[Jolly, gentle, festive music]
[Jessica chuckles]
[Jolly, gentle, festive music]
Both: Ooo.
[Jolly, gentle, festive music]
Hello, lovely people, and Merry Christmas.
This is video five in my Twelve Days of Christmas series,
where I’m making a festive video every day of Christmastide
(the original Christmas season).
From the 25th of December to the 6th of January.
You can find the other videos in this series linked in the description down below.
If you're not already subscribed,
then please do click or tap the button below so you don't miss any of the Christmas love.
The time between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve can often be dull and grey,
especially if you're not celebrating Christmastide!
[Sparkly sound effect]
Anyway.
There isn't a lot to do.
If you attend school or university, you're still on holiday; the Christmas spirit feels like it's over.
But...nope!
This is the perfect time for Christmas films.
Although, they can be pretty heteronormative
and if you've already faced an entire holiday season with your family
making those weird little comments or calling your wife your “friend,”
or people sending Christmas cards expressly to
"Miss" Kellgren-Fozard, even though you've been married for two years now
and that is your married surname!
…Oh. Was that too personal?
Is it just me who gets annoyed by that?
You attended our wedding; you clearly know our surnames have changed.
We refer to each other as “wife.”
Why are we “Miss and friend”?
So, here are some picks for queer-friendly Christmas films
to make you feel better
and gayer.
I asked my Twitter followers what their favourite queer-friendly / non-homophobic films are
and here are three suggestions I haven't seen, before we move onto ones I have seen and love,
and then, finally, my absolute favourite.
Firstly, we have ‘Make the Yuletide Gay’
from Winx Goll who says—I really didn't say that right, did I?
"Winx Goll"
...Who says, “It's a tradition my girlfriend and I watch this movie during the holiday season.”
2009’s ‘Make the Yuletide Gay’ is apparently about a college student who is out at college but not to his family
and then receives an unexpected visit from his boyfriend whilst home for the holidays.
[Clap]
That sounds so exciting! I'm really looking forward to watching that one.
Let me know if you've seen it, too.
Secondly, Kim Wheeler says her favourite Christmas film is 1992's ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’.
Only one straight romance shown,
but very pro-love from a queer-friendly company.
OK, surely I have seen this before,
but I don't really remember it other than the starting titles.
So...
That is going straight on my to-watch list.
And finally, Betty Snowghetti, who has the best seasonal name ever,
suggests 'Arthur Christmas'
from 2011, since it's a children's film and it is so pure.
Honestly, if you say something is pure, I am there.
In this film, Santa's clumsy son Arthur is sent on a mission to give a present they misplaced
to a young girl, with less than two hours to go!
Thank you so much for the excellent suggestions, but now, onto some I think are excellent! [Sparkly sound effect]
At number eight, we have: ‘Holiday Heart’ from the year 2000.
I so vaguely remember this film, but...
It stars Ving Rhames from ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Mission Impossible’
as a Christmas miracle that comes in the shape of a drag queen.
The aptly named ‘Holiday Heart’ takes in a crack-addicted woman and her daughter
in an attempt to help get them back on their feet.
It is a little heavy-handed,
but so gay.
Number seven:
No drag queens but still bundles of fabulous clothing,
1944's 'Meet Me in St. Louis.'
It might not have any open gayness, but it does have gay icon Judy Garland
and it's one of my favourite Christmas films
and the song ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ was written for this film!
It certainly makes my gay little heart very happy.
It's based in the year leading up to the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair.
The four Smith daughters, including the aforementioned Judy,
learn lessons of life and love as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York.
It makes me cry; it makes me laugh.
Did I include it just because?
Yes.
Gay can mean happy, too, OK?
Number six:
If you're after some out-and-out gayness: ‘Rent’
This film certainly has…issues.
Definitely watch this amazing video from Lindsay Ellis if you want to know more about the negatives of the film.
But, gayness!
Also, Christmas.
Also, sadness.
Should I really be including on this list?
Christmas is meant to be a happy time.
It also has some girl love,
which is sorely lacking in LGBTQ+ films
Just saying.
So...
Number five:
Perhaps the biggest lesbian film of the century--
ooh, please don't let that be true.
Oh, we're only at the start.
…2015’s Oscar-nominated ‘Carol.'
Based on the 1952 literary classic ‘The Price of Salt’ by Patricia Highsmith,
The film tells a forbidden love story between a married woman and a young photographer.
