Problem
Watch the Hallmark movie: A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas
A. What is the movie about?
B. What worldview or system of beliefs does it represent?
C. How does it serve to reproduce a hegemonic ideology?
D. In what ways does its similarity to or difference from other films in the holiday film genre, or even the Hallmark Christmas Movie genre, contribute to our understanding of its ideology?
E. Think about the industrial (film production) practices. What is the relationship between these production practices and the messages of the films themselves? Is it contradictory? Complementary? If contradictory, can this contradiction be reconciled?
F. Respond to the Hallmark film that you viewed. Did you enjoy it? Were there aspects that stood out to you? If you have seen other Hallmark movies, were there qualities of this Hallmark movie that seem different from others? Did the film comment on the clichés of the genre, as Metz describes? Did those clichés make the film more effective as an example of the holiday genre, or were they too cliched to be impactful?
G. What vision of Christmas does the film that you viewed present to audiences? According to the film, what is a "good Christmas" like? What does the "Christmas spirit" or "true meaning of Christmas" entail? Be specific. You can excerpt your longer ideological analyses in this section if you want.
H. Did you notice any signs of the industrial context of the film while watching? Evidence that the film was likely shot in the summer, in Canada? Continuity errors that were likely a result of the quick production schedule? Evidence of budgetary restrictions? Again, be specific.