas position, she decides to work as an au pair for widowed father Owen Reed and his three children…”

In a post entitled “What’s With All the Dead Parents in Made-for-TV Christmas Movies?” writer Brian Moylan explains the necessity of holiday movie deaths in this way: “[These movies] need to be about people who suffered some tragic loss, and then find their way whole again through the magic of holiday romance. The ultimate Christmas gift, they’re telling us, is a happy nuclear family, even if it’s one that has known the taint of sorrow.”

death as opportunity

Beautiful widows and handsome widowers falling in love isn’t the only death-related plotline in these films. The death or impending demise of a parent sometimes serves as the impetus for new opportunities for the main characters. A daughter returns to her hometown to take over her deceased parents’ business or sell her family home, or a prince becomes king when his father dies … which puts them in a perfect position to fall in love with the real estate agent/contractor or search for a suitable queen.

Here are a few other recent Hallmark movie plots that depend on death to make the movie’s magic possible:

“When Melody’s neighbor, Nina, learns that her illness has returned, Melody promises to keep Nina’s kids, Holly and Ivy, together…”

“On the verge of accepting a job in L.A., [Sue] receives a visit from the ghost of her recently deceased mentor, Marilyn…”

“Lucy grants a little girl’s wish for a Christmas like she used to have with her [late] mom…”

In real life — and especially as members of the deathcare community — we know death doesn’t usually open doors to fabulous new lives. Widowers often remain widowed for the rest of their lives, people inherit problems instead of property, and grief manifests itself whenever, wherever, and within whomever it wants in very different ways, for as long as it likes.

where's the retort?

Although the Hallmark Christmas movie machine embraces and leverages the concept of death in its plotlines, it’s quite rare to see the mechanics of deathcare portrayed on the screen. Viewers usually learn of the deceased spouse or parent early in the story — a widow lovingly holds a framed photo of her late husband and tells him how much she misses him or how she doesn’t know how she’ll go on without him, or someone shares their condolences about the passing of the main characters’ parent as she packs her suitcase for her trip home. Every so often your clue is an urn on a mantle or someone kneeling by a headstone engraved with “Loving wife and mother” and two dates illustrating a sadly short life span.

Off-season made-for-TV movies may show a smattering of black-clad mourners at the tail-end of a graveside service or a dramatic outburst during a wake in the deceased’s lovely home. There’s no place for these realities in the Christmas movie fantasy, though.
Maybe there’s too much snow dreamily falling for a graveside service, or a funeral couldn’t be scheduled around the town’s traditional Christmas play/community tree decoration ceremony, or perhaps a funeral home isn’t as storybook-worthy as the village toy shop, cafe, or bookstore. Most likely, it’s because ugly crying isn’t pretty, and real death and its accoutrements are sad. In Hallmark holiday movies, crying is only allowed when it’s done daintily and sadness is an emotion reserved for the five-or-so-minute climax of the plot, right after the couple that was destined to be together has an argument, but before they inevitably see the error of their ways and reunite.

There’s also no place in Christmas movies for funeral directors, arrangement meetings, casket rooms (or caskets themselves, for that matter), embalming, or crematories. Viewers don’t want to hear eulogies or watch people file through a visitation line. They know someone has died, but they don’t want to deal with the death.

If you have time this season, find a Hallmark Channel (or Lifetime, or even Netflix, for that matter) and escape into one (or six) of these Christmas movies — it’s a proven winning formula, so they’re easy to find, especially these days. Pay attention to the role death plays in the plots, and how it’s portrayed. Let us know if you find one that does justice to the deathcare profession.

Or create your own Christmas movie storyline: A single and gorgeous fourth-generation funeral director is about to lose his family’s funeral home, but while meeting with a grieving family he catches the eye of the deceased’s newly-wealthy daughter …
Wow — this stuff practically writes itself!

This post originally inspired by CANA Executive Director Barbara Kemmis's member message from November 2020, but it inspired more than this post!

CANA Member Holly Baxter Bridgers of Baxter Cremation Service sent a delightful Hallmark Card sharing her love for Hallmark Christmases and our association (with the clever image below) — not to mention her own Hallmark movie pitch starring a beautiful funeral director: When the winter festival location is suddenly unavailable, why not have it at the local crematory with the single funeral director...

Barbara Kemmis joined in the fun with her own pitch: Single career woman (SCW) returns to home town and reunites with her sassy best friend (SBF) from high school. SBF is a funeral director and privy to all the town goings on, including the fact that SCW's old flame is back in town. During the community memorial service at the funeral home, SCW is reminded how important community and connections are and sparks fly with old boyfriend.

Producers can contact CANA for more information on these fantastic ideas for next year's new Christmas Classics.

Happy Holidays from all of us at CANA!

Patricia Hartley is an Alabama-based freelance writer with two adult kids, four dogs, one husband, two master's degrees, and a passion for creating well-researched original content that people want to read. Working in a family friend's funeral home in college sparked my lifelong passion for the deathcare industry and its incredible professionals.