Christmas? Bah, Humbug!

One of the annoyances about December is putting up with Christmas’s excess. I have no issues with Christmas as a holiday. Everyone has their pleasures, and I’d be remiss to not acknowledge that as one of them. What bothers me, however, is how Christmas gets shoved in my face from the last moments of Halloween and right to New Year’s Eve. If it weren’t for my brother’s birthday being on Christmas Eve, I’d consider the holiday nothing more than a paid vacation day.

I think why Christmas bugs me has to do with its marketing. We see it everywhere. It begins with Mariah Carey’s annual “I’m back!” video, and it ends with TV marathons of classic Christmas movies prior to December 24th. Honestly, it’s exhausting. Especially since other holidays take a backseat.

I’ve spent most of my adult life in service industries. From 2017 to 2019, I worked in a storefront that played nonstop Christmas music every December, such that it wouldn’t leave my head after my shift ended. In December of 2020, I started at a grocery store, and the music I’ve heard every December has been Christmas-related. For both jobs, I’ve also seen the excessive selection of Christmas-related merchandise. And let’s not forget my courier job, with the rush of deliveries leading up to when it closes down until January. It’s hard avoiding Christmas when it’s everywhere.

Additionally, many people are really sensitive about Christmas. Wish someone a “Happy Holidays”, and there’s a chance they’ll get offended for not saying “Merry Christmas”. The “War on Christmas” every year amounts to adults whining about diversity initiatives. And whenever someone tries being inclusive to me, they wish me “Happy Hanukah!” throughout December. What do I tell them? Should I mention how Chanukah’s only eight days, and that they fluctuate because of The Lunar Calendar?

It sounds like I’m being petty, but that’s because my own holiday gets shafted. Progressive Christians flaunt that Chanukah coincides with Christmas, but aside from not necessarily being true, you wouldn’t know it from how it’s portrayed in pop culture. Be it TV shows or songs, Chanukah’s an afterthought. I know there are more Christians in the world than Jews, but how can I be happy about The Festival of Lights when it’s not promoted heavily?

The litmus test is looking at how Chanukah’s advertised. The Hallmark Channel, known for their Christmas originals, did some Chanukah movies several years ago that were basically covert Christmas movies. The number of big-budget Chanukah movies that are well-known begin and end with Eight Crazy Nights, starring Adam Sandler and his wacky antics. The number of well-known Chanukah songs, outside of those in Hebrew, also begin and end with Adam Sandler’s wacky antics. I don’t need to endure Sandler’s vulgar variants of Jewish Geography, especially considering how I can’t stand his brand of humour most of the time. Can’t holidays like Chanukah get their time in the spotlight?

It's not like I’m alone. Remember the “War on Christmas”? Many of the Christmas classics had Jewish hands in the pot, be it financing for movies, or Jewish composers writing the songs. If you’re really big into Christmas, chances are you’ve absorbed a Jewish-made product somewhere. That’s what we’ve had to do to survive. And whenever people complain about the “War on Christmas” and reference Christmases past, I can’t help rolling my eyes.

It also makes Jews feel incredibly-insecure about Chanukah. Four years ago I wrote a piece on a tone-deaf editorial in The New York Times discussing that. In it, I said the following:

“I’m also confused as to why Judaism, particularly Chanukah, is considered embarrassing. Not only is it one of the holidays the non-Jewish world actually understands, but it’s also beautiful on its own.”

I’m no longer confused. When Chanukah isn’t recognized as the important holiday that it is, it’s inevitable that unaffiliated Jews are going to be embarrassed by it. Why bother celebrating a holiday about Jewish identity when that isn’t promoted properly? Chanukah might be well-known, but that’s because it traditionally falls around the same time as Christmas. Had Chanukah occurred in the Summer, I doubt non-Jews would’ve cared. 

This’ll sound bizarre, but Christmas’s ubiquitous nature is why I secretly wish Jews ruled the world, or actually had the power Antisemites claimed. Because then Christmas wouldn’t be oversaturated. Like Jewish holidays now, there’d only be about two weeks of Christmas hype, and those would be the ones leading to the holiday. You don’t need to celebrate the holiday for a month, that’s ridiculous.

Maybe I’d be less cranky if other religions got advertised as heavily. Removing the Jewish aspect, why not celebrate Kwanzaa too? I’m not familiar with Islam’s holidays, but why can’t people spotlight those? There are other religions with holidays in December, and it’s only fair to recognize them, right? Right?!

To reiterate, I have nothing against Christmas as a holiday. December’s tough because of how cold it is, and we all need festivities. For all my complaining about Christmas, I see its appeal and beauty. I’m not going to detract from its religious significance either, even if my only connection to Jesus is that he was Jewish. I get it.

