0:06

On this podcast,

0:07

we explore fantastic goal thinking,

0:10

moral panics, conspiracy theories,

0:12

and urban legends examine

0:15

the courses that shape our culture

0:17

and tell the stories that create,

0:20

the realities we share, and

0:22

sometimes, the realities we

0:24

don't. I'm your host, Chelsea

0:27

Weber Smith. And this is

0:29

American history.

0:31

When she take over

0:33

the town's cookie factory before he

0:35

steals her part. In a Hallmark General

0:37

Original Movie.

0:38

They will keep traditional marriage

0:40

at the core. I do Christmas almost

0:43

all year round to sharing the Christmas

0:45

message. There's gonna be more Christmas after Christmas,

0:47

more Christmas.

0:51

I think to start this episode,

0:54

we all need to get into

0:56

the hallmark Christmas movie

0:59

mood. And so, just

1:01

for you, I'm going to describe

1:04

the entire plot of

1:06

the record breaking twenty fourteen

1:09

Canvas Cameron Bray vehicle

1:12

Christmas, under wraps.

1:15

If for some unknowable

1:17

reason, you don't want to listen

1:19

to this section, you can go

1:21

ahead and skip to about

1:23

ten minutes and ten seconds. And

1:25

get in to the rest of the episode.

1:29

So grab one of those extra soft

1:31

blankets from Target and your

1:33

favorite mid priced caberne

1:36

and cuddle right up for

1:38

a true

1:39

hallmark moment.

1:43

As Christmas approaches a

1:45

third year resident surgeon named

1:48

doctor Lauren Brunelle. Finds

1:50

herself beaten out for the big city

1:52

Boston medical fellowship of

1:55

her dreams, relegated

1:57

instead to the depressing academic

2:00

limbo of

2:02

the waitlist. Not

2:04

only that, but her shitty

2:06

little sweater vested boyfriend has

2:09

just broken up with her at a dinner

2:11

she believed would culminate in

2:13

a public restaurant engagement,

2:17

but no, not so.

2:19

You see

2:20

doctor Lauren Brunelle just

2:23

isn't spontaneous enough.

2:26

She's a workaholic. Her

2:28

life is planned to the minute

2:30

no room for the kind of love

2:32

that defies all her

2:34

chili logic. Sorry,

2:37

Warren. It's over. Arriving

2:40

back at her familial mansion,

2:43

she speaks to her parents in the

2:45

parlor. Doctor Bernal's

2:47

father, doctor Bernal, has

2:49

always encouraged his daughter

2:51

to follow in his affluent workaholic

2:55

footsteps, but her

2:57

keenly observant mother senses

2:59

something isn't quite

3:01

right and continuously reminds

3:04

Lauren to live in the

3:06

moment, telling her

3:09

you can listen to your mind, but

3:11

you have to follow your

3:14

heart. Unsure

3:16

of her future or the

3:18

very first time she

3:21

spontaneously takes

3:23

a job in a small town outside

3:26

Anchorage, Alaska. Only

3:29

accessible by a tiny

3:31

plane flown by the flannel

3:33

town handyman and

3:35

eligible bachelor.

3:37

Andy, holiday.

3:40

They fly shakingly

3:41

over these terrifying snowy

3:44

mountains the kind where if they

3:47

they would never be found and

3:49

would have to survive by any

3:51

means necessary. It's a

3:53

zippy, Andy's lane crash

3:55

incident never even happened,

3:58

which of course, in the Crystaline

4:00

Hallmark Universe, It

4:03

didn't.

4:04

Safely and calmly, they

4:06

descend into this small

4:08

town called Garland.

4:11

And Andy, somewhat smugly,

4:13

questions Dr. Bernal's big

4:16

city personality. And

4:18

her noteworthy lack of

4:21

Christmas cheer, which

4:23

she soon discovers overflowing

4:25

with in this small town

4:28

blanketed in snow so

4:30

pristine that one has

4:32

to wonder if dirt even

4:34

exists in this alternate

4:38

plain.

4:39

She's immediately confronted with

4:41

that small town attitude

4:44

No fancy espresso drinks

4:46

here, lady, but we got all the hot

4:48

coffee and all the plain white sugar

4:50

you could ever want. Here

4:52

in the single restaurant in

4:55

town, Haddies Diner, that

4:57

has long sat beside the

4:59

only general store in town.

5:02

As Andy explains, in

5:04

Garland, things may not be

5:06

fancy, but they have

5:08

everything. They need.

5:10

Doctor Bernal, however, has

5:13

not yet shaken the snoot

5:15

of the city from her laughably

5:18

thin coat. When Andy

5:20

walks her to her stunning little

5:22

rustic cabin where she will be

5:24

living, she size. This

5:28

will have to do. Later

5:30

at Haddie's diner, she

5:32

meets Andy's suspiciously jolly

5:35

father Frank Holiday

5:38

who literally only eats

5:40

plates of brightly frosted

5:43

cookies. She discovers

5:45

that he founded the remote town

5:47

and built a business called

5:50

holiday shipping with

5:52

a factory providing most

5:54

of the jobs in the area.

5:56

Though, what they do

5:58

seems to be

5:59

a strange garland secret.

6:03

When doctor Bernal begins

6:05

her stressful tenure as

6:08

the single doctor in

6:10

town, she becomes a

6:12

bit of a celebrity. With

6:14

even the Golinites, she has never

6:16

met, greeting her as

6:18

she shuffles through town on the

6:20

pristine sidewalk. Hey

6:22

doc. Hello doc? How you

6:24

doing doc? Even Andy

6:27

calls her doc. At

6:29

his request, she also begins

6:31

a mission to get Andy's ailing

6:33

father in healthier shape.

6:36

First, demanding that he begin

6:38

to eat more than just frosted

6:40

cookies. To which he protests

6:42

in a huff. As doctor Bernal

6:45

settles into her new role, she

6:47

is charmed by

6:48

this, quieter, friendlier

6:51

life with a new possible

6:53

bow. A man she

6:55

finds out was once a

6:57

workaholic himself. An

7:00

architect in Seattle who

7:02

gave up the rat race to

7:04

return to his hometown. Like

7:07

Warren, Andy has to died

7:10

whether he is staying in his hometown

7:13

to keep his aging father's business

7:15

alive or were

7:17

turn to his big life in

7:19

the big city. Then

7:21

things get a little weirder.

