# Is "Die Hard" a Christmas Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 2, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283 "2013-12-02T14:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/342 "2020-11-30T04:10:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [Here.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life#Plot) Disabuse yourself of that notion in five minutes or less. People like this movie??? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/343 "2020-11-30T04:11:59Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > People like this movie??? It is one of the Great Films. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/344 "2020-11-30T04:23:59Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If DH is so obviously to so many a christmas movie, why isn’t Lethal Weapon? It is. Heck, in Lethal Weapon you even have someone change their mind on killing themselves due to a good friendship, which manifests in presenting the other cop with the Christmas gift of the bullet he was going to use to kill himself when the movie began. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/345 "2020-11-30T22:28:54Z")
It’s a movie about good guys and bad guys trying to kill each other, with a substantial amount of success on both sides. From the plot description at [fandom.com](http://fandom.com), the carnage is considerable; I lost count of the bodies while reading through it. To me, considerable carnage and the Christmas spirit aren’t exactly on the same page. I’d say that differentiates it from any movie I’ve ever regarded as a Christmas movie. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/346 "2020-12-06T05:26:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s a movie about good guys and bad guys trying to kill each other, with a substantial amount of success on both sides. From the plot description at [fandom.com](http://fandom.com), the carnage is considerable; I lost count of the bodies while reading through it. They up the body count considerably in the sequel. Which is also a Christmas movie. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/347 "2020-12-06T13:40:07Z")
If Die Hard isn’t a Christmas Movie, explain the Nakatomi Plaza advent calendar! > **[Pin on Christmas](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/391953973821521210/)** > > Dec 10, 2019 - Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/348 "2020-12-06T20:31:43Z")
There are two types of people in the world: Those who know _Die Hard_ is a Christmas movie, and those who need to learn the true meaning of Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/349 "2020-12-06T23:21:11Z")
> [@naita](#): > > If Die Hard isn’t a Christmas Movie, explain the Nakatomi Plaza advent calendar! Easy. The crafty separating the deluded from their money! There’s one born every minute! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/350 "2020-12-07T01:31:39Z")
This defines almost all of Christmas… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/351 "2020-12-07T01:37:15Z")
It is _a movie that is set during Christmas,_ which is not the same as _a Christmas movie._ ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/352 "2020-12-07T12:04:13Z")
_Christmas movie_ is a not a universally agreed upon category with a clear definition. A lot of people, me included, _genuinely_ consider _Die Hard_ a Christmas movie. Many of the reasons have already been given above, but ultimately it’s an emotional one. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/353 "2020-12-07T14:10:28Z")
You know who also didn’t consider Die Hard a Christmas movie? This guy: [https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/400x/74223825/bah-humbug.jpg](https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/400x/74223825/bah-humbug.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/354 "2020-12-07T14:17:52Z")
“A Christmas Carol” isn’t a Christmas story because it could have taken place at Scrooge’s retirement party. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/355 "2020-12-07T14:22:22Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > “A Christmas Carol” isn’t a Christmas story because it could have taken place at Scrooge’s retirement party. And if the date was the only Christmas reference in the story, you’d have a point. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/356 "2020-12-07T15:18:11Z")
Ah, but **references** to Christmas are not enough. The criteria seems to be this: if we strip all mention of Christmas from the story, does it still work? So we have a story about a miserly old man who is visited by three spirits - Secular Past, Secular Present, and Secular Future. The spirits show him what was, what is, and what will be. The miser wakes up the next morning and realizes that he has wasted his life, but he still has time to change it! He is a new man! The story doesn’t require Christmas at all! Clearly not a Christmas movie, except for the minor detail that it’s obviously a Christmas movie so long as we don’t apply fiddly rules to it. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/357 "2020-12-07T16:20:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > The criteria seems to be this: if we strip all mention of Christmas from the story, does it still work? And like I half-jokingly mentioned early, really unless it’s about Jesus’s birth, aren’t a lot of these so-called Christmas movies really about secular magic (though granted, It’s a Wonderful Life has a non-denominational angel) and not about Christmas at all? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/358 "2020-12-07T18:21:58Z")
Indeed, like I said "_The actual issue is defining “what is a Christmas movie?”_ _If you define it as a film set during the holiday season, then yes, this and Wonderful Life qualify._ _If you define it as a film all about Christmas, such as Rudolf, the Santa Clause, The Polar Express, White Christmas,Miracle on 34th st, then it isnt."_ ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/359 "2020-12-07T19:36:32Z")
Isn’t Christmas supposed to be about “fellowship of man” and “good will on earth”? So I woulda thought that a “Christmas Movie” needs a combination of being set during the holiday season and having the core plot of promoting good will amongst family etc etc - Or the very obvious ones about elves and santa ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/360 "2020-12-07T19:54:15Z")
Bolding mine: > [@DrDeth](#): > > If you define it as a film all about Christmas, such as Rudolf, the Santa Clause, The Polar Express, **White Christmas** ,Miracle on 34th st, then it isnt." I’d argue Die Hard is just as Christmasy, if not more so, than White Christmas. Other than the song being featured twice, that move is barely about Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283/361 "2020-12-07T19:57:34Z")
And few people actually use definitions that strict, if they analyze what they consider to be Christmas movies or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-die-hard-a-christmas-movie/675283.md?page=19)