Goodbye Santa, Hello Women.
I’m a Gift | Utsah Pandey
This upcoming holiday season, Netflix is releasing brand new holiday movies that contain all female leads. By putting women in the forefront, the streaming service is taking a step in rebranding holiday classics, showcasing women making their own decisions and controlling their own fates, or in this case, Christmas.
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (November 30)
A Christmas Prince, The Royal Wedding (a sequel) takes place a year after character Amber helped Prince Richard get the crown, but is nervous about becoming the queen on their royal Christmas wedding day. Although it is cliché to have Amber help Richard become king, it is significant that Amber questions whether she wants the responsibility of her position. Her predicament shows that women can take charge of her own lives rather than having their significant other make all the decisions.
The Princess Switch (November 16)
In this holiday flick, Vanessa Hudgens plays two lead roles: Margaret, Duchess of Montenaro, and Stacey, an ordinary girl who looks just like the Duchess. The two switch lives a week before Christmas where both fall in love with each others’ love interests. Having a female protagonist exist in a setting that is typically male dominated once again shows that women can call the shots without having men intervene. Even though Hudgens’ characters are from opposing social classes, they are the ones who decide what they want, not their love interests.
The Holiday Calendar (November 2)
Kat Graham stars in this movie, playing the role of a photographer who inherits an advent calendar that foreshadows the future. Although this is not a traditional Christmas movie, it still represents women in an independent light with control over their futures. Graham inherits an object that can be dangerous if not used responsibly. It is important to give Graham such power to prove that women are capable of making important and influential choices. They are vital not just in an individual’s life, but in all our lives.