7:24

She starts seeing things out of the corner

7:26

of her eye. Which she thinks

7:28

are elves, skittering outside

7:31

holiday shipping, but upon

7:33

asking what the bulk is going

7:35

on. The increasingly kissy

7:38

eyed Andy does a

7:40

little flirty gaslighting. Then

7:43

they do a little almost kiss,

7:45

but then Lauren's old life flashes

7:47

before her eyes and she flips out

7:49

and decides she's gotta get back to her big

7:51

time career plans right

7:54

now. As Imo

7:56

Andy drives her to his plane,

7:57

they start to say they're

7:59

sincerest goodbyes. But

8:03

wait, an urgent call.

8:05

There's a medical emergency back in

8:07

Garland and they need her right

8:10

now.

8:10

He

8:11

arcs the

8:12

car around and speeds through the town.

8:14

But when they get to the emergency, It

8:17

is an injured reindeer leg.

8:20

And doctor Brunel is like

8:22

seriously, and Frank holiday

8:24

is like, I need him healed by

8:26

Christmas Eve. And she is

8:28

like, why, Frank? And he's

8:31

like for the Christmas Eve. Festival

8:33

and she's like, okay. And

8:35

then doctor Bernal finds out that

8:37

the fellowship of her dreams in

8:39

Boston is hers

8:41

and she tries to leave

8:44

again. Then another call,

8:46

Frank has collapsed. It's his

8:48

heart. Lauren comes to his

8:50

aid. He begs to be discharged in time

8:52

for the Christmas festival. Andy

8:54

tells his dad he will stay in

8:56

Garland. Then Lauren's like, you know

8:58

what? I also need to follow my heart like

9:00

my mom said even if my dad is disappointed

9:02

in me. She triumphantly

9:05

returns right into the town

9:07

festival and under

9:08

strings of colored lights beside

9:11

glittering expanses

9:12

of snow, her

9:14

and Andy kiss it

9:17

out, b f and g

9:19

f forever now

9:21

because guess what everybody Dr.

9:24

Brunel is staying in

9:27

Garland. Townspeople, you

9:29

shouldn't be doctorless in a hamlet

9:32

only accessible by a two passenger

9:35

plane. But wait, there's

9:37

one more surprise. Andy's

9:40

dad. Mister Frank holiday

9:42

himself pulls up in

9:44

a reindeer drawn sleigh for

9:46

the culmination of the town

9:48

Christmas festival. And

9:50

then with a little look like ink,

9:53

he takes off into the fucking

9:56

sky.

9:56

What? The

9:58

end. Is this

9:59

place for real? That's

10:02

garland for you. I said

10:02

they show under way.

10:07

This

10:07

store of Christmas under

10:09

wraps is Candice Cameron

10:11

Bray, Hallmark's former

10:14

queen of Christmas, also a

10:16

major Christian influencer with

10:18

their own clothing line, a shop full

10:21

of spiritually inspirational products,

10:24

and of course, a whole bunch of

10:26

cozy Christmas themed products

10:28

for adults. She

10:30

sells

10:30

through partnerships with QVC

10:33

doctor Lancer's anti aging products

10:36

and dayspring, where she

10:38

has her own line of

10:40

bibles, that come in what The Wall

10:42

Street Journal referred to

10:44

as beachy colors.

10:47

She's also spent time as the

10:49

Starkist, Tuna Spokes

10:51

person who's appeared in commercials alongside

10:54

their longtime cartoon

10:56

tune a mascot, Charlie.

10:58

In one ad, he floats

11:00

aside her on the red carpet, both

11:03

posing for the cameras. When she gets a

11:05

little hungry and pulls a

11:07

convenient on the go

11:09

pouch of snack tuna from her

11:12

designer clutch to give her

11:14

that little boost she needs.

11:17

But zooming out We

11:19

realized that she's just casually

11:21

eating mutilated tuna.

11:23

Beside her tuna friend,

11:26

or perhaps her tuna

11:28

date. It isn't made clear.

11:31

But before she put the star

11:33

in starkest Tuna,

11:35

she was known as between turned

11:38

teen, DJ Tanner.

11:40

On the massively popular

11:42

nineties sitcom whole

11:45

house that ran for eight

11:47

whole seasons and provided

11:49

family friendly entertainment that

11:52

all ages could enjoy

11:54

together.

11:54

She

11:55

continued to have success with

11:58

this family friendly brand

12:00

working as Hallmark's

12:02

major star for fifteen

12:05

years. But recently,

12:08

Candy Caine Bray has

12:10

announced her departure to produce

12:12

and star in more

12:14

overtly faith based programming

12:16

on the Great American family

12:19

network, hallmarks newest

12:22

competitor. Due to

12:24

the timing of this announcement

12:26

and the wording in her explanation,

12:30

many determined that she was

12:32

leaving because the network had

12:34

started to use storyline. That didn't

12:36

align with her beliefs about

12:39

gay relationships. When

12:41

asked if the great American family

12:43

channel will include gay

12:45

couples. She responded that

12:47

she believes that they will quote,

12:50

keep traditional marriage at

12:52

the core. She

12:53

also claimed that Hallmark was

12:56

quote, basically a completely

12:58

different network due

13:00

to changes in their leadership.

13:02

These changes came after Hallmark

13:05

faced a major backlash

13:07

in twenty nineteen. For

13:09

pulling a Zolo wedding

13:11

ad, the feature two women

13:13

kissing at their marriage

13:15

ceremony. A conservative

13:17

group, one million moms took issue with the ad

13:19

campaign. And more than four thousand

13:22

people signed this petition telling Hallmark the

13:24

ad did not align with the network's, quote,

13:26

family friendly content.

13:28

That pressure from the infamous

13:30

fundamentalist organization, one million

13:33

moms, or as glad

13:35

refers to them, one meddling anti

13:37

gay mom was enough for

13:39

then CEO, Bill

13:41

Abbott, who pulled the ad,

13:43

hoping to quietly avoid

13:46

controversy,

13:47

L0L Of

13:49

course, social media caught

13:51

on quickly with many

13:53

blasting the homophobic decision

13:56

with others praising Hallmark

13:58

for standing up to the

14:00

greedy Grinch. Of

14:02

winter, wokeness. So

14:05

despite the desire to remain

14:07

as a political as possible,

14:09

homework was embroiled in

14:11

a heated debate about

14:14

exactly what it hoped

14:16

to avoid. And then

14:18

Bill reversed his decision

14:20

about the ad. And especially

14:22

after Zola said they'd be taking their

14:24

business elsewhere if these

14:26

were indeed the values of

14:28

the company.

