Written by Aliah Sheffield
As a little girl, I loved to watch holiday movies and TV specials with my family. We would all sit around and watch them while decorating and quietly talking about what we wanted for Christmas that year. I remember watching classic films like A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Santa Clause, Miracle on 34th street, Home Alone, and countless others, marveling at the charm that they had. At the time, I didn’t expect to see people that looked like me on screen, and I was used to it. Even though there were a few films starring people of color, Like The Preachers Wife, Holiday Heart, and The Boy Who Loved Christmas (Sammy Davis Jr.’s last film), they weren’t as readily available to watch or aired as often as their counterparts.
Over time, I became compliant and accepted the social norm of not seeing people who look and spoke like me in films and television shows. In the ’90s, we as a society had just begun realizing that families weren’t all one size fits all. We were starting to clue into blended families and communities.
Many of the movies that I recall loving as a child didn’t hold up against the test of time. The ignorance of discrimination and racial bias peeks out of the shiny ribbons and bows they were wrapped and presented to us in. While that is disappointing, it has been nice to see the rise of representation in holiday films and TV shows. Producers have realized that families need to see themselves in the shows and movies that they watch for holiday productions to keep thriving, and it’s become more and more evident in the last few years.
The rise of POC representation in films
Representation in films may not seem like a big deal to most, but movies usually provide a 2-hour escape from our everyday lives. Films surrounding the holidays can be an even bigger escape. There are many things to remind us that Christmas is near, whether it’s a unique family tradition, Mariah Carey’s now meme-worthy Christmas song, or for those of us on the East Coast that crisp winter weather accompanied by houses lined with colorful string lights.
Families of color now have more holiday films to choose from these days. Movies like Jingle Jangle are great holiday film options for the whole family. We see a few familiar faces like Forest Whitaker, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, and others. The theme that makes this film so great is it doesn’t showcase the stereotypical problems that Black families face. It strays away from being overdramatized, unlike some of the movies previously mentioned. It gives young Black children a chance to watch a care-free holiday movie, filled with the awe and charm that some of us longed for when we were younger.
Stillshot from the Netflix holiday film Jingle Jangle, with Phylicia Rashad.
Recently companies have started airing ads that feature families from different nationalities, like the heartwarming Filipino Christmas ad that Disney aired this year. All across the board, you can see more movies popping up with POC characters. I expect to see a lot more families of color represented in television and movies this year than ever.
LGBTQIA representation in holiday movies
In today’s films, not only do we see more options in films for families of color, we now see more options when it comes to cinema centered on the LGBTQIA+ community. Streaming networks like Netflix and Hulu have become the front runners in the film industry when it comes to releasing a wide variety of holiday films covering previously untackled subjects. Hulu recently released the movie Happiest Season; the film highlights the challenges of coming out to family members and friends in a light-hearted manner.
Movie poster for the Hulu holiday film Happiest Season.
The push for diversity has become strong enough for network TV stations like the Lifetime Movie Network to start airing films starring LGBTQ couples. The film The Christmas Set-Up features the network’s first on-screen LGBTQ kiss. It’s almost a direct jab at the Hallmark Channel, which has faced wide criticism for pulling an ad for Zola’s wedding company last year that featured two women kissing. They eventually apologized for removing the ad, but it left viewers with a sour taste for the company. Hallmark decided to amend their previous blunder by airing their new Holiday film, The Christmas House, which features a lesbian couple as the movie’s main characters. The movie was a nice deviation from the typical Hallmark movies. It focused on more practical issues before getting to the usual Holiday fluff that we’ve come to expect from Hallmark movies.
According to GLAAD, in 2019, we saw the highest numbers of LGBTQIA+ characters represented in television, with a record number of 120 recurring characters. This is a fantastic feat, and it gives hope that movies and television will continue to present an accurate representation of real-life people in these communities.
I now have a few new classic Christmas films that I can watch with my family and add to my movie collection. Seeing these new films filled with people of color and films with LGBTQIA representation made me see how far we’ve come as a society. Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment that we forget to look back and compare then to now. My younger family members won’t feel the need to search for themselves in media; if this progress continues, there will be great films and TV shows for them to fall in love with and look back on with a fondness that my generation wasn’t allowed to have. Watching these films and seeing the smile on their faces when they realize that they have something in common with a character is a priceless feeling that I never want to lose.
Hopefully, filmmakers will continue pitching these diverse cast ideas to TV networks and film companies. We don’t want to fall into the same old film with the same bland and uncultured characters anymore. We want to showcase more people celebrating the holidays with the people they love; we want to see people carrying on with the many unique traditions to their families and culture.
Still shot from the Filipino-themed Disney holiday ad titled “From Our Family to Yours”.