Holiday Movies Celebrate Small Town America
In The Country 12-10
COMMENTARY: It’s that time of year again. The time when every waking moment the television is on, my wife is watching one of those “CARD-COMPANY” holiday movies again.
You know the ones—City girl gets sent to a small rural town for work, arrives unprepared for the rigors of country life, has a chance meeting with the town’s hottest bachelor who recently left his job on Wall Street to help his widowed grandmother save the family farm while the doe-eyed beauty is in denial about her budding feelings while simultaneously getting dumped by her boyfriend back home.
Ultimately, she succumbs to the urges of love, falls for said small town, impresses the grandmother and discovers a way to keep her six-figure job while moving to the middle of nowhere and embracing a slower pace of life.
Typically it’s snowing—even in the south—and there’s usually a dog or “voice of reason” best friend who has to be convinced this strapping country beau is right for her big-city sister.
They’re almost always the same, but they’re also increasingly popular. Why is it that so many of these movies romanticize the small town way of life, in a society that seems to be running at a dead sprint in the opposite direction? Is it the values, the community, the quiet charm of living with less hustle and bustle? I think you’d have to ask the city folks why they’re so intrigued by this lifestyle in make-believe but not in reality.
To that end, for those of us in small town America, I think it’s a good reminder of the treasures we bear. The friends, the family, the close-knit neighbors and schools all in support of a common goal-- helping our little corner of the world survive when so many others are gobbled up by the concrete fields of urban sprawl.
So yes these holiday shows are cheesy, they aren't very realistic and they're always predictable but isn't that why so many of --US-- I mean YOU-- watch anyway. A moment of coziness and comfort in an often frigged world. So, pass the popcorn the show's about to start.