14:29

One million

14:30

moms made their public response

14:33

citing a bible verse to

14:35

support the notion that homosexual

14:38

deserved to die. It

14:40

was all a big, mess.

14:44

Just

14:44

a few months after the controversy,

14:48

Bill Abbott officially resigned

14:50

as CEO, not due

14:52

to the scandal, he said, but

14:55

rather a coincidence of timing.

14:57

He

14:57

played no small role

14:59

in the roaring success of

15:01

the channel and has been given

15:04

credit for spotting the potential of

15:06

the made for TV Christmas

15:08

movie market and then leaning

15:10

in with full bravado, two

15:13

incredible unprecedented ratings.

15:17

Back in two thousand nine, the

15:19

channel premiered twenty one

15:21

new movies under his

15:23

guidance. Thirty three in

15:25

twenty seventeen and thirty

15:27

eight in twenty eighteen. This

15:29

year, they're producing forty

15:32

one, but they're doing so with a

15:34

new leader at

15:36

the reins. Hallmark,

15:38

AKA Crown Media, appointed

15:41

Wahgnia Lucas as their new

15:43

CEO in twenty nineteen. And

15:45

she came in with a very

15:47

different vision. One in

15:49

which the channel would tell far more

15:51

stories from perspectives other

15:53

than hallmarks hallmark straight

15:55

white Christian Christmas, and

15:58

they would change the tradition

16:00

of the friend of color

16:02

who disappears at fifteen minutes

16:04

in, hoping to scrub away

16:06

the hollow corporate attempts

16:09

at diversity. Representation

16:11

is one thing, making sure that people

16:13

see themselves and and hear

16:15

themselves, but also trying

16:18

to move from that to cultural

16:20

authenticity, black people in New

16:22

Orleans are not like black

16:24

people in Brooklyn in

16:25

terms of their culture. The culture that

16:27

they live within, how they

16:29

may celebrate different holidays. I

16:31

mean, there's a cultural nuance

16:33

that that transcends race and

16:36

it transcends gender. Candice

16:38

Cameron Bray made the

16:41

decision to follow her

16:43

longtime collaborator to

16:45

the great American family channel

16:48

where he is currently the

16:50

CEO. That's right.

16:53

Mister Bill Abbot. She

16:55

said of the reason for her move,

16:57

quote, I knew that the people

16:59

behind the great American family

17:02

were Christians that loved the

17:04

Lord and wanted to promote faith

17:06

based programming and

17:08

good family entertainment. She

17:11

said she wants to break the

17:13

hallmark mold and tell

17:15

more spiritual stories, denying

17:17

that she left out of homophobia.

17:20

Blaming the media for twisting the

17:22

story to manufacture conflict

17:24

and expressing her love for

17:26

all of God's people. Candice

17:29

didn't explain why great American

17:30

family won't feature same sex couples,

17:32

but said, quote,

17:33

I am called to love all people,

17:35

and I do, adding I had

17:38

all so

17:38

expressed in my interview, which was not included, that

17:40

people of all ethnicities and

17:42

identities have and will continue

17:44

to contribute to the network in great

17:47

ways both

17:47

in front of and behind the camera, which

17:49

I encourage

17:50

and fully support. This

17:52

is not the first time that she's

17:54

come under fire. She also argued

17:57

vehemently with Raven

17:59

Simone on the

17:59

view. On behalf of that wedding

18:02

bakery who refused to

18:04

serve a name sex couple.

18:06

None of this really comes as a surprise

18:08

to anyone who's followed

18:10

the trajectory of the Cameron

18:13

siblings. Canvas' big brother Kirk,

18:15

child star of another ninety

18:17

sitcom growing pains

18:19

became a born again Christian

18:22

at seventeen. After living

18:24

as a self described teenage

18:27

atheist. And almost overnight,

18:29

he began demanding changes

18:32

to the trips that he deemed inappropriate under

18:34

his strict new

18:37

sensibilities. He would go on

18:39

to be a kind of

18:41

fringe media profit of

18:43

aggressive Christian fiction starring

18:45

in the apocalyptic book

18:48

turned movie series left

18:50

behind and even

18:52

producing his own twenty fourteen

18:54

film called Saving Christmas.

18:57

Which is exactly what it

18:59

sounds like. Kirk

19:01

Cameron has always been far

19:03

more forthcoming about

19:05

his views on homosexual unusuality,

19:08

whereas Candice has tried to tow

19:10

that line a lot more

19:12

carefully, not unlike

19:14

Hallmark itself.

19:16

Hallmark Christmas movies have

19:18

always been most popular

19:20

in conservative areas. In

19:23

the Midwest, in the south, in the

19:26

general heartland. But it was in

19:28

twenty sixteen that the

19:30

network got a very

19:32

noteworthy ratings boost.

19:34

The only entertainment channel

19:36

that year to achieve

19:38

a growth percentage in

19:41

the double digits. One can

19:44

actually hold up the

19:46

twenty sixteen Republican presidential

19:49

election voters map and it matches

19:51

pretty perfectly to the

19:53

swaths of major Hallmark

19:55

Christmas fans. But

19:57

that does not mean that

19:59

the

19:59

rest of us can't enjoy the

20:02

heck out of these movies. Very

20:05

much including queers

20:07

like me, whether sincerely

20:09

for the simple warmth they can provide

20:12

or for their exceptional corniness,

20:14

their cheesiness, the way you can

20:16

make a drinking game from their ever

20:19

repeating tropes, the surreal

20:21

lines and line

20:24

deliveries. The way you can spot all the

20:26

gay actors trying to act

20:28

straight. The way each one feels like it could be a

20:30

horror movie. If you just put different music under

20:32

the scenes. In fact,

20:34

they often verge on being campy,

20:37

like drag shows of the perfect American

20:41

dream. I mean, just listen to what this

20:43

anonymous employee told

20:45

bustle in twenty twenty one, quote.

20:47

Many hallmark films were birthed

20:49

by producers sitting in a

20:51

conference room, spitballing,

20:54

catchy

20:54

movie titles

20:55

and then working backward to

20:57

shape a plot line around

20:59

the title. If they came up with a title

21:01

they liked, say Christmas on

21:03

the rocks for example, they'd

21:06

send me to surf the web for a

21:08

family who rock climbs every

21:10

Christmas or a rock

21:12

star who falls in love with

21:14

a caroller. It was like writing a punchline before

21:17

a joke. More

21:19

more after

21:20

this.

21:21

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twenty two. Shopify dot com slash

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offer twenty

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two. And

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now, back

22:14

to the show.

