What makes a Christmas movie? Christmas has been described as the “most wonderful time of the year” (“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Andy Williams, 1963). And Christmas movies are no small part of that magic. There are many beloved holiday classics. Elf, The Grinch, and The Santa Clause, to name just a few. However, not all movies are quite as unanimously accepted as Christmas movies, and none have been as hotly debated as Die Hard (except maybe Gremlins, but that is an issue for another time). This is not an essay to explain why Die Hard is a Christmas movie. The cutoff for being a Christmas movie is subjective, with some definitions being so narrow that only the story of Jesus’ birth makes the cut, while other definitions are so broad that they include Iron Man 3. This is instead intended to focus on an analysis and comparison between the movies Die Hard and Home Alone, and to hopefully shed light on the case of holiday hypocrisy that manifests when individuals claim one is not a holiday movie and the other is, respectively. I will begin this essay with a short plot summary of each movie, followed by an analysis of what makes Home Alone a Christmas movie, and then analyze Die Hard using that same criteria. Though the plots of both Home Alone and Die Hard are fairly well-known, with both being considered cult classics among movie connoisseurs, it is still requisite that we refresh our memories on the specifics, as this will be important in our future analysis. We start with the plot of Home Alone. In this movie, we follow the McCallister family, specifically the youngest child, Kevin McCallister, throughout a week-long period in which Kevin is accidentally left home alone during the holiday season, during which time he has to defend his home from the burglars known as the “Wet Bandits” (also sometimes referred to as the “Sticky Bandits”). We now transition to Die Hard. In this movie, we follow John McLane, a New York City police officer attending the holiday work party of his estranged wife, during which time the building is taken hostage by a group of terrorists bent on stealing the millions stored there, forcing our protagonist to take them on alone, and save his wife and her co-workers. Both movies share very similar plots to each other, which is a large part of why a comparison of the two becomes so necessary. What is it about Home Alone that makes it such a classic among Christmas movie enjoyers, while Die Hard earns the scorn of even the most festive of individuals? We first analyze the contents of Home Alone with more scrutiny. I would like to perform my own analysis, but for the sake of having an unbiased opinion, I opted to turn to alternative sources. Reddit user y2gennaro presents these points as the reason for the movie's holiday nature: 1. All songs in the movie are Christmas songs. 2. It takes place during Christmas. 3. Films were released around the holiday season. 4. Wish brings his family back. 5. The fact that it is Christmas is what initiates the plot (“Is there any proof that Home Alone is a Christmas movie?”, TheIronBankPrice, r/homealone, 2015). To the point of the first, second, third, and fifth points, I would say all are very valid. However I would like to point out that on point four the user calls this detail “a Christmas based details that sway the plot of the movie.”, however, analysis of the actual plot of the movie would shows that this happens within the last couple minutes of the movie, thus carrying little to no actual plot significance, especially considering if said scene was taken out it would have no impact on either the main plot or the resolution of the movie, this it’s only purpose is to serve as a last-minute effort to tie this movie back to Christmas, something that is often put on the backburner throughout the movie. Nevertheless, I will still apply this criterion to Die Hard. We now analyze Die Hard, beginning with criterion number 1. All songs in the movie are Christmas songs. We first need to define what this means by all songs being Christmas songs. Because both movies’ Christmas validity is being challenged, I will discount any original soundtrack songs as being Christmas songs. Thus, we will look only at unoriginal song choices. When we analyze Home Alone’s soundtrack, we see that all unoriginal songs included in the movie are in fact Christmas songs “Home Alone (Soundtrack), Wikipedia). Moving on to Die Hard, however, things become more complicated. While most unoriginal songs are undoubtedly Christmas songs, the song Ode to Joy is a more complex inclusion (“Die Hard (Soundtrack)”, Wikipedia). While not conventionally seen as a Christmas song, there are certain conditions in which it is. The first condition looks at the lyrics. These lyrics are, for the most part, Christian in nature, talking mainly about God. While this doesn’t inherently make this a Christmas song, it also doesn’t necessarily exclude it from being a Christmas song, as there are many songs that speak specifically of Christ and God rather than Christmas. The other point for this song is its use during Christmas. Though not conventionally used during Christmas in most parts of the world, it is, interestingly, a staple of Christmas music in Japan (“Beethoven's Ninth is a Christmas and New Year’s Staple in Japan. Here’s Why”, WQXR). Now, under normal circumstances, this might not be enough to prove the song's Christmas song validity, as to many, this would likely be seen as cherry picking. However, to Die Hard’s credit, the company for which he is attending a holiday party for is, in fact, a Japanese company, thus making the song Ode to Joy a perfectly appropriate Christmas song choice given the context. Given this point, I would consider this to fit the criterion of being a Christmas song. Now, regarding criterion 2. It takes place during Christmas. This is a very easy-to-apply criterion, as the movie does take place on Christmas Eve, similar to the climax of Home Alone. The next criterion, 3. Films were released around the holiday season, which is unfortunately one that Die Hard fails, as it was released on July 15th, 1988. This does throw a wrench in the validity of the Die Hard Home Alone comparison, I will admit. However, from a purely plot-focused standpoint, release date doesn’t always make a movie a Christmas movie. For example, the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” was released on May 2nd, while still being a very Christmas-themed movie. While this does fail to meet the precedent set by y2gennaro, considering the exceptions made for other holiday movies, it is not entirely unfounded to say this criterion is not one that inherently is a major one, especially when this criterion doesn’t have much to do with the actual contents of the movie itself. The fourth criterion, 4. Wish brings his family back, which is also one that can’t be applied to Die Hard. However, this is mainly due to the fact that while both are similar, both movies have different plots, and as such, this is a very narrow criterion, one that even movies like The Santa Clause and The Grinch can’t fulfill. However, rather than completely throwing this criterion out, I will do an analysis of the essence of the point. As we analyzed earlier, this scene’s purpose is to serve as a tie-in to Christmas towards the end of the movie, and indirectly drives the resolution. If we apply this criterion to Die Hard, we see that it does actually feature a point of similar effect. In the final moments, before the main character faces the main antagonist, he sees a pile of Christmas gifts, and gets the idea for how he will overcome the antagonist. This serves both as a tie-in for Christmas and also serves to drive the resolution, matching Home Alone in spirit. Though not as supernatural in nature as the Christmas wish, a movie cannot be faulted for having more grounded Christmas themes, not entirely leaning into magical aspects. And finally, for the 5th criterion, 5. The fact that it is Christmas is what initiates the plot. This is actually a fairly easy point to apply. As we can see in Die Hard, the only reason John is there is because it is the holiday season. Though in both Die Hard and Home Alone, Christmas is often only a secondary plot point, in both movies, Christmas is what initiates the situations that take place in their respective movies. As such, Die Hard fits this criterion perfectly. To close, while Die Hard doesn’t fulfill all the criteria that are used to justify Home Alone being among the ranks of Christmas classics, it does still meet all the major plot-based criteria. Any criterion Die Hard does not match is from purely real-world logistics and is in no way related to the actual plot of Die Hard. Thus, we see, when analyzing the actual contents of both Die Hard and Home Alone, it becomes difficult to justify one being a Christmas movie and not the other. Now I do not expect to change any minds with this, as everyone draws their own lines. But I do write this to hopefully help people realize there is still inherent hypocrisy in the argument. So, while watching Home Alone during Christmas, but not Die Hard, doesn’t necessarily make you right or wrong, it does definitely make you a hypocrite.