Yippee-ki-yay or nay?

There is a debate that often overtakes the otherwise joyous and celebratory run up to Christmas. No, not whether or not Grandma will bring up Meghan Markle at the Christmas dinner table; but if Die Hard should be added to your list of must-watch christmas movie wish list.

For 35 years this has been ongoing, and I am here to resolve it. If you have been living under a rock and has not seen the 1988 cult classic, I will briefly summarise the plot so you, reader, can comprehend the extensity of this 40-year-long debate. Policeman John McClane (played by Brue Willis) and his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) are at a party at Holly’s place of work when a large group of terrorists hijack the building, taking everyone as hostages, with the plan to steal $600 million from the building’s vaults. McClane is the only one not held hostage, and therefore, the only one with the ability to save the day. Spoiler alert: he does indeed save (nearly) everyone. Now, with a plot such as this, it seems impossible to class Die Hard as a Christmas film. However, one vital element is missing. It is set on Christmas Eve.

According to TimeOut’s 2022 article ‘The 50 best Christmas movies of all time’, the number one ranked best Christmas film is It’s a Wonderful Life. This opinion is agreed upon by Esquire, Rotten Tomatoes and GoodHouseKeeping, just to name a few. Viewing the 1946 classic as the definitive Christmas movie, I will compare the two. There are a fair few similarities between Die Hard and It’s a Wonderful Life; the main one being that their plots have little to nothing to do with Christmas. While Die Hard is, in actuality, an action film about a heist, It’s a Wonderful Life is a family drama/comedy about the importance of life. The events of both films could have happened at any point in the year, yet the writers and directors purposefully chose the main events to occur on Christmas Eve- why?

According to the Bible, for Christians, the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Christianity teaches us that Jesus was born and died for humanity’s sins and to allow us to enter heaven after death. If the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate some sort of saviour, then both Die Hard and It’s a Wonderful Life embody this meaning. John McClane physically saves a party full of people from danger, Clarence saves George from suicide and George, purposefully and accidently, saved many people in his town. Both the films’ endings feature a reuniting, followed by a newfound appreciation for existence. This would not be as effective had it been a random Tuesday. The heightened love of family and friends associated with Christmas is reflected by the resolution of these films. Therefore, in this regard, Die Hard is a Christmas film.

Now we turn to the opposing argument. Unlike It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard quickly became a franchise, having four sequels, totalling five films altogether. While the Christmas Eve theme and setting is continued into Die Hard 2, films 3, 4 and 5 are set during an unspecified time in the year. This means that the essence of Christmas is not fundamental to the story. The aspect of Die Hard the directors and producers decided is the most important and must be replicated in further films, is the action, not the morals. You can take the setting of Christmas Eve out of Die Hard and the basic structure of the story will remain the same- however you cannot take out the action, guns, fighting and violence.

With both sides of the argument viewed and the facts scrupulously checked, it is time to make a conclusion. When placed within its franchise, Die Hard is not a Christmas film. However, when singled out and viewed on its own, it reflects the morals, themes and essence of fundamental Christmas films. Both the viewer and on screen characters leave the story with a newfound appreciation for themselves and each other, typical of classic and undebated Christmas movies, such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone and Miracle on 34th Street. 

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