Folks I had an idea about hallmark movies that I wanted to explore. I started writing up a short essay.

But everytime I thought I was coming to a close I’d get more and more ideas. I now have an 8k word essay about goddamn hallmark movies. Once I complete it I’m gonna post it here. But until then, I wanna hear everyone’s opinions of the ‘genre’.

  • What are your favourite hallmark films?
  • Do you like the genre?
  • What tropes do you enjoy?
  • Anything you find problematic?
  • Do you think they are feminist movies?
  • What are the most important features of a hallmark movie.
  • What to you is the core concept of the genre?
  • What are its defining philosophies?
  • Any plot points you like or dislike?
  • Any story beats you like or dislike?

Or any other addition you’d like to make here, I’d love to hear.

I’m genuinely excited to finish and share this. For the first time in my life am I excited to share smth I wrote.

Edit. I am at 30000 words and trying to cut as much as I can. Luckily I know I’ve been repetitive as I blabber and can cut down around 5k I think.

Can’t believe I’m writing 25k fucking words on hallmark movies. And this is me being concise.

  • Vanth@reddthat.comEnglish
    5·
    9 days ago

    Haha, I don’t know that I can give a constructive answer. I listen to intersectional feminist reviews of films sometimes and can’t help but want to shake every main female character in Hallmark movies to break them out of their hetero gender roles brainwashing.

    Girl, he has no job and wants you to be his mommy bangmaid and to take care of his 12 year old daughter because his first wife/housemaid/childraiser inconveniently died on him. I don’t care that he has abs. Run 🚩🚩🚩.

    • SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      3·
      9 days ago

      I’ve actually written about that very idea too.

      It is a genre with a primarily female audience though. And it structures itself as a narrative from the perspective of a woman.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        2·
        9 days ago

        Women need to get out of fairy tale ideas about men and vice versa. Humans are messy, complicated humans with their own strengths and weaknesses. I’d like to see more media about people who figure out what their core values are, what aren’t but where they’d like to grow, and finding a way to individuate and self actualize, with or without a partner.

        Choosing a healthier partner may look like dating long enough so the hormonal love potions wear off and months or even years longer to see what a potential partner actually demonstrates as cute core values, secondary values, and how much effort they are willing to put into growing, individually and within the relationship, what each are willing to do to lay a strong relationship with self and partner, and agree on the direction a relationship is wanted to grow, then building it.

        I wish I’d learned this much sooner instead of trying to make relationships work and putting up with stuff because “it’s what’s expected,” within family and society. And I wish I’d learned the cornerstone to all that was building a deep, trusting relationship with myself, again not based on what that was expected to look like within family or society.

        In general, I don’t care for Hallmark/Lifetime garbage, because it’s fantasy that has ourselves keeping ourselves trapped in air castles and painting roses red, rather than formulating plans, digging in the dirt of ourselves, plucking out stones, roots, weeds, raking, grading, tilling, packing the land, laying foundations, placing each brick with love and attention to detail, picking out what roses we like that are amenable to the conditions, planting, watering, pruning, until it resembles something satisfactory (because things often look differently in our heads than in materiality). And if the hero or heroine doesn’t find a suitable partner, they’re good on their own.

        • Ilandar@lemmy.today
          2·
          9 days ago

          I agree with and can relate to a lot of what you said there. On the flip side, it’s tempting to abandon relationships early on because of disagreements or differences that a lot of long-term couples actually just learn to negotiate and respect. Often those differences are actually part of what makes the relationship so special and strong over time. Dating is so easy now that it makes it very easy to just cycle through these short, shallow relationships and never learn anything about yourself or others because you’re too fixated on finding that fairy tale relationship.

        • SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
          1·
          9 days ago

          I don’t think we can remove the fantasy element from fiction. That’s the very essence of fiction and storytelling.

          I understand not liking the hallmark fantasy, but fantasy itself is essential to our psyche.

  • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    10 days ago

    Because Hallmark came up this morning on my ride to work, I couldn’t stop thinking about this post I saw. I wanted to answer the questions honestly, but it seems like you might have a positive view of these films and I didn’t want to be the person to tear that down. Haha.

