Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite movies of all time. It stars Chevy Chase, as “Clark Griswold”, and Beverly De’Angelo as his long-suffering but always supportive wife, “Ellen”. The movie is the story of a family celebration of the Christmas holiday. It has all the trappings of a traditional Christmas movie, with the feast, the gifts, the decorations, etc. There are visiting family members, grandparents and redneck cousins included, and the doddering great-aunt who has lost her memory and leads to many comedic moments. At face value, it is the story of how a family celebrates the holiday season.
But the plot has an undercurrent of the stress and struggles many families experience when trying to have a “fun, old fashioned, family Christmas”. At various points in the movie, Clark’s wife, son, and other family members, discourage him from building up his expectations too much and suffering the potential letdown of the inevitable reality. As many of us will agree, once you have lived through some magical Christmases growing up, it is tempting to try and make every one more special than the last, and this can put tremendous pressure on someone. As the pressure builds, Clark acts more and more irrationally, but he hangs on in hopes of receiving his Christmas bonus.
The movie takes place in a linear fashion, starting two weeks before Christmas, and with each turn of the Advent calendar, more hilarious events take place and the big day gets closer. I think that having the movie unfold in this manner adds to the growing anticipation and anxiety, as you can see time running out for the family to do all the things Clark wants to get done so that the holiday can be a “perfect” as possible. Had the story been told without the obvious forward movement of time, there would not have been the sense of building suspense and we would not be rooting for Clark as much as we do.
Chechik, J. S. (Director). (1989). Christmas Vacation [Motion Picture].
Christmas Vacation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097958/
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. (2015). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon’s_Christmas_Vacation#Plot
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