I recently came across a tweet on Twitter which highlighted the amount of Christmas romance movies which, on their posters, featured hetrosexual white couples wearing red and green. It was comical how many there actually was. I actually laughed at the ridiculousness of it. I decided to do my own research and see how many of these cheesy romance movies actually existed. It turns out there are over 112 of them and suddenly it didn’t become so funny anymore, but rather shocking. It became a wake up call.
If a photo can really speak a thousand words, imagine what over a hundred can do. Being a CIS, hetrosexual, and white I have to recognise my privilege. And with that, I have to admit that I didn’t even notice the lack of diversity until I saw all of these films lined up together. It’s hard to write an article about something that has made you speechless.
I know, I know, I’m apparently just one of those sensitive millennials who gets offended by everything and I need to realise that it’s not that deep. But it is that deep because, even if it is unknowingly, it shows that hetrosexual white couples are still seen as ‘the norm’.
It shows that we still have a long way to go until we have truly achieved equality. If we had truly achieved equality as much as the white man says, then there would be black, asian, middle eastern, mixed race, gay and trans couples on that list. But there isn’t.
For me, Christmas is about bringing people together, so why are we only showing one tiny aspect of the human race? I’m not hating on cheesy Christmas romance and I love a good Christmas movie as much as the next person. But I’m still left with this burning question: Why? Why are the main couples white? Why are they all hetrosexual? Why are they all wearing red and green!?
Of course, the answer is relatively simple: there is just a lack of diversity. The truth of the matter is, the world doesn’t need any more of these darn red and green Christmas films. There’s over 112 of them, isn’t that enough to feed your stereotypical desires?
I know writing a blog post about this might not change anything. That film companies are still going to continue making these movies. But there are some things that are so ridiculous that I feel the need to get my thoughts out the only way I know how; by writing. If you take away one thing away from this post, google Christmas romance movies with white couples wearing red and green, (literally) Â and you will understand why something has to change.
