Tips for spicing up your Christmas viewing in class

Festive films are as much a part of Christmas as Santa, trees and turkey. When I was at school, a screening of a Christmas video − usually The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) or Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) − was an annual tradition during the last week before the holidays.

At the time, there was no learning value attached to these viewings besides spreading seasonal cheer and goodwill to all men. But what if there were? What if the Christmas DVD lesson was still fun and festive but also unexpected and challenging?

The BFI National Archive is one of the largest in the world and contains a huge variety of film materials dating from the very earliest days of cinema up to the present day. And thanks to our Unlocking Film Heritage programme, plenty of fascinating material from the BFI and other public film archives is now easily accessible for free online, including much of our Christmas Crackers collection.

So, rather than replaying The Muppet Christmas Carol yet again, why not try some of these ideas to spark a discussion about festive film and TV’s past, present and future?

We’ve come a long way since the one-shot theatrical sets of very early cinema, but there’s also much that has stayed the same. The Mistletoe Bough (1904) depicts a ghostly gothic story of a Christmas ballad, while G.A. Smith’s technically ambitious Santa Claus (1898) and the impressive A Christmas Carol (1914) show well-known festive figures imaginatively adapted for the time.

Pair these titles with features such as Scrooged (1988), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) or The Polar Express (2004), and ask students to think about change and continuity. I’m also a fan of Dreams of Toyland (1908) and As Christmas Draws Near (1928), sinister shorts of children’s toys coming to life! Play these as a surprise before a screening of one of the Toy Story franchise. 

A Message from Mars (1913), Britain’s first full-length science fiction feature, is another intriguing interpretation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This futuristic vision focuses on a Martian, exiled to Earth, with a mission to change the heart of a selfish man. Use this as a starting point for students to come up with their own re-workings of Christmas classics.

Wartime newsreels like Christmas at the Front (1914), Parcels for the Front (1915) and Tommys’ Xmas Pudding (1916) offered families at home reassuring images that troops weren’t being forgotten at Christmas.

Meanwhile, festive films from the Second World War, like Christmas Under Fire (1941) or Keep Them Safe, Keep Them Happy (1939), were often government-sponsored and designed to boost morale, elicit sympathy and reaffirm that Christmas should still be celebrated despite difficult circumstances. Think about how the filmmakers get their message across through images and language. You could show one of these beside features that present young people’s experience during the war, such as Life Is Beautiful (1997), Goodnight Mister Tom (1998) or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008).

Opening presents, eating turkey, wearing paper hats – home movies from our regional archives show how these Christmas Day rituals haven’t changed much over the years. Try Xmas 1937, Our Christmas 1961 or any of the Ashlee Family Films. How different do these films look to what we might capture today on phones and tablets? What’s still the same?

Compare this year’s John Lewis Christmas ad to festive advertising and public information fillers from the past. For example, Premium Bonds: Xmas 1959 uses a very merry Santa to encourage viewers to save and win, while Drink Drive Office Party Cartoon (1964), made before it was illegal to drink and drive, suggests it’s women’s responsibility to make sure that men don’t overdo it before getting behind the wheel. Discuss the effectiveness of the campaigns, and try updating them for today’s audience.

Animation in the collection also presents the iconic form of Santa and his sleigh with The Christmas Visitor (1958), Dodo in Christmas Adventure (1965) and Christmas Around the World (1978). And then there’s Goodwill to All Dogs (1960), which shows what creative feats can be achieved with only a pair of scissors. Screen these short films together. Again, what’s similar, what’s different? Which are professionally made and which are amateur? Which does the class like best and why?

A version of this article was originally published on TES.