Almost immediately after the end of October, various organizations, companies, and movie/tv studios switched their focus to the next big holiday: Christmas. But the one tv studio that has made Christmas their trademark now has company- Netflix has now joined the Hallmark Channel in the cheesy Christmas romance movie genre, with plenty to catch up on. But while these movies are light-hearted, they typically lack the gender and racial diversity present in other genres, to the point that these movies are recognizable for their predominantly White casts. With Netflix entering the genre, the competition between these two production companies occurs in terms of financial and critical success but also in terms of inclusion in their casts/crews.
What Is The Inclusion Criteria?
The films were selected from the combined lists from CountryLiving Best Hallmark Christmas Movies and Best Netflix Christmas Movies. Also, Thrillist Best Netflix Christmas Movies and Upcoming Holiday Christmas Movies. Either a combined RottenTomatoes critics/viewers score for Netflix films or just the RottenTomatoes viewers score for Hallmark films were used to rank the movies; the top four films from each production company were then chosen for further analysis. The diversity statistics of the selected films were analyzed, primarily in terms of the distribution of film leadership roles. The cast/crew roles included in the data analyses include director, writer, lead actors, producers, and executive producers. The data was also formatted into the racial categories of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern, and the gender categories of Male and Female. This was all sorted into two separate pie charts for the movie.
How Inclusive Is The Princess Switch?
The Princess Switch (2018) follows the typical story of a royal switch-up: a princess switches places with a regular city woman, with each of them falling in love with one another’s partners. The film drew a 71% rating from critics and a 50% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 9% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by Hispanic members and 91% were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 55% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 45% of male members.
How Inclusive Is A Christmas Prince?
On the other hand, A Christmas Prince (2017) is based on the slightly-original narrative of a journalist that gets the scoop on a prince about to be crowned king. It drew a 73% rating from critics and a 47% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 33% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 67% of male members.
How Inclusive Is A California Christmas?
A California Christmas (2020) is about a wealthy man who poses as a ranch hand in an attempt to get a stubborn farmer to sell her family’s land to him. The movie drew a 60% rating from critics and a 54% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 20% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by Middle Eastern members and 80% were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 20% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 80% of male members.
How Inclusive Is The Knight Before Christmas?
The Knight Before Christmas (2019) is a bit more unconventional, as the film surrounds a knight that is transported into the modern world, where he meets a high school science teacher who’s lost all hope for love. The film drew a 70% rating from critics and a 42% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 11% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by Hispanic members and 89% were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 44% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 56% of male members.
How Inclusive Is A Timeless Christmas?
A Timeless Christmas (2020) is a Hallmark film similar to Netflix’s The Knight Before Christmas (2019), where a man from 1903 is transported into 2020, where he meets a tour guide for his historic mansion and gets to celebrate a modern-day Christmas. The film drew an 85% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 17% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 83% of male members.
How Inclusive Is Christmas Getaway
After a breakup, a travel writer decides to go ahead on the Christmas trip they had planned in Christmas Getaway (2017), which drew a 71% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 63% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 37% of male members.
How Inclusive Is Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa?
Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa (2020) is the sequel that follows almost the exact footsteps of the original movie: a woman visiting the town of Evergreen finds herself trying to save the general store while following her heart to love. The film drew a 70% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 25% of the cast/crew comprises female members, with a remaining 74% of male members.
How Inclusive Is Switched for Christmas?
Last but not least, Switched for Christmas (2017) follows the typical trope of identical twins switching lives until Christmas day. It drew a 66% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of the film were occupied by White members. In its gender diversity, 50% of the cast/crew is made up of female members, with a remaining 50% of male members.
How Can We Analyze The Data?
Beyond the generally low ratings for these films and the fact that all of the mentioned Hallmark films have no critics’ score, there is another story within these numbers. Though all of them have very low racial and gender diversity statistics, it is clear that all the Hallmark movies have a 100% White cast/crew, while 3 out of the 4 Netflix films have at least one person of color as part of their cast/crew. It can be quickly concluded that this is simply due to the companies’ different target audiences: Hallmark has traditionally been for older White generations, while Netflix, a “younger” production company, targets younger, more diverse audiences that expect the same kind of inclusion in the content they watch. This produces an exciting branch of Netflix content: the older stories of cheesy Christmas romance films paired with more diverse casts/crews. So far, these films have been able to make it work, as seen with their small critical successes. But the question remains as to why these films are so popular, and what marked their beginning; was Hallmark the source of these kinds of movies? These questions and more will be further discussed in future articles.
What Can We Conclude?
Though there are plenty of other cheesy Christmas romance films to analyze, the general trend is evident enough: the lack of overall racial and gender diversity in both production companies’ film casts and crews is stunning. Though there might be slight differences and variations in this general trend, the pace at which these films increase their diversity is much slower than practically any other genre. It is time for a change, as even cheesy Christmas romance films require a switch-up in who falls in love in a small town or discovers the true meaning of Christmas.
