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Christmas Films Past and Present

Contact: Catholic League,
212-371-3191,
pr@catholicleague.org

 

OPINION, Nov. 16, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Bill Donohue:  

    The corruption of American culture is evident in many ways, but few markers are more telling than the way Hollywood entertains us at Christmastime.  

    It was 70 years ago when "It's a Wonderful Life" was released. NBC describes it as "a holiday classic and remains the movie people associate with Christmas more than any other. Frank Capra's definitive film is a tearjerker that proves that, even in our darkest hours, the human spirit can and will rise triumphant."

    Today, we are being treated to obscene lyrics, raw sex, misogyny, and violence. Not one of the four Christmas-themed films released this season is worthy of being described as a family movie. There are no guardian angels directing the lead characters to consider how the world would be without them; no triumph of self-sacrifice; no statement against greed; no childhood sweetheart to marry; no inspiration of any sort. Just filth.

    The first of the Christmas-themed flicks opened on November 11. "Almost Christmas" is proudly touted as another one of those "dysfunctional-family holiday movies." Danny Glover brings the whole family together for Thanksgiving, hoping to quell the in-fighting. It doesn't work: family members start attacking each other with fire extinguishers and shotguns.

    The movie depicts a crude, hard-drinking female showing how much respect she has for children. Speaking about a young boy, she says, "I got vibrators older than that child." Then there is the gal employee in the grocery store who pulls the back of her panties up above her pants, asking one of the male family members, "Did you find everything you need?"

    There is another scene where a woman is outside the house and sticks her head in the window, only to have it close on her. Stuck, a man comes up behind her to help. He puts his hands on either side of her while trying to open the window, appearing to neighbors as if he's having sex with her.

    In another scene, Santa's head is severed and it comes tumbling down from the roof, scaring one of the little girls. All throughout the movie, women call each other bitches. Nice lesson for teenage boys.

    "Why Him?" opens December 23. It features an overprotective dad who meets his daughter's socially retarded Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend. It doesn't go well. The boyfriend greets the family with a slew of "F-words." He says of their daughter, Stephanie, "Remember when we made love in the hot tub? Steph just opened up like a flower. You should have seen it." The mother replies, "No, I shouldn't have seen it, but now I feel like I did." Most parents would have upbraided him, but there is no fun in that.

    Jennifer Aniston stars in "Office Christmas Party," which opens December 9. She plays a CEO who wants to close the failing company branch run by her brother. His employees insist on a Christmas party.

    In the course of the party, Jesus is mocked, and Santa yells, "Merry Christmas, bitches." A female employee unloads with the following (poorly constructed expletive) remark, "It's f-word Christmas b-word let's get motherf-word drunk." Santa is also seen sledding down the stairs in the office, crashing into the nativity scene.

    This is curious. When was the last time a nativity scene was displayed—or even allowed—at an office Christmas party? Why didn't Santa crash into a "holiday tree"?

    By far the most vulgar Christmas movie this season is "Bad Santa 2." It is a sequel to the 2003 original.

    When the first "Bad Santa" appeared, I described Santa as a "chain-smoking, drunken, foul-mouthed, suicidal, sexual predator. He is shown soiling himself in Santa's chair, vomiting in alleys, having sex with a woman bartender in a car, and performing anal sex on a huge woman in a dressing room. And commentary in front of kids is replete with the 'F-word.'"

    Who would be drawn to such a film? "The movie will be a hit with college drop-outs, toilet-humor buffs and those who think like the Weinstein brothers." The latter was a reference to Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, a subsidiary of Disney.

    Miramax is one of the production companies behind "Bad Santa 2,"  though the Weinstein boys have since gone their own way. As expected, this movie is ever faithful to the original. Here's a sample, taken from the trailer, of what's in store; it opens November 23.

    A child sits on Santa's lap (played by Billy Bob Thornton) and asks, "Why do you have two beards?" The hard-drinking Santa replies, "That's none of your f***ing business." The audience is treated to a string of "F-words" and other obscenities. When Santa sees a cute redhead, he says to himself, "I bet that p**** got lips like an orangutan." Santa, an elf, and others repeatedly shout the "F-word" at children.

    When a child makes a Christmas donation, Mrs. Santa comments, "Cheap little f*****." Scatological commentary is commonplace, and Santa is shown having anal sex with the redhead, laughing how "pretty f***ing dirty" it is. When a man complains about the foul language used in front of children, Santa turns to him and says, you can "suck my f***ing d***."

    Only a Christian holiday would be trashed this way by the Hollywood moguls. Islam and Judaism are out of bounds, but Christianity never is. None of this is by accident. If anyone thinks I exaggerate, read what those responsible for these movies have admitted.

    Bob Weinstein recently commented on why he accepted the script for the original "Bad Santa." He did so after Universal Studios decided not to pick it up. "I asked a Universal executive," Weinstein said, "Why'd you guys pass on it?" The executive replied, "It was the most foul, disgusting, misogynistic, anti-Christmas, anti-children thing we could imagine." To which Weinstein said, "That's exactly why I bought it."

    Weinstein, as I have pointed out many times, has a history of making anti-Catholic movies, so his reply is simply an honest account.

    Billy Bob Thornton was attracted to doing "Bad Santa 2" precisely because the original was so vulgar. "I think part of it was that there hadn't been a movie that profane and unapologetic about itself. I think it's the alternative to the real syrupy Christmas movies."

    In other words, Christmas films are entirely too wholesome, so much so that they are considered offensive by these people. No wonder that even Variety notes that since the 1980s, "there's been a how low can you go? quality to the annual rite of the megaplex Christmas flick." (Italics in the original.)

    But it's not just Hollywood executives who feel it is their cultural duty to degrade Christmas, it's some movie reviewers as well.

    One prominent website lists "Bad Santa 2" as among the "Best Christmas Movies 2016 for Kids & Family." It must upset them to no end that the film is rated R.

    Even more revealing is what amc.com has to say about the original. It listed it as one of the "Top 20 Christmas Movies" of all time. Why? "Full of expletives and sexual innuendos, Bad Santa upends the feel-good tradition of holiday movies—and it was about time."

    They like dirt. They like Christian bashing. And they especially like to attack the sensibilities of children at Christmastime. It's who they are. They are the heart and soul of Hollywood.