22:21

Hallmarks

22:21

Target demographic.

22:23

Is women ages twenty

22:26

five to fifty four. And

22:28

tugging on the heartstrings of Gen X

22:30

and Millennials with eighties,

22:32

nineties, and two thousands nostalgia.

22:34

Well, that works pretty well

22:36

on viewers no matter what

22:38

their values are. Like

22:40

most big companies, they know that this

22:43

nostalgia sells, and they've

22:45

been selling back to

22:47

us the sitcom kids, we grew to really

22:49

know on TV. When we

22:51

sat cross legged on the carpet

22:54

with the friends we pretended they

22:57

were. On full house,

22:59

as mentioned, Candice Cameron

23:01

Bray played DJ

23:04

Tanner. The daughter of the lovable goof

23:06

and sad eyed widower,

23:08

Danny Tanner, played by the

23:10

late Bob Saggard, RIP

23:13

who was raising his three girls in San

23:16

Francisco with help from his brother-in-law

23:18

and his best friend.

23:21

When it came to his huffy, oldest

23:23

daughter, DJ, well,

23:25

she always found a moral

23:27

lesson at the end of the show. Sitting

23:29

on the edge of her bed.

23:31

DJ's little sister, comedic

23:34

genius, Stephanie Tanner, was

23:36

played by Jody Sweeten,

23:38

yet another hallmark darling,

23:41

clocking in at five

23:43

movies with two coming out

23:45

this year. And

23:46

then there's Laurie Lofland

23:48

who played aunt Becky and

23:50

has been a reoccurring star on

23:53

hallmark before she spent two

23:55

months in prison for her part in the

23:57

twenty nineteen nationwide college

24:00

admission scandal, but nonetheless, has

24:02

been quietly returning to the

24:04

channel.

24:04

Noticeably absent from the full house

24:07

hallmark grab bag

24:09

are the unfathomably iconic

24:12

twins, Mary Kate and

24:14

Ashley Olson, who together

24:16

portrayed youngest daughter

24:18

and poshish toddler turned

24:20

nine year old Michelle

24:23

Tanner. Instead, they live

24:25

a flow key life

24:27

of high fashion,

24:29

far away from the Christmas

24:31

movie industrial complex

24:33

that could have been their

24:36

logical fate. Seeing as they spent

24:38

so many years basically forced

24:40

to pump out hallmark esque

24:42

movies for kids and teenagers. I

24:44

just wanted to take my chance to mention them.

24:47

And who could forget dear

24:49

Winnie. Winnie Cooper.

24:51

The lovable girl next door in

24:53

the wonder years. Another late

24:56

eighties, early nineties show

24:58

about suburban life in the late

25:00

nineteen sixties. When he was

25:01

played by Danica McKellar who

25:04

has now starred in fifteen

25:07

Hallmark Christmas movies. Lacey

25:09

Chabear, AKA Gretchen

25:12

Weiners in Mean Girls,

25:14

has become a hallmark

25:17

nice girl with more than

25:19

ten titles under her

25:21

belt. Her former co

25:23

star Jonathan Bennett, who

25:25

played Aaron, looks sexy with his hair

25:27

pushed back samuels is

25:29

also a repeat hallmark

25:32

prints.

25:33

Tiffany Theissen, of saved

25:35

by the bell, Tory spelling of

25:37

Beverly Hills 90210

25:40

Tamara Maury Housley of

25:42

Tia and Tamara, Patrick Duffy of

25:44

step by step, James

25:46

Vanderbeek of Dawson's Creek,

25:48

and Chad Michael Murray

25:50

of One Tree Hill.

25:52

You get the picture. Along

25:56

with casting, former child

25:58

stars, the channel also

25:59

adheres to a strict

26:02

nine act structure that

26:04

very often features a

26:06

beautiful and neurotically

26:08

driven career woman from the big

26:10

city who leaves behind and

26:13

unlikeable business boyfriend and then

26:15

has to live temporarily in

26:17

a small town for some

26:19

themed reason. She

26:21

is clearly lacking the

26:23

Christmas spirit when she arrives in a

26:25

town stricken with

26:27

Christmas. Then comes a little meat cute

26:29

with the handsome handyman or baker

26:31

or Christmas tree farmer who's

26:33

often a widower with a child

26:36

Shockingly, Hallmark doesn't shy away

26:38

from mentions of spousal death.

26:40

Then the woman and the man do an almost

26:43

kiss BUT THEN THEY ARE INTERUPTED BY SOME VERSION

26:45

OF A BIG BUSINESS FORCE

26:47

COMING IN TO DESTROY WHATEVER

26:49

FAMILY RUN JOY IS THE

26:51

HEART. Of the town. But then, the community

26:53

bonds together to vanquish

26:55

the modernizing forces. And

26:57

the woman and the man finally

27:00

kissed but just once as

27:02

she begins the process of

27:04

tapering her ambitions to

27:06

focus on family values

27:08

in this small town on

27:10

the little things, the things that matter,

27:13

the things

27:13

that might be

27:15

magic. So now that

27:17

we have our stars in

27:19

our plot, we need our set.

27:22

Despite the implicit americanness

27:25

of these movies, they're

27:27

almost always shot in

27:29

the cutest Canadian small

27:31

towns they can find. The

27:33

producers sometimes going on actual

27:35

road trips to find hidden

27:37

gems with that perfectly

27:39

quaint downtown look.

27:41

It's simply cheaper to make

27:43

movies in Canada. It's

27:45

also and knowledge that if you

27:47

are a screenwriter, don't

27:49

even try to pass

27:51

the execs a script that

27:53

isn't absolutely caked in immaculate

27:56

gnolls of bone white

27:58

snow. It's an

28:00

unspoken rule that they're always.

28:03

Pass to be snow. And each movie

28:05

is actually allocated

28:07

a budget of fifty thousand

28:10

dollars to make that happen.

28:13

Because most of these winter

28:15

movies are actually shot

28:17

during summer days. So

28:19

the snow is mostly made of

28:22

Abrick snow blankets, fire

28:24

retardant foam, crushed

28:26

limestone, ice shavings,

28:28

and soap bubbles. This also

28:30

means that the actors are forced

28:32

to wear jackets and scarves

28:34

and hats and mittens. In

28:36

the heat of the sun, which can hit

28:39

a hundred degrees in some

28:41

locations, while still

28:43

keeping two mitten hands

28:45

wrapped around a steaming mug

28:47

of scalding hot

28:50

chocolate.