When retail worker Therese meets the beautiful Carol
at a department store during the holidays,
the women develop a passionate relationship.
So pleased no one calls it a friendship, because I'm so sick of that.
[Dramatically] This soon complicates both of their lives!
It also has lesbian queen Cate Blanchett.
...What?
If we’re calling Judy Garland a "gay icon, "
we're crowning Cate Blanchett!
Watch Ocean's 8 and then come back to me.
That is a really distracting crush.
Plus, Rooney Mara looks kind of sweet in a Christmas hat.
This film is actually pretty divisive amongst my group of gay friends.
Half the lesbians love it; half of the lesbians are just Evelina and Clara,
who hate it.
And they're not even half.
Feel free to yell at me in the comments, Clara, about how awful this film is.
What are best friends for?
Moving swiftly on to number four:
‘Home for the Holidays’
OK, this one was technically set during Thanksgiving,
but...
I'm British and we don't celebrate that, so smush!
Welcome to my Christmas list.
Also, can someone please clear this up for me?
Americans, if you call Christmas "the holidays,"
but also Thanksgiving is the holidays, does that mean that the entire period in between is also the holidays
or does the holidaying stop?
This dysfunctional family film is directed by Jodie Foster, another lesbian queen,
and includes a bickering family and a quirky gay brother played by Robert Downey Jr.
whose schtick I will never tire of. Try me.
Make an Iron Man 25.
Number three is another of my classic film favourites:
‘White Christmas’
In this beloved 1954 technicolor musical,
starlet Rosemary Clooney stars alongside Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye
for one of the happiest, campest things you have ever seen.
It makes me so happy.
There's also a light drag number performed by Crosby and Kaye
during the ‘White Christmas’ sisters reprise.
It's pretty delightful
and I'll watch anything Bing Crosby is in.
Particularly ‘High Society,’ which I could not shoehorn into this list for lack of Christmas reasons.
Straight in at number two,
we have a film I have to talk about because it ties together with my favourite number one:
‘Love the Coopers’ from 2015.
The film tells the intertwined stories of four generations of Coopers
right before the annual family reunion on Christmas Eve.
Diane Keaton is on fine form as the matriarch,
but the person who sent this film right onto this list
is Anthony Mackie,
who plays a closeted cop doling out life advice
and gives a heartbreaking performance mimicking the mother who forced him into said closet.
My absolute favourite at number one is:
2005’s ‘The Family Stone,’
in which Diane Keaton has an entirely different squabbling slightly dysfunctional family.
The film is told through the eyes of uptight, conservative businesswoman Sarah Jessica Parker
as she accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration.
This film honestly kills me every time I watch it.
But I keep going back for more.
Oh, the family are free-spirited and weird and they have this deaf, gay son
who is looking to adopt with his partner...
Oh, the feels.
It’s so funny; it's so great, and yet…the feels.
OK, I may be tearing up just thinking about it.
There’s this amazing argument in which the entire family are yelling at each other
AND signing at the same time.
Granted, I can’t actually speak American Sign Language,
so I can't actually follow the signs.
But just the idea that your family would be in the midst of an argument with each other
and still be thinking about making that accessible to you.
Oh, you're killing me!
Oh, don't cry.
And finally, here are some feel-goods from Netflix's Originals
suggested by Clara because I can't make my wife watch Netflix Original films.
She's very picky.
‘A Christmas Prince’ from 2017 and ‘The Royal Wedding’ from 2018.
Both ‘The Christmas Prince’ and its sequel have secondary gay characters
who don't have to endure any suffering
or die at the end.
Ooh, this bar is low.
And the movies are as silly as one would expect!
And even though the gay characters are quite stereotyped,
so is everyone else in the films.
Worth mentioning is Princess Emily, the disabled child whose biggest issues are about how to behave as princess
[whispering] and not her disability.
Always refreshing.
She's also a hacker.
I love hacker children, what can you say?
‘The Holiday Calendar’ and ‘The Princess Switch’
feature multiple romantic leads of colour,
showing that Netflix is willing to shake things up when it comes to casting
and they've even populated their holiday movies with gay supporting characters
Where are the gay leads?
Where are they, Netflix?!
So, Netflix, could you please do something about it?
Let me know if you have any other suggestions for queer-friendly Christmas films in the comments below.
I love a good Christmas film.
[Gentle festive music]