Die Hard (1988): Christmas movie?

The action movie Die Hard (1988, US$139 million at the worldwide box office) appears in many favourite Christmas movie lists—not mine. True, it is set at Christmas, but it is hardly in the same class as A Christmas Carol (any version) or It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). For one thing, it is full of coarse language (e.g. Bruce Willis says mother*cker at least three times) and it includes a hostage situation, explosions and many people being killed (mainly shot, including in the head). The best thing I can say about Die Hard is that it passes the Bechdel test in the first few minutes--a test that serves as an indicator of the active presence of women in movies—and Willis admits he was a jerk (as a husband) and was not supportive enough of his wife. Both of those things are actually pretty rare, even now. What is most curious about this 'Christmas movie' is that it sexualizes women: a bare-breasted woman lying on a desk in her workplace so that she can have sex with a male co-worker is manhandled by armed men; and a wall is decorated with pictures of topless women. Willis walks past them three times, so there is no chance of missing them. Given sexualization of women (and all the violence), and in spite of the sets' Christmas decorations and the Christmassy soundtrack, Die Hard is about as much a Christmas movie as The Lion in Winter (1968), which also takes place over Christmas. A movie does not need to end with a child talking about everyone being blessed by god or angels getting their wings to be classified as a Christmas movie but is it too much to ask that it be devoid of topless women and pictures of topless women?


© 2018 Alline Cormier