By Laura Taylor
Picture this: Susan works at a small local coffee shop and has been hurt by a stream of men. One day, her recently widowed mother comes to town seeking her support. Susan’s life, in other words, is hard. Amid all the chaos, there’s a meet cute, and love becomes the focus in Susan’s life. After a few ups and downs, everyone lives happily ever after. And at the very end, there’s a wedding to top it all off. Sound familiar?
Obviously, life is not a Hallmark movie, and things don’t work out this neatly. But there’s still something so pleasant about watching these movies even though real life doesn’t feel that way most of the time. But there are enough elements in Hallmark movies that mimic life - we have coffee shops, and people get married - that they feel like these movies might hold an element of truth. But the movies represent a reality, usually, that’s much better than life. But why do we like doing this? Shouldn’t watching movies like this make us feel worse about our own lives? Shouldn’t we desire something better?
To figure out the secret behind these Hallmark movies that are so irresistible, I spent some time watching these movies and really studying them.
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Kylie is a struggling pastry chef who has recently gotten back with her high school love, Nick, in Hallmark’s The Sweetest Christmas. Kylie preps for the American Gingerbread Competition and if she clinches, she would be able to open her own coffee shop. Nick and Kylie’s love blossom’s and they fall in love again like they once had before. Kylie learns a valuable lesson about embracing the Christmas spirit in times of turmoil.
Another story goes something like this: After unexpectedly moving to Alaska to add some out-of-the-box residency to her resume, Lauren Brunell also unexpectedly falls in love with a small town man who didn’t end up sending her packing for home. Lauren learns a lot more about herself and appreciating the little things in life in the Hallmark movie Christmas Under Wraps.
Then, of course: A woman, Elise, who has always hated Christmas is forced to take over running her father's struggling Christmas tree lot when he breaks his leg. Helping people find the perfect decoration for their homes inspires a newfound love of the season and she starts to fall for a repeat customer - but Elise also has to save the business from closure.
All these stories seem completely contrived when you see them back to back in this way. And yet, I think we watch them and all hope our own lives will turn out this way. Is that unrealistic?
First of all, it’s pretty. There’s always something so pretty and attractive and sparkling about the scenes in Hallmark movies. Beyond the pretty scenes, people with average jobs are completely financially stable and often living lavishly. It’s impressive and something we all desire. It’s such a desire we find the movies to be an escape into this no-struggle world.
Lessons about love, lessons about finding the Christmas spirit, lessons about family, lessons about the bonds with loved ones, and lessons about being independent remain central take-aways from these movies. Having the courage to ask your crush out (in public, no less), for example, is something that is made to look so easy and effortless that makes us question the reality of the situation. Living in a small town is often seen as a setback yet for some reason, Hallmark movies paint it to be the best thing possible for careers and finding love.
This escape may not only be an escape to the pretty and struggle-free world but it could be a result of chasing a feeling that Hallmark movies instill in people. That warm, gushy, hopelessly romantic kind of feeling that leaves viewers wanting love, success, or close-knit family that never leaves your side. It’s almost like an addiction that is impossible to break out of.
And yet that warm, gushy, hopelessly romantic kind of feeling that leaves viewers wanting love, success, or close-knit family that never leaves my side Once you start a Hallmark movie, sometimes it’s not just one movie you’re watching. The Hallmark movie marathons always seem to run when you happen to watch so you can’t turn it off. There’s something about the structure of the movies and when they come on. The beginning of the marathon is 11 a.m. in the morning and goes until past midnight and you haven’t been able to take your eyes off the screen kinda structure. The in the beginning of the movie gets you buzzed and then the climax gets your buzz to intensify and when they happy couple pronounces their love for one another, you’re at a high you haven’t felt for years. Coming off a high sucks, so you need just one more movie to keep you elevated and it’s almost comforting to know that feeling comes from just watching a movie.
Like reading a bedtime story to your kids or reading the last few pages of The Chronicles of Narnia before turning out the light, Hallmark movies offer a sense of comfort that people just don’t want to leave. The neatly packaged families with the romantic love stories that almost seem to top Nicholas Sparks movies suck people into their worlds that don’t seem to offer any way back to reality.
Like with too much candy, the sugar can really upset your stomach. Too much Hallmark can have the same effect. It can alter your perception of reality and instill this desire to chase a life like from the movies and you’ll probably fall for it knowing full well that this movie life you want doesn’t exist. When you realize you can’t find this world that existed in the Hallmark movies, you may find that your heart actually begins to heart. So what do you do? You watch another movie and the cycle starts all over again.
There are elements of Hallmark movies in everyday reality, but what if life itself had its own elements of fairy tale that Hallmark movies haven’t been able to grasp yet?
In real life, the Coffee Bean is a coffee shop in Reston, Louisiana, and Taylor Record has been working there for a week. Before starting, she didn’t think of finding the potential to find love, but she’s been told by friends that lots of guys will probably ask her out. You could say this fulfills the Hallmark look but there’s a creepy side to it that reveals a life that’s more complex than what’s in a Hallmark movie.
Sometimes the opportunity for love comes from within the coffee shop. Here’s a scene from real life: The local donut shop in Fredericksburg, Sugar Shack, held its own scene for a Hallmarkesque feel. Sylvan has been asked out by a coworker several times but she remains just friends with him. There’s a creepy element to the Hallmark movies that translate to real life. Standing behind the counter taking orders doesn’t have “be asked out b strangers” in the job description. If this is what happens in Hallmark movies and this is what we want to have happened to us, why is it so creepy? Why doesn’t it feel as good as it does while watching a Hallmark movie?
Has this movie determined what is considered romance for us? Do we define what’s romantic by what’s in the Hallmark movies? And has that skewed the way we handle relationships is real life?
Maybe living your life like a Hallmark movie causes more awareness to social norms that confirm the realness of life. Hallmark movies do an excellent job of eliminating awkwardness, boosting confidence out of nowhere, and promising a happily ever after from the very beginning of the movie. Life doesn’t guarantee a happy ending, asking people out is as stressful as taking an exam at times, and confidence just doesn’t come so easily in stressful situations.
Life just isn’t a Hallmark movie but there’s something so addicting about them we just cannot keep the TV off the Hallmark Channel.