28:50

The shoots usually

28:51

take fifteen days

28:54

and cost two million dollars

28:56

a pop, with screen

28:58

writers getting about fifty

29:00

thousand per script, same as the

29:02

snow budget.

29:03

These costs are not very

29:06

high. When you consider the one

29:08

hundred and fifty million dollars

29:10

the network makes in ad revenue during November

29:13

and December alone.

29:16

Specifically trained set designers also

29:18

come in to make sure the

29:20

films have that patented

29:22

hallmark feeling just

29:24

jamming as much Christmas as

29:26

possible into every single

29:29

frame. Characters have to

29:31

have special Christmas bed

29:33

sheets and special Christmas

29:36

hand towels. Wreath and

29:38

Christmas lights

29:39

inside, including in the

29:40

bathroom enormous trees

29:44

covered in fat snakes of

29:44

garland and ornaments

29:47

the size of a human

29:50

head. Since producers know

29:52

that many people keep the hallmark

29:54

channel playing in the background

29:56

during the Christmas season, they

29:58

try to make So that

29:59

at any given moment that the

30:02

viewer passes the television set,

30:04

they will be stunned by

30:07

the joy pacified comfortably to their

30:09

very human core

30:11

with sugar plums dancing

30:13

in their heads. Along with

30:16

that, mid priced cabernet. Am

30:18

I

30:18

right? It's very

30:19

clear that these movies are family

30:22

friendly. That point has been

30:24

driven home. But if

30:26

we remember their target

30:28

demographic, it ain't the

30:30

kids they're trying to draw

30:32

in. You see, these

30:34

adult targeted movies have

30:36

more Christmas magic in them

30:38

than I personally feel comfortable

30:41

with. It seems like

30:43

someone's dad always turns out

30:45

to be Santa or

30:47

Santa is the mysterious centric

30:49

who had wandered into the character's lives

30:51

to make some kind of domestic

30:54

magic happen, like in the

30:56

case of matchmaker Santa starring

30:58

Lacey Chabear, actually

31:00

meddling in the affairs of

31:02

humans to make them fall

31:05

in love. By just touching

31:07

his nose slightly with

31:09

a little pink. Often

31:11

just like in Christmas under

31:14

wraps, these sandhas

31:16

shoot into the starry

31:18

black sky with a full

31:20

fleet of reindeer at

31:22

the conclusion. Of the

31:24

film. The main characters always receive

31:26

this news with a gleeful

31:29

little gasp. Whereas I

31:31

would scream as my very

31:33

concept of physical reality

31:35

was torn violently

31:38

in half. Not in

31:40

Hallmark Town, just an

31:42

excited exclamation from the

31:44

residents, and a hundred little

31:46

side smiles at

31:48

the sky. Dad

31:49

really decided to get

31:52

into greeting cards instead of

31:54

postcards because although postcards had been

31:56

a means of communication, they

31:59

he thought they were

31:59

getting dirty in

32:02

content, and I

32:04

would not serve the purpose

32:06

of social communication. Foul language

32:09

and what was then

32:11

nude looking women, which were

32:13

today would be considered

32:15

completely closed of

32:17

course. But it

32:19

was not aiming in the right direction as an

32:22

industry, and I think it's proved to

32:24

be right. Back

32:25

at the turn of the twentieth century

32:28

when Hallmark was just a

32:30

twinkle in the eye of

32:32

an uncommonly entrepreneurial child,

32:34

there wasn't a lot

32:36

of Christmas magic to be

32:39

had by unrich kids

32:41

who also did not enjoy such

32:44

frivolities as playing, but

32:46

instead got to work straight

32:48

out of the womb. Especially if

32:50

they were living with single mothers,

32:53

like little Joyce Clyde

32:55

Hall was. Known

32:57

to his familiarity as JC,

32:59

the boy showed his talent

33:01

for business early, starting

33:03

his career at the robust

33:06

age of eight years old,

33:08

selling makeup and fancy soap door

33:10

to door for a company that

33:12

would eventually become Avon.

33:15

At fourteen, he met

33:17

a Chicago salesman who convinced

33:19

him to enter the brand new

33:23

bustling postcard industry. And

33:25

he and his brothers scraped together

33:27

their teenage life savings,

33:29

coming up with five hundred

33:31

and forty dollars to found the

33:34

Norfolk Postcard Company.

33:36

Lucky for these boys, postcards

33:38

were becoming a

33:40

full blown craze. In

33:42

America. By nineteen

33:44

o two, mail was

33:46

suddenly being sent out and

33:49

also delivered straight to the front

33:51

doors of Americans, including

33:53

those in rural small towns.

33:56

Where between

33:56

nineteen o five and nineteen o

33:59

nine there was an eight hundred

34:01

and fifty percent increase

34:03

in outgoing mail. As

34:05

World War one boomed and took young

34:07

men and fathers away from

34:09

their families, the demand for this kind

34:12

of loving communication

34:14

was unprecedented, and the

34:17

whole brothers would soon open a

34:19

new company to keep up

34:21

with the demand. In nineteen twenty

34:23

eight, they began calling their

34:25

ever expanding business,

34:28

Hallmark. And the term

34:30

Hallmark Holiday soon entered

34:34

popular vernacular. Through the middle of the century, Hallmark

34:36

continued to grow at an

34:38

unprecedented rate with the boys

34:40

opening stores all over

34:42

the country and

34:44

popularizing the revolutionary greeting

34:47

card displays that have become a

34:49

staple of grocery and drugstores all

34:51

over the world. By

34:53

the nineteen forties, Hallmark was

34:56

printing one million cards

34:59

every single day. But

35:02

JC had a bigger

35:04

vision than just greeting

35:06

cards. In

35:07

nineteen fifty, he

35:09

wrote to his sales team, quote, dear fellows.

35:11

We're gonna try our hand

35:13

at television. And on Christmas

35:15

Eve, nineteen fifty

35:18

one, the hallmark company partnered

35:20

with NBC to create the very first

35:23

live opera written

35:25

specifically for television. They

35:29

commissioned Italian american composer, Gian Carlo

35:32

Minati, a longtime American

35:34

resident and pretty

35:36

open homosexual rule

35:38

to come up with an original idea for the special

35:41

inspired by his own

35:43

Santa Closeless childhood

35:46

in Italy as well as what

35:48

he saw as an

35:50

oversaturation of a commercialized,

35:52

sanctified holiday. He wrote

35:54

a mall and the night visitors. About

35:57

three kings on their way to see

35:59

the child.

