The Appeal Of Christmas Movies

• On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
• The influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was probably done to replace the Celtic festival.
• All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas, and eventually, Halloween.

The celebration of Halloween was limited in colonial New England, but as the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with Irish immigrants, fleeing the Irish Potato Famine. This helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.

• Gore watchers typically have low empathy, high sensation seeking, and a strong identification with the killer.
• Thrill watchers typically have both high empathy and sensation seeking;they identify themselves more with the victims and like the suspense of the film.
• Independent watchers typically have a high empathy for the victim along with a high positive effect for overcoming fear.
• Problem watchers typically have high empathy for the victim but are characterized by negative effect (particularly a sense of helplessness).

• Dr. Carl Jung believed horror films “tapped into primordial archetypes buried deep in our collective subconscious – images like shadow and mother play important role in the horror genre”.
• Horror films are watched as a way of purging negative emotions and/or as a way to relieve pent-up aggression.
• Horror movies are enjoyed because the people on screen getting killed deserve it.
• Cultural historian David Skal has argued that horror films simply reflect our societal fears.

The movie depicted Americans in the way they imagine themselves: not picking a fight by themselves and fighting for getting justice.

The protagonist, Rick Blaine, is played by Humphrey Bogart, is minding his own business, only to be a saviour in the end. The movie deals with the moral conflicts and expresses a high truth about WWII.

This movie focuses on internal migration during the period, with people coming to the Washington D.C. area, and the changing social dynamic with so many women coming in the region.

It is a comedy about human relationships and social change.