    TBH, I have a highly critical view of the films and genre. I know people that adore these films and I know why they love them. I’ve been subjected to numerous. 😵‍💫 And the demographic seems to be pretty consistent in my experience, although I would love to see actual data on that.

    And so… I don’t want to rain on your parade if you see value in them not do I want to minimize the time you’ve taken. Best of luck.

    This is honestly one of the most surprising posts I ever thought I would see in the Lemmyverse. Haha. 😅

    • SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      3·
      10 days ago

      Oh I actually don’t like them either. But I found their cultural penetration interesting and had a theory about the genre and why it resonates with people.

      I can’t watch them unless its in passing when someone else is

      I just think everything is worthy of thought and analysis

      • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔@lemmy.caEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        I get it. I’d honestly be interested in a psychological analysis of the target audience. I would also like to disprove some of my biases with a much larger sample set of people, if possible. I know that I have some presumptions that have to be, or at least I hope to be, wrong. 😅

        Anyway, there are genuinely some desirable ideals presented in these movies, so the attraction by the target audiences makes sense.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    3·
    9 days ago

    I’ve gone most of my life avoiding them, not because I think they’re any worse than the garbage pulp movies I sometimes enjoy but just because they are generally outside of my awareness and cozy romantic drama isn’t a genre I engage with very often. I’ve seen trailers for some of the cheesier lifetime ones, and reviews of some of the Christian propaganda movie masquerading as a light romance movie but that’s about it. I look forward to your manifesto diving into a subculture I know very little about.

  • Calirath@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    9 days ago

    Initially the intention to reply was vacant until I noticed your username so I’m sure you can (and will) apply most of the themes in ‘The Present Age’ to Hallmark movies and their audiences, notably sans reflection. Although, I can’t properly remember if I have ever watched a Hallmark movie in full, perhaps my preconceived assumptions will be proven false.

  • Chrysanthemum@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    9 days ago

    This may not be the answer you’re looking for but it’s my opinion.

    As far as I can remember, my parents and their siblings would have the Hallmark channel running all day during the holidays and family get-togethers. They feel that it’s kid-friendly because there’s no cursing and no aggressive ads for the latest Disney toy. It didn’t matter who was hosting Thanksgiving dinner, it’s always the same movies on the television.

    So whenever I hear someone mention the Hallmark channel, I immediately think of the numerous Christmas movies we watched over the years and associate the channel with wholesome family-friendly shows and a dinner table filled with food. The movies always have the entire happy family working together to make dinner just like my family — minus my cousins and I stealing grandad’s bourbon, grammy’s smokes and our uncle’s car to pick up another cousin who’s high as a kite.

    Two years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to The Way Home, a fantasy drama tv series which I actually enjoyed. I was surprised to find it on the Hallmark channel and I’m looking forward to another season if it comes to fruition. That’s probably the feminist plot line you’re looking for since it revolves around three generations of women.

  • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    9 days ago

    Many Hallmark movies rely heavily on the “big city to small town” romance trope popularized in 19th century literary works such as Jane Eyre with an antithesis being portrayed in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

    Anna Karenina is notably different however since she is still bound by aristocratic class duties that suppress her self actualization, despite moving to a rural setting.

    Tolstoy wrote about Christian Anarchism later in his life where he advocates for a simple, nonviolence based, communal and agricultural life style as the most meaningful way to live. He opposed institutions and industrial-capitalism as tools that separate people and corrupt human dignity.

    Tolstoy’s writings inspired several nonviolent revolutionaries in the 20th century namely Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

    Hallmark movies are a conveyer belt of Tolstoy’s worldview, which is that an urban corporate life can deprive one of deeper meaning and a rural life with a close knit community is the remedy to that.

    My wife and I have watched too many Hallmark movies to count. There’s something about watching a production that’s a bit rough around the edges.

    Often, these movies rely on the urban to rural transition in lieu of more meaningful character development for the female protagonist. They also ignore that moving to a rural setting will guarantee new hardships of navigating a society that is less open to women.

    The men are portrayed as idealistic both physically and in character. Realism gives way to fantasy here which is not necessarily empowering to any gender.

    Overall, these movies serve as a type of escapism for a majority that live lives of corporate drudgery. I don’t see the movies as good or bad per se, more so amoral though commendable for promoting the value of community, however hamfisted the approach.