Nevertheless, Christmas needs to chill out. There’s no “War on Christmas”, the marketing’s excessive, and the acknowledgements of other holidays need not make Christmas look better by default. I know I can’t change anything myself, but a little sensitivity’s all I ask. Because it’s not easy. Also, screw The Salvation Army.

RT VS IMDB

Movie reviewing, truthfully, isn’t an exact science. There are some general criteria, but most of the time it’s subjective. That’s why aggregator sites exist, as you’re bound to get a wide variety of opinions on a piece of entertainment. People aren’t monolithic, and neither are reviewers. We cool?

Why’s this so hard to understand? We can argue semantics forever. We can also debate whether or not you agree on an overall consensus. But when you remove the finer details, reviews are opinions. You’re not obligated to agree, correct?

Such is the situation whenever Rotten Tomatoes’ credibility’s brought up. I don’t agree with much of how the site operates, and I’ve mentioned this before. However, their scoring system’s self-explanatory. Their job isn’t to be completely-objective, but rather give an outline that helps consumers know what to look for. This isn’t rocket science.

Whenever Rotten Tomatoes gets brought up, people trash it for petty reasons: they gave X a good score. They weren’t fair to Y. They were “bought off”. The last claim’s absurd, as reviewers aren’t normally bribed, but the conversation then turns to how IMDB’s better. And I couldn’t disagree more.

For those not in the know, IMDB’s a site that’s also an aggregator, but in a different way. Whereas Rotten Tomatoes measures what critics say, IMDB measures what moviegoers say. There’s also a section for user reviews, as well as a now-defunct forum section. Sounds good, right?

Not entirely. While user reviews might be more democratic in theory, in practice they lead to many problems. IMDB isn’t regulated like Rotten Tomatoes, hence anyone can write a review. Additionally, it’s rife with clique-y behaviour, where people with chips on their shoulders review-bomb good movies. This leads to jealousy and resentment, which is also unmoderated. Because how could it?

I’ve become skeptical of IMDB’s authenticity over the past decade or so. It has some useful trivia and news, like any good database, but does that warrant the vitriol? It also democratizes user reviews, but at what cost? What good is a database that encourages toxicity? Is it worth the headaches?

This is why I prefer Rotten Tomatoes. Yes, it’s subjective. And yes, removing the forums and user comments was a good idea, considering the abuse that festered there. But it has a verification process too. At least it screens who reviews what, and why. IMDB doesn’t have that.

It’s also good because professional reviewers are trained to be critical and honest. They’re (mostly) not reviewing based on arbitrary checklists or vendettas, unlike IMDB. It’s that detachment that allows for more insightful and honest reviews, something we need more of with movies that aren’t immediately-approachable. Rotten Tomatoes allows for mid-sized projects with potential to shine. Everyone’s going to be interested in Wicked Part 1 or an MCU project based on word-of-mouth, but what about movies that are more obscure? I’d have never seen Thelma without Rotten Tomatoes, and it ended up as one of my favourite movies of 2024! That required gambling on a lesser-known movie, one I’d have missed without it featuring it on the front page with glowing praise. That’s something IMDB would never do!

One more gripe with IMDB is that it favours immediate press over long-term press. This is most-obvious through its IMDB Top 250 List, as that’s mostly newer and more-popular movies. It has obscure and older entries on it, but you’d be hard-pressed to find hidden gems. Especially not when it’s reliant on user reviews. Rotten Tomatoes, being reviewer-centric, doesn’t have this problem.

It's hard accepting when a movie you like is trashed, or vice versa. I know from personal experience, as I’m a Star Wars Prequels fan! I’m also not saying IMDB’s worthless, as it’s not. The site has useful information and obscure trivia I wouldn’t have considered otherwise, as it’s compiled into one, easily-accessible source. Databases are valuable resources, irrespective of quality. But there has to be scrutiny involved in how they operate. I’m not seeing that with IMDB.

Additionally, I don’t like how much of a popularity contest IMDB becomes during awards season. We saw that with The Boy and the Heron winning an Oscar over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I liked the latter more too, but I have no qualms with the former winning the gold trophy. And yet the IMDB pages for both movies indicate a rivalry that those not in the know will form unfair opinions on. It’s not good practice.

In the end, there needs to be a line drawn. I don’t agree with everything Rotten Tomatoes aggregates, and I wish studios wouldn’t flaunt its credentials so objectively. I also think IMDB can be useful for information I would’ve skipped otherwise. But I still would rather a site designed for professionals to review movies, where you understand how and why they got where they did, than one designed for people who don’t always know what they’re talking about. Because the former has some level of critical reasoning. And isn’t that what matters?