Gay Twitter really, really wants a queer Hallmark Christmas film
Still image from Hallmark’s Christmas at the Plaza
Hallmark Christmas films are incredibly popular – and with good reason, too. While they are a tad ridiculous, they are also charming, entertaining, and vacuous: all the ingredients that make the perfect escape from reality.
These films generally follow the same rough plot, which usually goes something like this: high-flying career woman goes to small town where she falls in love with a rugged, handsome man at Christmas. She then learns the true meaning of Christmas by following her heart and realises that city life is not for her after all.
The films, while ridiculous, are also iconic – but there’s something missing: LGBT+ characters. The Wrap reported this week that, of 40 new festive films from the company, not one will feature a gay lead. But all Hallmark had to do was look at Twitter to find out how badly the gays need cheesy Christmas content.
Gay Twitter wants a ‘gothic and gay’ Hallmark Christmas film.
Some people are happy to forego other gifts if they can just get one gay Hallmark Christmas film.
ALL I WANT IS CHEESY GAY HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES
— ?bami? (@bamditos) November 29, 2019
#AllIWantForChristmasIs Hallmark Christmas movies but gothic and gay.— Dez Schwartz (@dez_schwartz) November 20, 2019
all i want for christmas is a gay hallmark movie. @hallmarkchannel ?— owen✨ (@owen_ssh) November 27, 2019
Others were quick to point out the, eh, questionable plots of current Hallmark films.
/ hallmark really made a christmas love story about a 30 yr old white woman obsessed with shoes but cant make a gay christmas story? ok boomers— ???? 《ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ ᴇᴠᴇɴᴛ》( H ) (@fireflyfxmily) November 28, 2019
hallmark really is out there having like hundreds of Christmas rom coms that are all the same and we can't even have one that is gay the disrespect
— vanitas || natalie (@hiddenlnshadowz) November 27, 2019
Meanwhile, some are just happy to live in a fantasy world – and we can’t really blame them.
gonna spend the next month watching hallmark and lifetime christmas movies and pretending they’re gay— ?️?¯_(ツ)_/¯? (@nothsispatrice) November 27, 2019
Give me my gay hallmark Christmas movie you cowards pic.twitter.com/G8iu3AECmM— J.P. (@jmdklp) September 22, 2019
Others are already working on their pitches to Hallmark to create some of that much needed gay content.
concept: a gay hallmark christmas movie that starts with a car accident between the two bitter gays and through dealing with all the insurance and being stranded without a car and shit they fall in love with each other and with christmas.— heaux heaux heaux (@yuppypoof) November 14, 2019
There is some hope for the future. Speaking to The Wrap earlier this week, the executive vice-president of Crown Media, Hallmark’s parent company, said they were aware of the lack of representation. “We are continuing to expand our diversity. We are looking at pitches for LGBTQ movies … and we are looking to expand and represent the United States as a whole.”
Lack of LGBT+ representation is also a problem in other Christmas offerings.
A lack of representation on screen is unfortunately nothing new, and Hallmark is not the only company famous for its holiday movies that it severely lacking in the LGBT+ character department.
Its closest competitor Lifetime also released 30 movies this year, and none of those 30 have leading LGBT+ characters either.
Meghan Hooper White, senior vice president of original co-productions and acquisitions for Lifetime, told The Wrap: “As Lifetime has a diverse group of people working behind the scenes, we’re always looking at the environments we create with our holiday movies to ensure they are reflective of the world we live in.
“We want to see ourselves. While we are proud of the great strides we have made in having many inclusive and diverse storylines … we can always continue to expand.”
