Why do we have so many classical Christmas movies, but hardly any Easter movies? And what should a good Easter movie be like?
Most of popular Easter movies are Biblical epics. On the other hand, some of the most popular Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, Home Alone, any adaptation of a Christmas Carol-the muppet one being my favorite, The Bishop’s Wife, It’s a Wonderful Life, Santa Clause, Serendipity, Elf, Love Actually) are not Biblical adaptations, even if some do involve implicitly religious themes and/or supernatural elements.
Illumination tried to make an Easter movie, “Hop”, with an Easter bunny as a protagonist. Critics did not receive it well, but it was a box office success.
Some reasons for that IMO:
Santa Claus is obviously a much more recognizable and marketable character than Easter Bunny (in part thanks to Coca Cola commercials); though there are many classic Christmas movies that do not involvs Santa Claus or anything fantastical
Christmas takes place during winter (cold weather, shorter days etc.) so people are more likely to seek escape from reality
Winter break is longer than spring break, so more room for entertainment and simply to pass the time
I’ve been thinking about Disney movies like “Tuck Everlasting” and “Bridge to Terabithia”. Obviously, neither are Easter movies, but I think that is what a good Easter movie should be like, in terms of atmosphere, setting etc. Small town setting, lots of nature scenes/location (motiffs of bright sun, greem grasd, spring flowers, crystal clear creek and/or river etc.), themes of friendship, love, death and resurrection, bittersweet/profound ending etc.
Jesus Christ, Superstar is actually a Good Friday movie.
(Although, the way it was filmed, it’s really some kind of bizarre Passion Play flick: Every year a busload of young people roll into town, perform the opera and the Jesus actor is sacrificed – everyone, even dead Judas, gets on the bus at the end except Jesus [pay no attention, he’s rambling in a nog-induced delirium - editor.])
I think it’s because the themes of the two holidays are quite different.
Christmas, at heart, is about family. A young woman gives birth to her first child; the couple is poor; friends and strangers give them support; they have to flee persecution but stay together, and eventually come home.
Those themes are made for television: family, love, reconciliation, personal growth, homecoming…
The incarnation is the key theological point, but it is a very accessible one.
Easter’s themes are much more serious: betrayal, death, resurrection, and salvation. That doesn’t fit into Hallmark movies so easily.
IMHO it’s that Easter is a second tier holiday. I know that theologically Easter is supposed to be the major holiday of the Christian liturgical calendar. But in practice it’s a second tier holiday, and at the lower end of the second tier at that, at least in the United States. IMHO I’d rank the holidays like this.
1A - Christmas
1B - Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve
2A - Halloween, Independence Day, and Super Bowl Sunday
2B - Easter
For the people I know who have young children, with Easter they give the kids a basket with candy, maybe get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny at the mall, and that’s about it. For those without young children it’s about making bad jokes about Peeps and eating a little more candy than usual. There might also be a backyard barbecue during the day, but no nighttime celebrations to speak of. The religious people will go to church, but since it’s always on a Sunday, they would have been going to church anyway. YMMV, but that’s how it is among my social circle.
With the scope of the celebrations being limited, there just isn’t much room to make classic movies.
ETA: And the OP forgot the most classic of classic Christmas movies (no not Die Hard), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Well, some of us go to church only on Christmas and Easter. I kind of smile when the priest says, “We’d love to see you next week!” But he won’t see that many people again until the next holiday.
The best Easter TV show is the old Davey and Goliath 1967 episode where Davey’s grandmother dies after spending all day with him. It’s a religious show (from the Lutheran church), and isn’t readily available. I’m trying to think of similar episodes in recent TV series, with no luck.
In Spain, in Easter, it has been a long-standing tradition to broadcast on TV a bunch of religious/biblical movies or movies that incorporate the passion of Christ and/or his figure in some way. Examples: Ben-Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, King of Kings, etc.
And, if you want my opinion, I think that “The Life of Brian” is a perfectly fine Easter movie!
(Spain lacks the figure of the Easter bunny — in Spain, “Semana Santa” is 100% about the passion of Christ).
I remember this as a kid in the late 50s and 60s here in L.A. But it’s gradually diminished over the years. Maybe TCM has a theme day, but that’s about it for the most part.
Same here in Germany, that’s why I like Easter much more than Christmas TV-wise, because I just love those epics so much, while I like almost none of the typical Christmas movies. Other movies in that category: Quo Vadis, The Bible: In The Beginning and The Robe.
Not quite on topic, but Randy Newman once said, “Irving Berlin was the greatest Jew since Moses. He took the two biggest Christian holidays and turned one into a weather report and the other into a fashion show!”
“White Christmas” and “Easter Parade” are both movies, btw.
Well, dammit! Life of Brian and Jesus Christ Superstar are already mentioned. What’s left?
Uh, a wikipedia list of TV “Easter” episodes?
I got nothin’.
ETA - Okay, this may be a stretch, but for your consideration, I’d suggest Dogma. It’s religious, but irreverent. It includes send ups of the apostles, Jesus, his death and message, but actually (IMHO) supports a positive message about faith. And it’s got the near-death and resurrection of God!
Look, as a Christian I’m fine with Christmas and Easter being secular holidays. Hell, that’s what they were before “we” got ahold of them.
And, as holidays go, there’s Christmas and then there’s everything else.
Especially up here in the tundra, Christmas means “hunkering down to face months of hibernation”. So it’s a cozy holiday… add the lights and Santa and reindeer and gingerbread houses and cocoa and egg nog… well, you get the idea.
Easter has… none of that. Family doesn’t travel cross-country to share turkey and presents and wear ugly sweaters, and frankly we don’t need that in April.
Sure, Jesus pops up out of a tomb, but hey, it’s Spring. That resurrection stuff is happening to every plant we can see. We don’t NEED a feel-good season then, it’s already baked into nature.
I’m rambling, aren’t I? I’ll stop now… after I say that Christmas is the perfect time of year for feel-good movies, and Easter and Memorial Day and Saint Swithin’s Day just aren’t.
Or am I just bitter that “Vive La Bastille Day!”, my romcom/thriller/timetravel/comedy/musical set in mid-July has never been optioned?
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