Under the Mistletoe

When you think of holiday romance in popular culture, you probably imagine the formulaic made-for-TV movies we all love to watch: a career gal moves from the big city to a small town, where she finds the love of her life and the true meaning of Christmas. Yet, as with so much of the romance genre, our favorite holiday movies, books, TV episodes, and plays are so much richer than the oft-derided formula. The 22 essays in this volume turn a scholarly eye to one of our most beloved and under-examined subgenres, offering celebrations and criticisms alike of Christmas, New Year, Hanukkah, and Diwali romances.
This work includes voices from global scholars across an impressive breadth of disciplines: literature, history, theater, media, gender and sexuality studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, law, and victim studies. Readers will delight in celebrations of old classics like Christmas in Connecticut, new favorites like A Holly Jolly Diwali, and everything in between.

Liz W. Faber is assistant professor of English and communication at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. Their research focuses on science fiction and representations of artificial intelligence.

Edited by Liz W. Faber
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 248
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9378-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5382-2
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction: Why Holiday Romance?
Liz W. Faber 1
I. What Christmas Means to Me 5
Writing the Rule on Holiday Romance
Rachel B. Wickenheiser 6
Holiday Romance Films as Mediated Rituals: The Case of Single All the Way (2021)
Molly Frizzell and Rodrigo Muñoz-González 18
Pure Camp in Hallmark’s Cinematic Holiday Universes
Georgia Fagan 28
“A holiday that could be whatever anyone wanted it to be”: The Indian American Holiday Season in Sonya Lalli’s A Holly Jolly Diwali
Sreepurna Datta 37
II. Have a Holly Jolly Hollywood 47
The World War II Christmas: Gender and Class in Christmas in Connecticut (1945) and It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Kimberly Divonne Smith 48
Love, Marriage, and a ­Snow-Covered Carriage: Foundations of the Romantic Christmas Genre in Post–HUAC Hollywood, 1949–1954
Vaughn Joy 58
It’s That Time of Year: The Holiday Season and Cyclical Temporality in Hollywood Romantic Comedy
Harriet Idle 69
“Let’s go get the shit kicked out of us by love”: Neoliberal Masculinities in Love Actually
Marc A. Ouellette 78
III. A Very Special Christmas 89
It’s a ­So-Called Wonderful Life: A Close Reading of My ­So-Called Life’s Unanticipated, “Very Spiritual” Christmas Episode
S.A. Wilder 90
Christmas Cookies and Family Drama: Revisiting Austen’s Characters on Stage
Suzanne Delle 99
A Wallflower for Christmas: A Holiday Offering in a Neatly Wrapped Bow
Colleen Etman 107
“I burn for you”: Bridgerton, Healthy Dissociation, and a Covid Holiday
Julie Thompson 116
IV. I’ll Be Home for Christmas 127
Aspirational Commensality in Romantic Winter Holiday Movies (2018–2022)
Laura Kitchings 128
Multiplying the Magic: Exploring Families in Holiday Movies
Erin K. Burrell 141
Romanticizing the Small Town: The Staging of Big City and Small Town in Hallmark Christmas Movies as a Restoration of the American Dream
Lena Koseck 152
V. I’m Dreaming of a Diverse and Inclusive Winter Holiday Season 161
Race, Relationships, and Representation: How Hallmark Depicts The Christmas Town
Kathleen Stanley 162
Under the Menorah: Hallmark’s Honorary Hanukkah Movies
Melanie J. Fishbane 172
Can We Please Make the Yuletide Gayer? A Queer Reading of Happiest Season
Olivia Vogt 182
From Gideon Holiday to Blake Sunday: A Deeper Queering of Holiday Romance
Jennie McStotts 192
VI. Holiday Slay Ride 203
Crime at Christmas: Why Do So Many Beloved Holiday Films Involve Crime?
Shelly Clevenger 204
Naughty or Nice: Representations of Santa Claus in U.S. Horror vs. Romance
Liz W. Faber 212
A Corpse for Christmas: How Love and Death Collide in the Christmas Short Mystery Genre
Rebecca Gibson 222
About the Contributors 231
Index 235