There’s certainly no shortage of Christmas themed pieces of media. Compared to other holidays that are represented in mainstream media, Christmas/holidays in the same Winter season get far more attention. There are an abundance of Christmas movies and TV specials to gexplore. Let’s try to dig through the avalanche of Christmas stories and try to find out some of the earliest examples. 

The First Christmas Film

Although there are many aspects to Christmas, the earliest examples of Christmas movies were adaptations of two stories. The first known Christmas movie was the 1898 British silent short film called Santa Claus. This was the first depiction of the story of Santa delivering presents to children. The other Christmas story which was common for adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The first ever film version of this story was the 1901 short film Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost, which was a brief retelling of the novel. 

Another early Christmas themed movie is the 1900 short French film, The Christmas Dream or Le Rêve de Noël. The film’s story was mostly original and seems to have been inspired by or later inspired the concept of Christmas toys being characters. The first animated Christmas movie was the 1962 Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol. The article by Heritage Auctions goes into greater detail about the film’s history and production.

The Many Genres of Christmas

Christmas is celebrated in so many different ways, and that is represented in many sub-genres of Christmas films. This started with the 1974 Canadian horror film Black Christmas, which started the Christmas/horror sub-genre. This is a very popular sub-genre and has a large amount of cult favorite films such as Silent Night, Deadly Night, Gremlins and Krampus. In 1988, the first Action Christmas movie was made with the introduction of Die Hard. This sub-genre is often debated on being Christmas films or action films with some Christmas themes mixed in.

And we can’t forget about one of the most common forms of Christmas films, the Hallmark genre! This genre of films started as far back as 1951 with an original opera called Amahl and the Night Visitors. However, this genre of films became more relevant in the 2000’s due to premiering mostly on the Hallmark channel, hence the name. These films are primarily drama/ family films with stories involving family and Christmas. Surprisingly these films are simple to produce and oddly enough can be made year-round.

Closing thoughts

There is such a simplified, but long history when it comes to Christmas films and how it’s grown throughout the years. It’s impressive to see so many classic and beloved films being timeless just like the holiday they are set in. Where the history of Christmas themed media will go from here, is something we’ll have to look forward to. From us at The Able Show, Merry Christmas to all, and to all some good entertainment!

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