It's not fair!
Nov. 8th, 2011 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyDo you stop thinking about Doctor Who during the off-season? Do you pack away your Buffy T-Shirts, Toys and Posters and wait till the next Joss Whedon televison series is upon us to start putting it all up again? Do you complain when you see Star Trek stuff on sale when it's still at least a YEAR away from a new movie? You might do that, but you'd be the exception that proves a rule.
So why should people be expected to enjoy Christmas for just one month each year, and why do people get so ANGRY when it starts showing up a month ahead of time?
There are more people who celebrate Christmas than celebrate Davies, Whedon, Roddenberry and Lucas combined! I'm surprised we don't have Christmas Shops open 24/7 all year long!
So why should people be expected to enjoy Christmas for just one month each year, and why do people get so ANGRY when it starts showing up a month ahead of time?
There are more people who celebrate Christmas than celebrate Davies, Whedon, Roddenberry and Lucas combined! I'm surprised we don't have Christmas Shops open 24/7 all year long!
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Date: 2011-11-08 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-08 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-08 09:10 pm (UTC)But AFTER Halloween, have at it. It gives me a chance to budget out my shopping over several pay periods instead of going crazy all at once. I'm actually looking forward to shopping this year. I've decided to start now so that I can both put thought into the gifts AND try to find decent prices on them.
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Date: 2011-11-08 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-08 11:12 pm (UTC)To me, Christmas is just another Fandom. I'm a fan of visiting my Aunt's house ANY time of the year, not just on one particular day; Further, I don't get upset if somebody starts talking about going to my Aunt's house a few months before we go.
I guess where I'm getting at is this; why is Crass Commercialism frowned upon for Christmas but not for every other beloved/cherished shared cultural moment of our lives?
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Date: 2011-11-08 11:33 pm (UTC)I think The Charlie Brown Christmas is coming up soon. Linus says it all. And to boot, I'm not even Christian and that's still the best message ever.
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Date: 2011-11-09 01:26 am (UTC)I haven't seen any of the "Bigger Better" personally except for on Discovery Channel specials like "WORLDS MOST INSANE CHRISTMAS DISPLAYS" and the likes. Only messages I get tired of each year are "It's Not About The Presents", "Christmas starts earlier every year", "It's so over-commercialized now" and "Jesus Is The Reason For The Season" which everybody likes to whip out these ones every year as if they're something new that nobody has ever had the courage to say before, and by them uttering it will then absolve them of any association with this monster.
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Date: 2011-11-09 01:32 am (UTC)Although why do some people get upset when I tell them I celebrate the Solstice, not Christmas.
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-09 01:22 am (UTC)Maybe it has. But I still think each person can make a conscious choice to accept the parts they like and reject the parts they don't.
I'm not a huge consumer. I'll buy a few things I really want to give to family members. I prefer little hand-made gifts, holiday parties (egg nog and baked goodies!), or sharing experiences (like a play or the Nutcracker), a few nice decorations, and watching new and classic holiday specials. While there are a lot of companies out there looking to cash in on it, I prefer to think of all the opportunities we now have due to technology that we didn't have before. I get to share a fun experience online with friends in early December. I can find great new and old holiday music online. I can print my own cards easily.
And some of the items that were once part of that commercialism have now become beloved collectibles (like some of the lovely 50's ornaments). A favorite holiday special for many is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which started as part of a marketing campaign from Montgomery Ward.
Sorry, I think I'm just babbling now...
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Date: 2011-11-09 01:38 am (UTC)*
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The difference to me is volume. Doctor Who and Star Trek don't scream at me for three months. I can turn them off and enjoy them when I want. Christmas is everywhere I turn from before Halloween until the end of the after Christmas sales.
Not only do we have to put up with it at the stores but it is piped through most Musak players, radio stations and TV channel our family. Almost every show has a Christmas episode, and every holiday episode and Christmas special from past years (and decades) is dragged out of the vault to throw at us again. Not even Star Wars is that overwhelming. It is like a bulldozer to society.
I can also choose to like Whedon or Lucas or whoever. Or not. But woe betide the Grinch who doesn't enjoy 3 months of constant advertisements and music he doesn't like. God would help the Scrooge who has enough money to buy presents for his extended family but chooses to make thoughtful gifts instead, but God has only a passing relationship with Christmas. It is a sin in our society to not like Christmas.
It is my LEAST favorite holiday of the year. The commercialism plays a role, yes. But it is the sheer weight of its "love the season or I will shove it down your throat until you surrender or your farts smell like peppermint and artificial pine tree" presentation that makes me want to just scream.
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:20 am (UTC)You're allowed to like whatever you like whenever you like and enjoy it any day of any week of any month - Unless it's Christmas. Then you're only allowed to like it from the day after Thanksgiving till the first of the year, and woe betide the nutjob who even thinks of humming "Jingle Bells" while sipping a Peppermint Latte on November 1st.
Why is that?
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Date: 2011-11-09 06:31 am (UTC)If you want to listen to it by all means do. What you do in your own house and under the protection of your headphones is entirely up to you. Just don't force the rest of us to. There is enough "Christmas" crammed into November - January that for the majority of people they are burned out on it unit the next year. It has to have a chance to go away. Otherwise it loses any special-ness.
As for Christmas music specifically there is very little of it that I actually enjoy on even an artistic level. I enjoy many singers, but not those songs. Imagine there was some musical style you really didn't like. Now make a holiday around it that dominates the airwaves for 2 months. That is almost all you hear everywhere you go. There is no escaping it. But you endure it because you know that at the end of those 2 months it will be imprisoned again for the next 10 months and you can live free of it again. But then 6 months later, like a felon out on unexpected parole you hear it again. Life ceases to be merry and bright. That is how I feel about Christmas music. With the exception of a few (less than a handful) songs I think the world would be a better place without them. But that is just my opinion.
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:32 am (UTC)Christmas Lover is stuck thinking that Christmas Hater secretly loves Christmas.
Christmas Hater is stuck thinking that Christmas Lover is cramming Christmas down his throat despite his constant protest.
No one can win :(
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Date: 2011-11-09 05:14 am (UTC)!!!!!!
Once i've had my turkey then Christmas can begin. Especially the bit where a whole ham gets roasted. I'm kinda fond of that part.
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-10 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-10 02:45 pm (UTC)