More About Lifetime Christmas Movies

 A few more notes about those Lifetime Christmas movies.

Watching them for a second night, I picked up on the something obvious about the recent vintage of productions made in the last few years: all the male characters are weak. Even the romantic lead is weak. He has ambitions and life goals, as a man should have, but he lacks some essential confidence or ability to navigate the world without help. 

The older male character, if present, is often a a weak father.  He was not a good father in the past. He has to overcome his past. Even in his advanced age, he hasn't learned many essential truths about how life works. He needs the women in his life to tell him what to do. He can't

Above all, none of the male characters, no matter what age, is capable of making decisions on his own.  They all need to have the obvious correct decision pointed out to them, either by the female lead, or (worse) by an all-wise female supporting character, often one many years younger in age.

The funniest thing I learned is this following rule, which I have to see violated:

Whenever any male character is introduced, he must apologize.

All of the male characters must apologize for something to woman when they are first on screen. It can be something minor, but there must always be an apology.  

It can be something ridiculous like "I'm so, so sorry that I legitimately thought you were a thief because you recklessly broke into my restaurant. Please forgive me!"

After I discovered this rule last night, in the very next seen it was proven true and I nearly fell out of the hotel bed laughing.

It goes almost without saying that none of the male characters can have any real sexuality. They never "hit" of the woman. Romantic scene invariably consist of the two romantic leads standing awkwardly next to each other like two seventh graders at a school dance. It's an obvious result of the new cultural canon that masculinity is essentially toxic. Instead the new rule is that men should imply they want to kiss the woman, but should torture her by standing in place without taking any action, because doing so would be out of bounds.

The hero is not even allowed to make his own decision in regard to courtship. At the climax of the movie, he must act to save the day and win the girl (because women want this in the story), but he cannot really do so on his own. Always it takes the permission of some supporting female character, telling him to "Go get her, Tiger," to which one wants to shout at the screen mind your own f@cking business! He has to be told by female authority, even a teenage girl, that he loves the heroine and is allowed to pursue her.

Like I said, these observations apply only to the Lifetime Christmas movies made within the last couple years, as we have accelerated into Uber Wokeness. 

I should note as well that we have not seen, nor do we intend to watch, the gay male Lifetime Christmas movie this year. But I'm sure there is no shortage of passionate kisses in that one, and of upfront male desire. In our culture, male desire is only wholesome and good when it is for another man. Male desire for a woman is essentially tainted and toxic.

I pity the young men of today's world who are being bombarded with these messages. They are going to experience so much misery because of it (as will the women, who will only get more collectively frustrated and angry at the men for being wusses). 

I myself got loaded down with enough of this type of message forty years ago. I had to overcome it. I had to learn that the best kisses are the boldest ones.  I had to learn that the pleasure of masculinity is in the risk of action. Someday we will make stories in some form that reflect this again.