TORONTO -- What’s the difference between modern day Christmas movies and the classics of old?

To answer that question, it may be worth revisiting the tale of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” according to York University instructor Gillian Helfield.

Originally released as a 30-minute cartoon in 1966, the story of a grumpy hermit hell-bent on ruining Christmas for the residents of Whoville,  was turned into a feature film in 2000 and then made into animated movie in 2018.

Helfield, who teaches the class “Hollywood: Old and New,” said the full-length movies chose to delve further into the Grinch’s backstory to explain his desire to destroy the holiday.

She added that this strategy is an effective way of making the tale suitable for a full-length movie, while also differentiating it from the original. 

“I think we’re also very interested in people’s back stories,” she said in a recent phone interview with CTVNews.ca. “I think the whole idea of telling your story and telling your truth has become very important.”   

Other Christmas movies have similarly delved into backstories of popular Christmas characters, including Santa Claus (“Santa Claus: The Movie” and “The Santa Clause”), Mrs. Claus (“Mrs. Santa Claus”) and Santa’s elves (“Elf.”)  

In the past few years, made-for-TV Christmas movies, such as those on the Hallmark Channel, have exploded in popularity. Helfield suggests these films – which often centre around characters falling in love over the holidays -- could be the next phase of holiday films.

“They capitalize on the whole association we have with Christmas and romance,” she said.

FEWER RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Besides new approaches to storytelling, Christmas movies these days have generally moved away from depictions of religion, Helfield said.

“The films have become more secular,” she said. “They’ve moved away from the original religious or spiritual Christian base and they’re no longer about those Christian values per se.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life,” released in 1946, tells the tale of a man who had been contemplating taking his own life until the intervention of a guardian angel on Christmas Eve.

“Miracle on 34th Street” is another example, Helfield said. Originally released in 1947, the film centres around the court case of an older man who prosecutors believe is mentally unstable because he believes he’s Santa Claus.

Both these classics can be compared to some of the more modern classics, such as  “Home Alone,” “Die Hard” and even “Batman Returns,” which take place during Christmas, but don’t necessarily follow the religious traditions of the holiday.

Helfield suggests modern movies have made this transition as a way of appealing to more people, specifically to those who don’t celebrate Christmas.

“There’s a greater awareness of other people’s traditions, so I think we don’t want to exclude anybody,” she said.

Helfield added the symbols in classic Christmas movies have religious undertones, which have been replaced with more secular symbols in modern times: such as polar bears, fireplaces and large family dinners.

“If you look at a lot of the Hollywood classics, a lot of them have angels, or have people who are visited by spirits and as a result are kind of reborn in some way,” she said.

Modern movies have also gone more secular when it comes to their soundtracks, where “Let it Snow” and “Winter Wonderland” have become popular options.   

“Winter Wonderland,” written by Felix Bernard and Richard Bernhard Smith, has been credited in dozens of movies and TV shows since its release in 1934, most recently in the 2019 superhero movie “Shazam!”