36:13

Millions of

36:14

Americans tuned in to watch

36:16

this opera live. And by the

36:19

next morning, millions more

36:21

would kick themselves for missing the live show

36:23

as stories of its success

36:26

dominated newspaper headlines, including

36:28

the front page of The New York

36:32

Times. Though other

36:32

productions had appeared live during Christmas

36:34

time, there had not yet been

36:37

a tradition, and a mall and

36:39

the night visitors became just

36:42

that. They aired the same opera year after

36:44

year, sometimes with returning

36:47

cast members, sometimes with

36:49

new performers as well. We

36:51

can look at this as the first

36:54

televised Christmas movie

36:56

tradition. The success of

37:00

the opera led to JC's idea to

37:02

create the hallmark hall of

37:04

fame, which

37:06

broadcasted classic theater

37:08

adaptations of Shakespeare and

37:10

John Steinbeck and Willa Kather

37:13

in August Wilson. Of the two

37:15

hundred productions they put out over the next several

37:18

decades, Hallmark received eighty

37:20

one Emmys

37:22

nine Golden Globes, and a whole bunch of Peabody

37:25

and Christopher awards. JC

37:28

retired in nineteen

37:30

sixty six and handed the

37:32

company over to his son

37:34

Donald Hall, who continued

37:36

to pump out these classy

37:38

TV specials.

37:40

Until, well, America

37:42

stopped being interested.

37:44

The

37:44

first CEO outside of

37:47

the Hall family was Herb

37:50

Hockiday, who made some major changes to the company's

37:52

direction when he took over

37:54

in the eighties, when Reagan era

37:57

Christian conservatism influenced family

38:00

friendly sitcoms, like

38:02

full house, like the

38:04

wonder years, like the

38:06

cheesy after school specials that

38:08

would in turn deliver

38:10

hallmark its future stars.

38:12

Then in nineteen ninety two,

38:15

Hallmark merged with

38:17

infamous fundamentalist Reverend

38:20

Jerry Falwell Senior's American

38:23

Christian television service. And with

38:25

another called Vision Interface Satellite Network, which was

38:28

all renamed the family

38:30

and values channel.

38:32

By nineteen ninety nine,

38:33

the channel was taken over by

38:36

Hallmark and the Jim

38:38

Henson Company. And

38:40

became geared toward kids with Muppet content, as

38:42

well as original mini series

38:45

like Gulliver's travels and

38:48

Merlin. Right alongside a whole bunch of Christian

38:51

broadcasts. But by two

38:53

thousand one, the company bought network

38:56

and the hallmark channel

38:58

was born. Over time,

39:00

they started to trim back the

39:03

explicitly religious content to make

39:05

the network palatable for a broader

39:08

audience while still trying

39:10

to honor similar

39:14

values. Towing, The line. Sergeant Cullen

39:16

received

39:16

a card from our admirers

39:18

back in the states. That

39:20

sent him on a journey. Already

39:23

have family in town. I'm just passing through.

39:25

To find his destiny, I think it's a little

39:27

odd that a grown man would travel this far

39:29

based on cars. One super act will

39:31

change two lives. This card brought

39:34

into Nevada City? No.

39:36

You do. Edward Asner. In

39:39

a hallmark Channel Original Movie, The Christmas

39:42

card. Hallmark put

39:43

out their first major

39:45

movie production in two

39:47

thousand six called The

39:49

Christmas card, which centers around

39:52

a young soldier stationed in

39:54

Afghanistan who receives a

39:56

mysterious card in the mail from

39:58

a missed a woman and

40:01

becomes determined to find her

40:03

when he returns home.

40:05

The Christmas card was an absolute

40:08

smash with five million

40:10

viewers tuning in, a

40:12

record breaking

40:14

moment. For the hallmark company. After seeing the

40:16

success of this feel good,

40:18

mildly patriotic romance, the

40:22

landmark count down to Christmas

40:25

officially began on the

40:27

channel with original movies airing

40:29

every day from

40:31

October twenty fifth all the way until

40:33

early January under the instruction of

40:36

CEO, Bill Abbott. The

40:38

holiday made

40:38

for TV movie industrial

40:41

complex had officially kicked into

40:44

gear. Year after year,

40:46

Hallmark raped in more and

40:48

more of that cookie dough. Slinging

40:52

out more and more half

40:54

baked treats, like twenty

40:56

sixteen's Christmas

40:58

cookies, set in the town jar,

41:00

where a cookie business woman is

41:02

sent to buy and shut down the

41:05

local cookie factory to

41:08

replace it with a corporate cookie chain.

41:10

But instead, she falls

41:12

in love with the factories owner

41:16

and decides Yes. Her heart

41:18

belongs in cookie jar. It

41:20

takes a little bit of love

41:21

to make something really special.

41:24

Christmas hallmark

41:28

channel. More

41:29

after

41:30

more

41:31

this.

41:34

This episode is brought

41:36

to you by case file, truth, and deception

41:38

based on the hit crime podcast, case

41:40

file, and Goliath. Wealthy businessman,

41:44

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41:46

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41:48

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41:50

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41:56

case file truth and deception game available

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online and in stores at

41:59

Amazon and

42:02

Walmart.

42:03

And now,

42:04

back to the show. Where

42:06

is everybody? Oh,

42:07

is there something great showing on TV?

42:09

From your

42:10

sending of twenty six, that a unlike

42:13

time. Of

42:14

course, other networks were

42:18

monitoring hallmarks Mary, meteoric, rise

42:20

to Christmas success, and

42:22

they were looking for new

42:25

ways to compete. Second

42:27

to Hallmark in the made for TV movie

42:30

industry is the company's

42:32

evil twin. Their cooler, cigarette,

42:35

smoking cousin who seems to know everything

42:38

there is to know about serial

42:40

killers. You know, the far

42:42

more gritty,

42:44

lifetime network which is

42:46

always specialized in tantalizing

42:48

tales of suburban murders

42:50

and wayward teenagers. But when

42:53

it comes Christmas movies, Lifetime has

42:55

actually been in the game even

42:57

longer than Hallmark, starting all the

42:59

way back in the

43:01

late nineteen nineties. They too

43:03

have used many familiar stars from Gen X and millennial

43:06

childhoods, crowning their

43:08

own canvas Cameron

43:10

Burry in the moderately conservative Christmas

43:13

queen Melissa Joan

43:15

Hart of Clarissa explains it

43:18

all and Sabrina the Teenage

43:20

Witch who now stars in as

43:22

many as three films

43:24

a year. To be honest, I like

43:26

her movies a lot more, especially

43:29

holiday in handcuffs, which is

43:31

an absolute delight.

