let this be christmas
welcome back everyone it's Robert Macfarlane here welcome to the christmas special
where we're going to be taking a look at not one but two of the christmas classics Die Hard
and Home Alone in the same episode it's gonna be crazy it's gonna be crazy and
we're gonna be specifically taking a look at how both movies make us feel the same way
let this be christmas christmas really is one of those incredible times of the year where
many people come together and celebrate in many many different ways each family
has their traditions whether it be food drink board games and also movies long has been the
discussion about what are the quote unquote christmas movies but i think we can all agree
that two of the most celebrated and most watched christmas movies of all time
is Die Hard and Home Alone now i know there are going to be people in both camps saying oh but
Die Hard is better and Home Alone is better but we're not going to talk about which one's better
or worse what we're going to do is we're going to talk about something quite interesting and this
is why we are willing to watch such incredibly violent stories at such a peaceful time of year
just looking at the landscape of christmas movies out there most of the christmas movies
are actually quite dark and they explore some really deep human flaws such as A Nightmare
Before Christmas or the Grinch or even Scrooge i mean hell Scrooge is basically about a guy being
haunted it's it's a horror film when you start to see christmas movies in that way you start to ask
yourself why do we want to watch such dark films at what would be seen as one of the most hopeful
times of the year now i know most of you are going to say yes but they all have a good moral ending
at the end about family and coming together and generosity and giving that's fine but the majority
of the film is spent watching a character go through unimaginable pain fear anger depression so
once you get past all of the deep dark human flaws the filmmakers generally have a very good moral
to the story and what makes these films successful is the way in which we see the character transform
to learn how to be a better human being in the world and that is framed within a christmas
theme or time of year ultimately all of the films have some sort of context or
moral theme as it were within the films along those kind of lines
but there is more to how the characters behave in a wholesome way that's actually slightly
problematic if we take a look at Die Hard and Home Alone both of the lead characters
make choices which lead to violent outcomes but they are seen as morally correct choices
such as Bruce Willis or John McClane is actually given a choice quite early on in the film
to escape and actually avoid the mortal danger he's about to go through and he decides
that he's going to stay in nakatomi plaza and face off against these probably far
better trained well-armed well-planned specialist thieves who are obviously incredibly cutthroat
i mean for most police officers that would be kind of crazy but he chooses to do it anyway because he
wants to help these people these hostages survive or you've got Kevin who is left at home and in the
face of knowing that the thieves will be returning that evening he chooses instead of running away
to stay safe or calling the police to arrive at the same time as the thieves
he chooses instead to protect his home through incredibly violent means i mean both of them
protect their moral code their honor in a way with absolute violence
i mean i never knew eight-year-olds could cause so much damage we'll come back about nine o'clock
this way it's dark then yeah kids are scared of the dark however this raises an interesting point
why are we absolutely fine with watching such incredible violence and even death on screen
a study in 2019 revealed something incredibly interesting once the violence on screen has been
justified as either they are protecting themselves or their family the audience were completely
willing to accept even the most extreme forms of violence whereas when the violence was not
justified with this reason generally the audience felt that the violence was not justified and
therefore could not actually accept it as the right thing that that character did now if we
put that in line with what we know of the human brain as an empathic machine we as the audience
want to follow the protagonist we want to experience what they experience i believe
what happens therefore is that once we care about the character and they make decisions
that we feel are acceptable because they are either protecting themselves or their family
we can absolutely accept even the most violent behaviour
Kevin McCallister sends paint cans into the faces of two men trying to steal some goods from a house
he blow torches a man's head
John McClane sends a dead body down an elevator
with writing on the jumper now i have a machine gun
if that was the antagonist sending a message to the good guys it would be seen as abhorrent and
disgusting but the difference here is that John McClane was protecting himself he's trying to save
the hostages we feel his action has been justified I got invited to the christmas party by mistake
who knew so once your audience has become empathically connected to your protagonist
when they do commit these acts of violence we almost feel a sense of catharsis with the
character they are able to enact something that we generally cannot we may feel angry at someone
but our initial reaction is not necessarily to pull a gun out or throw a paint can in their face
instead we feel the catharsis because we are actually a part of that character's journey
in that character's world not our own which is how we are able to divest ourselves from
our own life for those two or three hours that we're watching the film
and this is in itself that idea of escapism efficient adult cooperative not a lot to ask
alas your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life
therefore i believe that films create almost their own moral code outside of what we see
as the real world's moral code we are able to feel catharsis excitement and enjoyment
seeing our characters perform even the most violent acts as long as they are justified morally
within our own minds without that justification i believe we would be pushed out of the film and
become disconnected to our characters in their journey and that's why i believe a lot of the 80s
action films where uh action heroes just pile drive through hundreds of men
i believe the audience is evolving and i believe we are looking for more from our
films now although i still see a very valid place for violence in films as a way of telling stories
and a catharsis for our audience because hey we've taken them on this journey we've taken them to the
top of the roller coaster and we do need to have that payoff depending on the film but i
believe that films now need to give the audience more even more of a moral code a moral compass
and i'm not saying that films have the ability to make someone who's a pacifist into a violent
aggressive human being but i do feel we need to be careful with how we justify the violence in our
films and in our stories they do need to have a sense that they are in their own world much in the
same way that when you watch a film by Guy Ritchie the violence in his worlds are almost cartoonish
it doesn't actually connect itself to our own world but again it's a catharsis it is
the release of tension that we as the audience need to be able to continue
in the story thank you for joining me in today's episode if you found today's content
interesting i thoroughly recommend that you check out The Filmmakers Podcast as they have lots and
lots of incredible episodes on how to make indie films action films hollywood blockbusters and they
even interview some incredibly talented filmmakers directors and all sorts of brilliant professionals
in the industry to reveal their techniques and their processes for making their films there's a
link below to their podcast along with some other links to help you up your game on your next film