The Christmas-ness of the movie Die Hard has been a topic of discussion for decades.
Bruce Willis thinks Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. PDO
Die Hard – Just over my dead body -film was released in 1988. Immediately after its release, the film has sparked a debate about whether it is a Christmas film or not.
In 2023, film historian and writer Jeremy Arnold outlined in an interview on the CNN website that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. He was aware of the controversy of the matter, but he nevertheless had numerous reasons for his opinion.
The film historian believed that the disagreement was fundamentally about how people interpret words: what the term “Christmas movie” means to anyone.
According to Arnold, the structure of the film is similar to a Christmas movie. The movie takes place on Christmas Eve.
– It starts like the most typical Christmas movie. So that some version of a dysfunctional or estranged family tries to reconcile at Christmas, in this case John (Bruce Willis) and Holly McClane (Bonnie Bedelia), Arnold described.
According to Arnold, the opening directs the audience to view the entire film through Christmas lenses. Arnold also justified his position by the fact that there are references to Christmas in the film. The viewer can detect Christmas references with both their eyes and ears.
– Whoa whoa whoa, now I have an automatic weapon, the CNN journalist piped to the film historian in an interview.
– Exactly, Arnold said.
Although In Die Hard a lot of violence is shown, the film is not “cruel or unpleasantly violent” in the researcher’s opinion. According to his claim, the Christmas theme lightens the whole of the film. Christmas presents take a central position in terms of the film’s ending, and this is one clear sign of the film’s Christmas-ness.
For these reasons Die Hard – Just over my dead body is a Christmas movie.
Die Hard has a lot of Christmas-themed elements, even though it’s an action movie. PDO
Bruce Willis disagrees
However, actor Bruce Willis, who has ended his career, disagrees. Seven years ago, Willis spoke directly about the film.
– Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It’s a damn Bruce Willis movie. So fuck it up, Willis said on Comedy Central.
“Yippee ki yay motherfuckers” is one of the most famous statements in film history. It is heard in all five Die Hard films.
Die Hard – Just over my dead body movie on Christmas Eve on MTV3 channel at 21:00. See all program information and broadcast times on Telku.
Bruce Willis got dementia a few years ago. PDO