The Advent Calendar of Great Holiday Movies: Day 19 "Die Hard"

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a great movie associated with the holiday season. Many will be awesome, some will be extra awesome. Enjoy.

Day 19: “Die Hard”

Opened Doors: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18

Today I’m going to answer a question many people seem to bring up more and more every year around this time. Is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie?

Yes, absolutely it is.

This is the movie of the day for our Advent Calendar of Holiday Movies. “Die Hard”, for all intents and purposes, is an action movie. I’m not denying that fact. But why can’t it be both? There’s plenty of movies we’ve talked about to date that aren’t exclusively Christmas or holiday movies. I talked about the “Black Mirror” episode, “White Christmas”. Sure it has Christmas stuff in the episode, and in the title, but that is more a horrifying look into our future. RD has talked about “Lethal Weapon”. That’s a straight up action movie. “Hebrew Hammer” is a comedy, satire and action movie above a Hanukkah movie. All these movies have other themes than just the holiday, even the Hallmark movies. So when people get all up in arms about “Die Hard”, I laugh.

“Die Hard” is an action movie like I said, but look at the time of year that everything takes place in. The company party is a holiday party. There’s Christmas trees, holly, ornaments, mistletoe, all kinds of stuff that scream Christmas. When John McClain ices that one bad guy, he dresses him in an ugly Christmas sweater, writes a Christmas message on said sweater and wraps him up in lights. Oh, he also has a Santa hat on as well. The very imagery of the movie screams Christmas. I mentioned all the decor, but it’s cold outside, there’s some snow (or ash, whatever) and, when I watch it, it just feels like it takes place in December. Also, McClain does everything he does in this movie to help his ex, and the people she works with. He is giving unto others. He just has a specific set of skills. It doesn’t matter when he needs to use them, and in “Die Hard”, he uses them at Christmas time. Even the bad guys know it’s the holidays. They have the sweaters, they tell the hostages they don’t care that they want to be with their loved ones, I’m sure they partook in some eggnog. I mean, if even the bad guys know it’s Christmas, how can it not be a Christmas movie?

I think where people get most tripped up is the fact that it isn’t blatant. All the movies we’ve mentioned so far, mostly, make note that it’s the holidays. “Die Hard” doesn’t, but I respect that. They wanted this movie to have more than just one theme. They were ahead of their time.

“Die Hard” is a movie I can watch pretty much anytime of year, but around this time I itch to watch it. I crave it. “Die Hard” is not only a great action movie, it is one of our best holiday movies ever. I’d feel guilty if we left it off our Advent Calendar. It definitely belongs. Yippie yi ki yeah m f’ers, and happy holidays. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. One Ty’s other favorite things to watch during the Christmas season is the great episode of “The Office” called Christmas Party.

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