The most omnipresent form of Christmas entertainment in our house is without a doubt the modern Christmas movie. My wife is a big enthusiast of this art form, and every year she seems to find a never-ending supply of Christmas movies that almost always revolve around two basic plots: experiencing Christmas Eve over and over again until they right their wrongs, or getting dumped before a family event and hiring someone as a stand in fiancé. These are real, recurring plots.
I've often wondered why most Christmas music videos venture into the sentimental while other mediums maintain a lock on the fun genre of modern narrative Christmas fare. Well, today we're watching a video that decided to eschew sentimentalism and comedy in favor of a good old modern Christmas love story - "She's All I Want For Christmas" by Lloyd, directed by Motion Family.
In this video, Lloyd plays a Christmas tree seller who can dance and sing, and does so, frequently, amongst the Christmas trees in the lot. This is the first hallmark of a modern Christmas movie - a likable male character who has a humble, low-stress job (and also has other talents).
Then, a couple comes in, and from the first glance we can tell something is amiss - the dude is really busy and is on the phone, ignoring his girlfriend. This is modern Christmas movie hallmark #2 - another male who is super involved in a high-stress, demanding job. When it comes to Christmas trees, frankly, he doesn't have time for this shit.
As the guy walks around on his phone, Lloyd and the woman hit it off, checking out trees and talking. The phone boyfriend can barely get off his phone to get his girlfriend out of there. Lloyd doesn't have that problem, he's at his job. Lloyd has all the time in the world.
This is where things diverge from the normal modern Christmas movie. While in a movie format the lady would slowly move away from her boyfriend and then realize the Christmas tree guy is her one true love, we don't have that kind of time in this video. Instead, Lloyd delivers a Christmas tree to the lady's house in a rare display of using a bundled Christmas tree as a phallic symbol. It is never explicitly stated that they are going to have sex after the Christmas tree is set up, but I think it's safe to say that we'd all be disappointed if he got a $3 tip and left.
Motion Family does a good job of keeping the concept of Lloyd performing around Christmas trees fresh by lighting them differently, creating different setups in the same space. It's an interesting and unique visual that fits with the concept of the video, and that coupled with Lloyd energetic performance make this a video that delivers well on both the narrative and performance aspects.
This video is also in a very small group of Christmas music videos that could definitely be made into Christmas movies. The humble Christmas tree worker, the neglected lady with the workaholic boyfriend. The phallic Christmas trees. We'd get it on Netflix and enjoy it.
