Elwood Scott
Author
Podcaster
Newsletter Writer
#6 December 2023
Hey There
Greetings from ‘Sun’s out, Coats on’ downtown Melbourne.
As it’s coming up to Christmas, I thought I might tackle one of the age-old debates that has plagued mankind for time immemorial… or at least since the late 80s.
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Okay, I know that there’s the possibility that even posing this question may lose me a few subscribers, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take for the sake of art.
I am going to begin by pointing out, that while my ‘Hans Gruber falling from Nakatomi Tower’ Advent Calendar is currently in use, I don’t particularly have an opinion on this, so don’t shoot the messenger I’m just examining the facts.
From a writing perspective however, it does allow us to examine a topic that I think is quite interesting:
Does changing the time of year a story occurs; change the story, and its potential success?
I’ll begin by saying that the vast majority of people feel Die Hard is a Christmas movie. However, this appears to be mostly driven by one factor: that it occurs at Christmas.
But is that enough to make it a Christmas movie?
Naysayers say nay, because if we follow that line of logic, if the famous dinner scene where Kane gets a serious case of IBS had been a Christmas dinner, does that mean Alien would have be considered a fun holiday family favourite?
And on the flip side – if John McClane arrived in New York on the Tuesday after Labour Day instead of Christmas, does it change the overall story appeal?
Okay sure, he wou;dn’t have been able to write Now I have a machine gun Ho Ho Ho on a dead terrorist, but that in itself doesn’t propel the storyline forward. He could have scrawled: Now I have a machine gun…
- Have a nice day
- Yipee-Ki-Yay
- They don’t want to pay taxes again… Ever
And the message would still get across.
And the plot device of the Christmas party could easily be swapped for an End of Financial Year celebration, a ‘Third time’s the charm, good luck in rehab’ party for Ellis, or, well any number of the hundreds of reasons that big companies like Nakatomi would have large boozy parties in the 80s – Congratulations! It’s Tuesday!
But to be fair, we need to determine whether a Christmas timeframe makes a difference in other films:
Probably Does make a difference
– Scrooge
– Love Actually
– The Santa Clause
– Elf
Probably Doesn’t make a difference
- Harry Potter
- Home Alone
- Trading Places
- American Psycho
So, how does that relate to writing, and books, and stuff, you ask.
Good question. Thanks for asking.
If the answer to ‘Is it a Christmas movie?’ is more about the date than the story, then as a writer, I have to consider whether situating a story around a holiday would give me a broader audience? A tie-in to promote more at particular times of year? A way to slide in to previously untapped audiences?
I figure there’s only one way to find out, so I’m going to try an experiment. I’m going to write one of the new Colin the Koala stories to take place at Christmas.
Who knows? Maybe that festive nudge will be enough to propel it into an unparalleled best-seller, and eventually become the topic of its own hotly debated argument:
Is Colin Calls the Help Desk 2 – Judgement Day (working title, open to suggestions) – a Christmas story?
And if by some bizarre twist of fate it does, you’ll be able to smugly sit back and say – “No. No it isn’t.”
Bonus Content!
For new subscribers – I work in cybersecurity, so I like to take the opportunity to spread a little bit of info to help keep people safe online.
This month – Online Shopping and the myth of the padlock
Keeping in the Christmas theme, as this time of year we’re all going mental buying online, I decided to talk about a couple ways to stay safe online shopping.
The first (which, like Gremlins is a Christmas movie) is a myth, is:
the https and padlock in a website’s address means it’s real.
The ‘s’ stands for Secure, not Legitimate (because then it would be httpl, which isn’t a thing). It simply means the criminal paid an extra $40, and that the connection between your computer and the website is secure.
Now, while it doesn’t mean legit, a lack of ‘s’ is a cause for concern. Never put personal or financial details into a site that doesn’t have it, because it means your connection isn’t secure and could be intercepted. And also probably that the owner of the website won’t take good care of the data you give them. (I’m thinking your credit card number on a post-it note on the front desk where couriers, visitors, and any other plethora of people wander past).
Secondly, Christmas time is exactly the right time to apply the If it looks to good to be true, then it’s probably not (true) rule.
Which can be applied not only to online shopping deals, but just as effectively to people, and any offers made to you at Christmas work functions.
If the deal seems amazing, check independent reviews, if it’s on social media, a quick look at whether the profile was only set up last Saturday, will tell you it’s fake.
Finally, while companies can discount some products by 80%, most can’t afford to do that with everything, if they want to stay in business.
Well, I think that about wraps it up for Issue 6, and for the year. Thank you for your support this year, and I hope you have a great rest of the year, whichever holiday, faith, religion or d:) none of the above, you are celebrating.
Cheers till 2024
Elwood Scott 