By Jayden Jones, Reporter
Photo courtesy of Hollywood Reporter

Christmas movies are a genre in and of themselves. Characteristic to the season, they overwhelm us beginning November 30 (sometimes even earlier). However, the thing about most Christmas movies, specifically Netflix Christmas movies, is that they tend to be terrible, with cheesy one-liners, plots that are practically see through, and exposition so painfully heavy-handed that you just want to jump in and help those poor screenwriters out.

We love these movies, though. To the point where we have made them an integral part of our Christmas traditions. Christmastide doesn’t officially start until “A Christmas Prince” starts popping up on our Netflix recommendations. Buzzfeed articles are written, memes are made, our friends start raving–the hype is born.

The “it’s so bad, it’s good” Netflix Christmas movies are no new phenomenon. We’re all familiar with the Hallmark movies that are faithfully aired year after year, to the point where our grandmothers can quote them on command. The question is: why do we love these movies? They clearly bring nothing to the cinematic table. They offer no emotional roller coaster, no life lessons, no seat-gripping suspense. Most of them, “A Christmas Prince” in particular, are merely a weakened montage of iconic scenes from other popular movies.

The fact of the matter is, the people behind these movies aren’t as terrible at making movies as you might think. On the contrary, they’re actually movie-making geniuses. Netflix doesn’t make Christmas movies to be Oscar candidates. Instead, they cater them to the demands of their audiences. When we watch “The Princess Switch,” we aren’t doing so under the impression that we are about to watch a ground-breaking film. We watch to be entertained. We watch because we need a movie to wrap presents to, to put on in the background while we scroll through our feed (you know you do it). We watch because we are given one-dimensional characters with whom we would gladly trade places.

Being assigned to cover the coronation of a future king of an imaginary country, falling in love, and proceeding to marry said prince? Sign me up! Being mistaken for the princess of another imaginary country and subsequently switching lives with her? I’m down. Receiving an advent calendar that seems to have the ability to predict my future romance? Okay!

So, this holiday season, before you watch “A Christmas Prince: A Royal Wedding” like you were probably already planning on doing, remember that the ending will be happy, the dialogue will be cringy, and the lives of the characters will be picture perfect. And with this in mind, journey on into the world of Aldovia, and enjoy the excitement and traditions of Christmastide.