43:34

Though Lifetime

43:34

saw more and more success with

43:36

their growing slate of Christmas

43:39

movies, Hallmark remained

43:42

Until

43:42

a far bigger company with

43:45

far deeper pockets darkened

43:47

the doorway of

43:50

their corner. Office. In the year of our

43:52

Christmas movie wars twenty

43:54

seventeen, Netflix released

43:58

a Christmas Prince,

43:59

which was a total knock off of

44:02

another subgenre of Hallmark

44:04

movie not yet mentioned,

44:06

regular woman and

44:08

Royal Man fall in love. It was a smash

44:09

hit, leading to a Christmas

44:12

Prince two and three.

44:15

Lifetime in Netflix not only

44:18

took note of Hallmark's

44:20

winning formula, but also

44:22

of its blind spots. As

44:24

a growing chorus of tweets called out

44:27

Hallmark's character limitations.

44:29

Like the fact that

44:31

they had never had a black lead in

44:34

any of their movies

44:36

and marry a gay to

44:39

be seen The Christmas movie wars

44:41

were raging as Lifetime

44:43

and Netflix went for

44:45

the company's juggler when

44:48

they spied with their little

44:50

eyes, something beginning

44:52

with d. That's right.

44:56

Diversity. Lifetime offered up gay leads.

44:58

In twenty twenty's the Christmas

45:00

setup, in which an

45:02

uptight lawyer from New York

45:05

goes home to visit his mother, Fran

45:08

Dresher, for Christmas, where

45:10

he reconnects with his high

45:12

school crush, and then has

45:15

to decide whether to choose this new small town life or

45:17

take the promotion he was

45:19

offered in London. Then

45:22

Netflix countered with the happiest

45:25

season starring Kristen Stewart

45:27

playing a woman visiting her girlfriend's

45:30

super rich family house for Christmas,

45:32

who's told only moments before

45:34

that she has not yet come out

45:36

to her parents and they have to tend

45:38

to be friends for the duration of the trip. And

45:41

of course, stressful but

45:43

hilarious hijinks ensue.

45:47

Hallmark

45:47

also offered up

45:49

gay characters in twenty

45:51

twenties, The Christmas House,

45:53

but it's never explicitly stated that that is

45:55

what they are. But this year,

45:58

Hallmark

45:58

has finally caught up. With

46:02

the premiere of their first gay leads in the

46:05

holiday sitter, starring the

46:08

openly gay

46:10

Jonathan Bennett. AKA

46:12

mean girls, Aaron Samuels,

46:14

as a workaholic with

46:17

a handsome neighbor. And here

46:19

this, Hallmark has even been out Hanukkah movies. Like

46:22

twenty twenties, Love

46:24

Lights Hanukkah.

46:26

Starring Mia Kirschner, AKA, Jenny

46:29

Schechter from the l word

46:31

and Ben Savage.

46:35

Also known as Corey Matthews

46:37

of Boy meets world. That's

46:39

a couple I never

46:41

thought I'd see. Where Lifetime had been making Christmas

46:44

films with Blackleads since

46:46

twenty thirteen? It took

46:48

Hallmark until

46:50

twenty eighteen. When Jerica

46:52

Hinton starred in memories

46:54

of Christmas, in which she

46:56

plays a workaholic who

46:58

falls in love with a

47:00

professional Christmas decorator. Under new leadership,

47:02

they're now putting out four or

47:04

five a year with black or

47:06

biracial couples.

47:09

When it comes to diversity in

47:11

real life, Sonya Lucas is

47:13

quick to give credit to the

47:15

many people at Hallmark who had long

47:17

been pushing for more diversity before she got there.

47:20

And the very

47:22

diverse group who have

47:24

always worked behind the

47:25

scenes. If you think

47:27

these movies are written exclusively

47:29

by a group of Christian

47:32

goody two shoes doped up

47:34

on whimsy, you'd be

47:36

wrong. Tippy and Neil,

47:38

the broth ski are a Jewish couple who've written over thirty

47:40

made for TV movies,

47:42

mostly for hallmark.

47:44

Prolific Christmas

47:46

king, Ron Oliver, is openly gay and

47:48

has had multiple number one

47:50

hits on the channel. Also

47:54

directing Netflix falling for Christmas which

47:56

included Lindsay Lohan's triumphant

47:59

return. hearn

48:01

It's fantastic. Ron also

48:04

directed the horror movie,

48:06

prom night two, and

48:08

he used to work on are you afraid

48:10

of the dark, including on two of

48:12

my favorite episodes, the tale of laughing

48:14

in the dark, and the tale of the

48:17

ghastly grinner. A

48:17

surprising number of

48:20

hallmark writers actors and producers also work in

48:22

horror, including Peter Sullivan

48:24

who directed Christmas under wraps.

48:26

But we'll learn more about

48:30

that. Next week. All of this is to say that the

48:32

heart of each Hallmark

48:34

movie may not be

48:36

as conservative as we would

48:38

assume. Even the writer

48:40

and director of the first

48:42

traditional hallmark Christmas

48:44

movie opera

48:46

was gay. But prior to

48:48

the Christmas movie wars, all of

48:50

this was happening behind the scenes.

48:53

Hidden away from an audience

48:55

that might flee at the

48:57

first sight of such

49:00

liberalized, corrupt

49:25

cyanide

49:27

There is a

49:28

major conflict at the

49:31

heart of the majority of

49:34

these movies. An age old clash

49:36

between the big city and the

49:38

small town, which

49:40

both have their

49:42

bloated political meanings.

49:44

If we take another look at

49:46

that postcard craze of the early

49:50

nineteen hundreds, that buoyed JC Hall into the

49:52

annals of business history,

49:54

we can see that the scenes

49:56

that appeared most often on

50:00

the cherished hardstock were of mistletoe,

50:02

Santa Claus, sleighs, but

50:05

also of snowy churches.

50:08

Eucolic countryside and small

50:10

town main streets, just

50:12

like little old fashioned hallmark movies.

50:16

Frozen in a single frame. But

50:19

the postcards almost never

50:22

showed images of

50:24

the city. During

50:26

the

50:26

time of the postcard craze,

50:28

people in rural areas had

50:30

been hit hard by the

50:33

industrial real revolution that left

50:35

farmers and family run

50:37

businesses in

50:38

shambles. Out of

50:40

necessity, and hope for a

50:42

better life, the children of these

50:44

small towns started moving

50:47

away at unprecedented rates to look for factory

50:49

jobs in faraway metropolises.

