BREXIT, Brexit and even more Brexit.
The subject has been wall to wall on every TV channel, newspaper and social media feed all week.
Which is understandable.
B****t (as I shall refer to it forthwith) is the most momentous event to affect future generations in the UK for decades.
I have been following and digesting the twists and turns all week. And, to be frank, I’m fed up of it.
That’s not to say I’m not interested in the whole theatrical political meltdown in advance of Tuesday’s vote in Parliament. Of course I am.
But I am now way beyond losing the will to live.
So, I desperately scoured the interweb this week for another major issue to talk about, something definitely not B****t-related, but might spark some debate and good-natured argument.
And here we have it, ladies and gentlemen – a question to tax your brain cells that has been bandied about in the media for the past few days . . . Can Die Hard really be described as a Christmas film?
I’m sure you will agree that it’s worthy of discussion.
For those not familiar with this epic movie from 1988, it features a post-Moonlighting Bruce Willis in all-action hero mode as John McClane, defending workers in an office block from unhinged terrorists led by the unsurpassable Alan Rickman as panto-style bad guy Hans Gruber.
Thirty years ago, it set a new benchmark for action blockbusters that few have since managed to reach.
And it is set at Christmas time.
It’s easy to identify other films that are definitely Christmas movies – Miracle on 34th Street, Scrooge, Elf, The Santa Clause, It’s a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (it’s hilarious, honestly). The festive season is the central theme of all their plots.
But Die Hard? It happens on Christmas Eve. There are some Yuletide decorations and that’s about it.
According to a poll of US adults (an admittedly small sample of 2,200) they agree that Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie.
In the survey conducted by Morning Consult and The Hollywood Reporter, only 25 per cent of American adults polled consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie.
Sixty two per cent said it absolutely was not and 13 per cent had no opinion. Fancy having no opinion on such a hot topic – how strange.
Bruce Willis himself apparently said earlier this year that he didn’t think it was a Christmas movie, so I reckon that his should be the final word on the subject.
Finally, as I was thinking about the Die Hard conundrum, I realised that there are certain films that absolutely are NOT Christmas movies, but are intrinsically associated with the festive season because that’s about the only time they are shown on TV.
These would include The Great Escape, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music and any of the charming monster movies animated by Ray Harryhausen that enchanted me as a child, such as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, or my favourite, Jason and the Argonauts.
So, although Die Hard isn’t strictly a Christmas movie, it’s a brilliant one to watch at Christmas.
To paraphrase John McClane - Yippee Ki Yay, my friends!
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