There are only so many times a person can rewatch “Elf” or hear “Santa Baby” booming through supermarket speakers before growing altogether Scroogified.
While classic holiday media can be nostalgic and psyche-brightening, sometimes it’s the movies and songs that slightly brush on wintery, festive themes — or those that avoid them entirely — that get you in the spirit of the season. Maybe it’s family memories of gathering in the living room and watching your favorite fantasy film while everyone’s back home for the holidays. Perhaps it’s that one song that reminds you of the tranquility and introspection that comes with the dawn of wintertime.
Members of The Hatchet’s staff shared some of their favorite non-holiday selections that remind them of the holiday season, from grotesque thrillers to superhero flicks, that help them ring in the month’s festivities.
“Saltburn”
Ryan Saenz | Assistant News Editor
In the midst of a particularly bad “pretentious film bro” phase in December 2023, online chatter about “Saltburn,” the freaky flick starring the stunning Jacob Elordi, made its way across my social media feeds. As my upcoming weeklong winter break offered a welcome respite from the constant crises a high school senior faces, atop my break to-do list was to watch this film. “Whatcha watching?” my mother so innocently asked as she sat down on the couch while Barry Keoghan’s opening monologue played on the television.
After giving a vanilla summary, unaware of the sexual nature of the film, my mom happily consented to watching the movie — how bad could it be? We were quickly humbled, and honestly, why did we even think this edgy, gothic feature film would be an appropriate watch just two days before Christmas, especially under the watchful eyes of my childhood Elf on the Shelf, Fred?
The heavy silence that lingered between my mother and I after Keoghan’s final triumphant dance throughout the titular mansion, to the tune of “Murder On The Dancefloor,” could not begin to explain the shock my mother and I had. I thought she and I would never watch that movie again, but when we found ourselves up late once again nearly a year later looking for a movie to watch, we agreed to watch it again. Suddenly, a strange new tradition was born. In all 131 minutes, there is virtually no mention of Christmas, however, I oddly think of Christmas when the film comes up in discussion. Nothing says “happy holidays” like methodically killing an entire family and inheriting their magnificent mansion, I guess.
“Holocene” by Bon Iver
Ben Spitalny | Senior Sports Editor
An anthem of below-freezing weather, the chilling, indie-folk ballad “Holocene” off Bon Iver’s 2011 self-titled masterpiece sophomore album might not be jolly or festive, but it fits the winter season. The plucky guitars, subdued clarinets and airy falsetto vocals evoke an ethereal, solemn sound that reflects a quiet, frigid winter night. The song, which references Halloween in the first verse and Christmas in the last, fits into the time of the year when the sun sets before 6 p.m., and 8:30 p.m. feels like midnight. Its lyrics are broad and pensive, with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon detailing staring out over a highway overpass of ice covering the distance for “miles, miles, miles.”
Would putting this song on at a holiday party get you awkward stares? Maybe. Is it the right tune to be played while decorating a Christmas tree? Probably not. Either way, the track’s winter mood and frigid atmosphere fits those winter days that feel like a tundra. When I’m schlepping to the library to finish papers or attempt to study, “Holecene” cues me into a world where University Yard is an untouched winter wonderland, and Kogan Plaza is a serene landscape. It will always be a December classic to me.
“The Dark Knight”
Fiona Riley | Editor in Chief
Reenacting “The Dark Knight”’s opening bank heist makes for the perfect snow game. I have countless memories of my brothers and I running through empty streets on December nights, dodging behind cars with Nerf guns. I’ve probably watched the film once a month since I was 10 — from the first frame, it’s perfect. Every winter break since leaving for college, I’ve returned to my childhood home and spent the weeks running through the trilogy, usually more than once.
The film has everything a holiday story is supposed to have. Bruce Wayne fights to protect a city that may never forgive him. Harvey Dent begins as Gotham’s bright hope, its White Knight, and after tragedy becomes a fallen angel, a reminder that morality is fragile. The Joker is a perverse holiday spirit, upending order, testing limits, forcing the city’s people to confront who they are under pressure.
Nowhere is the season’s meaning more sharply felt than on the ferries. One boat of civilians, another of prisoners, each holding the detonator to the other. It’s a brutal, simple setup. But nobody acts. It’s proof that good exists when people refuse to give in to fear.
Watching the film over break, I return to questions about hope, morality and human nature. What do we owe each other when the social contract frays? On the ferries, the passengers confront those questions directly. We’d be well advised to sit with them from time to time. It’s also just a great movie.
“Lord of the Rings”
Arwen Clemans | Senior Photo Editor
When my mom found out she was pregnant with twins, she knew one of us had to be named Arwen or Aragorn, after her two favorite Lord of the Rings characters. I got the cool name. My twin brother, Jack, did not.
In our family, Christmas is usually accompanied by whatever my dad’s assembled on the grill, a new puzzle for Mom to work on, a paint-by-number for my sister Aubrey and a card tournament for all of us. Someone — me, usually — always ends up crying over a game of spades. That’s our cue. When the emotions get high, Jack puts on “Lord of the Rings,” the binge begins, and peace is returned to the realm.
For Thanksgiving break my sophomore year, my brother, my sister and I weren’t able to make the flight back to Oregon for the holiday. Instead, we all crammed into my sister’s tiny Queens apartment and cooked a turkey off a stove that barely worked. To feel a little more at home, we introduced my sister’s roommate to the six-movie marathon of “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings.” The next year, in a different, slightly roomier Queens apartment, we did the same — with the addition of both seasons of “The Rings of Power.”
No matter the holiday, the scenes never get old. We always stand and cheer when Aragorn and Legolas come sweeping onto the plain during the Battle of Gondor. I never miss a chance to say, “Hey look, it’s me,” when Arwen first comes on screen, and my siblings never fail to laugh until they run out of breath when Merry and Pippin get high in a cellar after taking down Isengard. Mom will always giggle a little bit and side-eye Dad, who rolls his eyes, when we first see Aragorn in The Prancing Pony. And of course, we all tear up when Frodo destroys the ring.
Accompanied by eggnog and a plate of Costco taquitos, a Middle-earth binge is the best part of being home over break. For the Clemanses, home isn’t home without a little bit of J.R.R. Tolkien.