50:52

And by nineteen ten,

50:54

the total population in American

50:57

cities actually surpassed the

51:00

total rural population.

51:02

It was hard for families to cope

51:05

with these losses while also facing the

51:07

powerlessness that many felt against

51:10

modernization. According to historian

51:14

Daniel Gifford, author of

51:16

American holiday postcards, imagery,

51:18

and context, rural Americans

51:21

were, quote, circulating an

51:24

idealized version of themselves. Political

51:26

science

51:26

professor Paul Musgrave

51:29

wrote in twenty twenty

51:32

quote, what Christmas movies show is that the world

51:34

Americans want to live

51:37

in isn't the world they've

51:40

made. Most Americans live

51:42

in suburbs, but holiday

51:44

movies exist in a world

51:46

of small towns. Most

51:48

Americans work in low

51:50

status service jobs, but

51:52

holiday movies promise that

51:54

fulfilling work is just one

51:56

true meaning of Christmas

51:58

away. Giant corporations

52:00

loyal only to profits

52:02

dominate the real economy. But

52:06

Christmas movie economies run

52:08

on small businesses deeply

52:11

embedded in their societies. I think

52:14

it's fair to

52:14

say that a good chunk of

52:17

us no matter who

52:20

we are, are dealing with

52:22

a serious sense of

52:25

disillusionment. As pointed out

52:27

in the essay, nostalgia

52:29

relieves the disillusioned mind published

52:31

in twenty twenty one,

52:33

quote, disillusionment arises

52:36

when life

52:38

experiences strongly discredit positive assumptions

52:40

or deeply held beliefs.

52:42

Under these conditions, people

52:46

feel lost. Confused,

52:48

disconnected from their social

52:51

environments. However, the

52:53

past can provide solace as

52:55

a refuge of meaning and

52:57

social connection. Indeed,

53:00

nostalgic reflection is a

53:02

commonly cited source of

53:04

meaning. In life.

53:07

Lifetime, Netflix, and all

53:09

the other streaming services have

53:12

certainly seen success. With their own

53:14

holiday movies. But they

53:16

know that it's probably

53:18

impossible that they'll ever beat out

53:20

Hallmark because of their century

53:22

old brand. Evokes nostalgic

53:24

feelings in a great deal of

53:26

Americans. They know that

53:28

Hallmark basically owns Christmas, they

53:32

literally invented wrapping paper.

53:34

But no matter

53:35

how our heart feels

53:38

about them, they are still a mega a

53:40

bottom line. And those of us

53:42

who fall under the super fun

53:45

banner of diversity see

53:48

ourselves either being a liability to profits

53:51

or a chance to

53:53

leverage an untapped market. It's

53:55

not much more complicated than

53:58

that. That one

53:59

former

53:59

hallmark CEO Bill Abbott

54:02

was under fire for that

54:04

gay wedding ad controversy, he told a journalist

54:06

that their movies were, quote,

54:08

your place to go to

54:11

get away from politics. To

54:13

get away from everything in your life that

54:16

is problematic and negative.

54:18

And to feel like there are people out

54:20

there who are good human beings.

54:22

That could make you feel happy to

54:24

be a part of the human race.

54:26

It seems that getting

54:27

away from politics

54:30

now requires

54:32

getting away from each other. This sentiment,

54:35

the dedication to making

54:38

family friendly content

54:40

that is

54:42

safe for the family implies that by

54:44

virtue of being seen, strolling

54:47

down a snowy

54:50

main street we are

54:52

some kind of threat to

54:54

families. These channels'

54:56

dedication to staying a

54:59

political also means that we can't

55:02

exist apart from what our life

55:04

means to the narratives

55:06

of the culture

55:08

and business Wars.

55:10

When asked why he is

55:12

so good at what he does.

55:15

Hallmark director Ron Oliver

55:17

told the LA times, quote, I think it's because

55:19

I understand that under all of

55:22

the ridiculously

55:24

commercialized nonsense,

55:26

the bright colors and the sparkling lights we wrap the

55:29

holidays in, it's always

55:31

about heart. Every

55:34

Christmas story, boils

55:36

down to somebody telling

55:38

somebody else they love

55:40

them. Here's

55:41

current CEO, Wahgnia

55:44

Lucas, again. If you think about our brand, it

55:46

is about love. Right? And a

55:48

sense of hope and optimism, which

55:50

are

55:52

universal themes regardless of who you are in this world,

55:54

which is why I love this brand

55:55

so much. I haven't worked on

55:56

a lot of brands like that. And

55:59

so

55:59

given and though

56:01

who we are, She also promises

56:03

that no matter what changes take place

56:05

at Hallmark at the end

56:07

of their movies, everything

56:10

will always work out.

56:14

This love, the today's

56:16

variety of

56:18

hallmarkian mass or minds have

56:20

expressed no matter how

56:22

cheesy, how corny, how

56:24

cliche and how problematic

56:27

is a biological instinct that rivals hunger

56:29

and thirst, the drive to

56:32

form something equivalent

56:34

to a hallmark,

56:36

small

56:36

town.

56:38

The

56:38

communities we dream of being a part

56:40

of are certainly very

56:42

different depending on who we

56:44

are, but I do think that many of us

56:47

surrounded as we are by

56:49

so much vicious fragmentation

56:53

Dream of a life at least

56:55

a little like this.

56:58

Nothing fancy, a place

57:00

like Garland, where we have

57:02

everything we need.

57:04

Something out of reach for

57:06

so many different kinds of Americans

57:09

in both rural and urban areas. Just a

57:11

place where the town will

57:13

band together to stop

57:16

the mega corporations that threaten the community through

57:20

acts of marry solidarity,

57:23

wielding the Christmas spirit,

57:26

like a fist. A

57:28

place where friends and families

57:30

are no longer torn

57:32

apart, irrevocably by culture

57:34

wars where all our

57:36

griefs and all our

57:38

disillusionments

57:38

are settled firmly

57:41

in the past, a place where

57:43

we will find new

57:45

love that will remind us

57:47

of how it felt

57:49

when we believed, making

57:52

us nostalgic for the

57:54

times when it felt

57:56

like we

57:58

still

57:58

could. God.

57:59

Listen to me. I have been

58:02

watching way too

58:03

many Hallmark

58:06

movies. This

58:08

was American hysteria. If

58:11

you'd like to