What’s the recipe for Hallmark and Lifetime holiday movies? Small towns, mysterious men and pastries.

It goes like this: a high-powered career woman returns to a small town where she unexpectedly reconnects with a man with a heart of gold. Together, they embark on a quest – perhaps to save a family farm, a failing business, or even each other. As love blossoms and difficult choices are made, all against a magical holiday backdrop, the story ends with a happy ending and a renewed sense of purpose.

Sound familiar? It’s the formula for almost every holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel or the Lifetime network — and it’s almost always sure to work.

“People love holiday movies because they’re predictable, they’re positive and they make us feel good,” Makana Chock, a media psychology researcher and professor at Syracuse University, told Yahoo Entertainment, noting that They could even stimulate the diffusion of emotions. -good chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin.

However, beyond superficial joy, these films also tap into a “fundamental need to belong,” media psychologist Pamela Rutledge told Yahoo Entertainment. Such predictability “creates the expectation of a safe emotional space” during the holiday season.

But how did these TV movies become synonymous with vacations? Let’s take a closer look.

The roots of a genre

Before Hallmark was known for its Christmas movies, it was (and remains) a humble greeting card company founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall.

Building on its heritage of nostalgia and friendliness, the company launched into television in 1951 with Amahl and the Night Visitorsan opera sponsored by Hallmark for broadcast on Christmas Eve. It became the first in a long line of specials under the Hallmark Hall of Fame banner, cementing the company’s place in holiday entertainment.

By the 1990s, Hallmark had built a reputation for its original holiday content, centered primarily on characters rediscovering community and purpose through the magic of the Christmas season – a formula that became a staple for many of his holiday films.

The launch of Hallmark Channel in 2001, followed by its “Countdown to Christmas” marathon in 2009, marked a turning point for the company as it began to dominate the Christmas movie scene, starting with the first channel’s original holiday movie, Santa Claus Jr., In 2002. Lifetime joined the trend in 2012 with the network’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” programming, which solidified the channels as go-to destinations for holiday entertainment.

“Audiences resonate deeply with the way Hallmark captures the essence of the holiday spirit,” Samantha DiPippo, senior vice president of programming at Hallmark Media, told Yahoo Entertainment of its holiday films. “It’s a tradition that brings people together in many meaningful ways.”

And yes, demand is still strong. Last year alone, Hallmark Channel aired 31 original Christmas movies — plus nine more for “Miracles of Christmas” programming on its sister channel Hallmark Movies & Mysteries — two of which debuted to an estimated 3 million viewers during of their network distribution, according to Forbes. .

What makes a traditional holiday movie?

According to Chock, the plot of a classic holiday movie centers on a main character (often an outsider by choice or circumstance) who “initially rejects or is rejected by a group, whether a family or a community. As a result, “they might reject Christmas itself. Or they love it, but they celebrate it on their own.

Over the course of the film, the main character is “welcomed back into a group”, usually with the help of a charming lover and a picturesque setting. In the end, love blossoms, justice is restored, and the main character finds his belonging again.

Of course, not all stories are the same. A New York Times analysis found that while the plots differed, most of the holiday films released by Hallmark and Lifetime between 2017 and 2023 shared familiar tropes, designed to create a world that was both safe and aspirational – small towns, Christmas Eve festivities, struggling businesses and even the occasional baking competition.

Casting also plays a key role. Familiar faces like Lacey Chabert, Tatyana Ali and Candace Cameron Bure, known for their authenticity, have appeared in dozens of Christmas movies for Hallmark Channel and are synonymous with the genre.

Male actors like Andrew W. Walker, Corey Sevier and others have also starred in numerous films for Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, adding a comforting sense of continuity to viewers.

“The label is for everyone”

Although these films won hearts, they were also criticized for their lack of diversity.

According to the New York Times, 18% of Hallmark films released between 2017 and 2017 featured non-white stars on the posters, compared to 44% of those released by Lifetime. In recent years, however, networks have made strides in introducing LGBTQ couples, interracial relationships, and stories focused on underrepresented communities.

In 2020, Hallmark released its first film featuring a same-sex couple, The Christmas house. Two years later it was created The guardian of the holidaysthe first to have an LGBTQ couple as the protagonist. Both films starred LGBTQ actor Jonathan Bailey. Lifetime followed suit in 2020 with the premiere of The Christmas setupthe first LGBTQ-themed holiday film in the network’s history.

Chock attributes this shift to “a desire to attract a younger demographic that is not only more tolerant, but actually has higher expectations” for representation.

DiPippo insisted that when it comes to holiday love stories, “Hallmark is for everyone.”

“We want all of our viewers to see themselves and their love stories reflected in our programming,” she told Yahoo, noting that Hallmark aims to produce content that “reflects a wide variety of ‘cultural horizons, perspectives and lifestyles in the form of narration’.

However, not everyone accepted these changes. Great American Family, a newer competitor led by former Hallmark executive Bill Abbott, has positioned itself as a forward-thinking alternative.

In 2022, actress Bure, who left Hallmark to become chief creative officer of Great American Family, said the network would keep “traditional marriage at the heart” of its holiday offerings — a view Abbott has then rejected.

“Holidays are for everyone,” agreed Rutledge, who stressed that changes reflecting more inclusiveness were needed to meet “a growing public demand for stories that reflect the real world.”

Evolution continues

As streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu have entered the holiday movie space with hits like The happiest season (2020) and this year’s freezing hot And The merry gentlemenChock said the genre has evolved to include edgier humor, but still retains its central themes of love, redemption and “being part of a family”.

Not to mention, streaming services have an “incredible amount of personalized data” that is used to better understand what appeals to certain demographics, she said. This allows streamers to develop a more targeted strategy when creating new stories for the holiday season.

Hallmark has evolved to include its first limited holiday scripted series On vacation And Mistloetoe Murders as well as its first ever reality competition series, Find Mr. Christmas, all of which debut this season on Hallmark+.

“You’re seeing changes in the way holiday movies are approached,” Chock said. “We’re even seeing more and more holiday movies where Santa gets a little sexy. I mean, since when did Santa become a sex symbol? »