Christmas is over for another year, which means you get a reprieve from listening to your subversive cousin in his sophomore year of film school insist that Die Hard is the best Christmas movie of all time. But now, there’s a new “alternative Christmas film” to add to the canon: Get Out.
Taking movies that are set during Christmastime and trying to force them into the “holiday movie” mold even if their plots do nothing to support that classification has become a celebrated seasonal activity. Director Jordan Peele is keenly aware of this, and yesterday he added his racially charged horror-comedy to the list after being prompted on Twitter.
Twitter user @MaseInUrFace posed the question to Peele, to which he responded: “Let’s see… there’s a man with a white beard, multiple deer, a fire place, a bunch of snowflakes, and a guy named Chris goes down a dark hole! I’d say go for it!”
https://twitter.com/MaseInUrFace/status/945087475646472192
Let’s see… there’s a man with a white beard, multiple deer, a fire place, a bunch of snowflakes, and a guy named Chris goes down a dark hole! I’d say go for it! https://t.co/HjjDIE6Hzn
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) December 25, 2017
Peele already argued that Get Out is a documentary after the Golden Globes nominated it as a comedy, but his logic here seems impeccable. Classifying Get Out as a Christmas movie also supports the notion that the best holiday films offer more than frivolous romance and a heavy dose of kitsch. Instead, Peele’s film offers riveting social commentary and allows its protagonist to overcome seemingly insurmountable adversity, emerging on the other side a smarter and better man prepared to live his greatest life. Also, there’s no denying the Armitage family was dreaming of a white Christmas.
Let’s see John McClane top that.
H/T Uproxx