(ANALYSIS) There’s no way around the question this time of the year, so I will offer my take on the controversy.

“Die Hard” is not a “Christmas movie.”

However, I will add this word — “unless.” And my “unless” is built into a Christmas movie typology based on feeling tingles of “hathos” (definition here) during decades of having to watch promotional materials for The Holidays — primarily advertisements.

I say “having to watch,” because I am a sports fan, which means enduring lots of ads (even with the sound clicked off). I also have to wait to click out of ads while following YouTube channels that I consider worthwhile (like this, this and, yes, this).

I think that there are four kinds of “Christmas movies.” We are talking about moves that:

1. Are set during Christmas, sort of, and that’s that. See “Die Hard.” See (#ducking) “White Christmas.”

2. Offer waves of smarmy images and themes linked to generic love, family, snow, food, forgiveness, gift giving, hope, Santa, children and lots and lots of decorations. Did I miss something? Yes, there are many advertisements that offer mini-takes on the same formula (see this instant classic from 2023).

3. Include actual religious content linked to the Christmas season, running along a spectrum from the original “Home Alone” to “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

4. Would-be epics that include or focus on the Christmas story.

Now, if you are interested in that third category, as I am, you need to read this new essay — “How Christmas Movies Have Changed Over The Last 20 Years” — by the always-readable Joseph Holmes at Religion Unplugged.

It focuses on the current hit, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which has a 91% critics score and a 97% audience score at the Rotten Tomatoes website. That critics score is shocking.

To read the rest of Terry Mattingly’s column, please visit Rational Sheep on Substack.

Terry Mattingly is Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at Saint Constantine College in Houston. He lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and writes Rational Sheep, a Substack newsletter on faith and mass media.