Why do we like Christmas movies even if they're corny?

With Christmas just a month away, everything is taking us back to it: from shop windows to Christmas tree sales. Decorations are starting to appear on the streets

The winter cold is slowly setting in, fatigue and the lack of light are becoming more and more noticeable and are forcing us to slow down.

So we find ourselves under the covers without feeling guilty, with a nice comforting hot chocolate.

For Evelyne Dillenseger, psychoanalyst and expert in couples therapy, the answer is closely linked to the time of year, winter. “It’s cold. We want to cocoon. We want comfort, warmth.”, the latter believes. The “feel good movies", as they are called, relax us. That's good, "We are on vacation (or almost!). We have time to waste”. 

And then we've seen some of them thousands of times but we never get tired of them.

It's a bit of our guilty pleasure during the holidays, we can't help but watch them, even if we all know that these films are super cheesy and clichéd as hell.

We already know the happy ending, no need to think while watching them, they are devoid of negativity and immerse us in the magic of Christmas

They make us dream and warm our hearts.

Every love story is a "perfect coincidence" , which ends well. Even if it is far from reality, we want to believe it.

The hero who no longer believes in love, Christmas, etc.

He or she is going through a difficult time and each time the magic of Christmas works

These characters are human and endearing.

Often, their wounds echo our own wounds.

We don't all have this family situation, these gatherings at Christmas, so often we can even be jealous and dream a little by proxy.

We want to believe in love, a united family, a dream job or even the perfect couple.

Just like the hero of the film who no longer believed in anything at the beginning of the story and finds a taste for life again as the series progresses.

It's a kind of happy break, which puts you in a good mood far from our external problems.

Even if we don't have the Christmas spirit by definition, we find ourselves sucked into this vortex that these romantic comedies can be.

These films are a guilty pleasure but assumed

A bit like natural antidepressants.

For Tamara Makana Chock, professor specializing in social psychology of media and communication, "Christmas movies meet our need for escape in times of stress. They allow us to escape from our daily lives and release our pressure, for the duration of the movie. Although they are often not very realistic, they make us dream and think of a better world, in which all's well that always ends well."

Finally, they clearly have an impact on our brain like all comforting films.

In fact, they allow us to release dopamine and oxytocin, the hormones of happiness, while therefore reducing our stress and blood pressure.

So why deprive yourself? Need inspiration? Find my selection of Christmas movies in my next article 😉