Tis the Season to be Outraged: Scripting the Senses in the War on Christmas

Media contributions

• Title	Tis the Season to be Outraged: Scripting the Senses in the War on Christmas
  Degree of recognition	International
  Media name/outlet	Blog Religious Matters
  Media type	Online journalism
  Duration/Length/Size	1500 words
  Country/Territory	Netherlands
  Date	22/12/2021
  Description	In contemporary globalized media-culture, most of us have received the Christmas narrative in some way shape or form. Whether it is through Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, countless Hollywood movies, children’s cartoons or songs, Christmas is not just the time to be merry, it is also a time in which people are reminded of the importance to be concerned about Christmas, to convert people to the true spirit of Christmas or to enjoy stories in which enemies of Christmas get their deserved comeuppance. In this blogpost I suggest there is a connection between the popularized narrative of Christmas as we see it in Christmas movies and contemporary polarization as it unfolds during this holiday season.[ ‘Christmas’, I argue, is a script involving all the senses. The script is used to express (and increase) a sense of belonging but also of fear and concern. This allows us to better understand how, in times of Covid-19, Christmas is connected to deepening polarization between ‘the people’ and its enemies.
  Producer/Author	Religious Matters Project of Utrecht University
  URL	https://religiousmatters.nl/tis-the-season-to-be-outraged-scripting-the-senses-in-the-war-on-christmas/
  Persons	E. van den Hemel