With all of the major holidays of 2012 in the no too distant past, I got to thinking about how different things are now compared to the holidays of my childhood. Now, I'm not talking about in general how holidays are different as a child vs as an adult, but how each holiday is approached in pop culture. Commercials, TV shows and even movies are not at all the same as they were in my holiday glory years (starting from when I can remember, so 5 or so, all the way to probably 13 or 14). This is all going off my personal experience, so if I forget a holiday that you celebrate and you're offended, go piss up a rope. I don't care.
A lot of the holidays that most Americans celebrate haven't really changed that much as far as the pop culture landscape. I should mention when I say holidays, I mean days that people actually celebrate (not just days of remembrance like MLK Day, Presidents Day etc). Days like Valentines Day and Easter are pretty much the same. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance but still on the radar and acknowledged by the general public. Valentines Day is still about buying stuff for your significant other, and going out to a fancy dinner. Easter is probably one of the more "seriously" religious holidays that Christians celebrate (at least casual Christians) and it seems to have remained that way. Church, a nice meal and gathering with your family and that's about it. Not too much in the way of commercials and other pop culture impact.
The year rolls on and other holidays are observed. Again, days like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day are all basically the same as I remember from my childhood. Aside from the fact that 4th of July is my favorite holiday as an adult (Booze, grilling, stuff blowing up. What's not to love?), these have stayed the course and remained pretty much true to what I remember.
Then, we hit the fall. October comes and many peoples favorite adult holiday, Halloween, graces us with it's presence. Here's where I start to get annoyed about how different things are. People that are my age and older probably also remember how big of a deal Halloween was in our youths. There were tons of commercials (like this gem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1eLq_yRuFw), every TV show had a great Halloween episode and people decorated their balls off. Now? You get maybe a week of themed commercials and a couple of sitcoms have decent episodes that may or may not be loosely Halloween themed. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that everyone has cable now, and there are networks specifically designed for kids and family. Whereas when I was a kid, network TV had the responsibility of airing all the greatness of Halloween cartoons, live action comedies, everything. In turn, the commercials reflected the content of the shows. Just not the case anymore.
Halloween passes, and Thanksgiving approaches. And other than the madness of the day after sales and the various parades, it barely even registers on the pop culture radar. It's basically a Sunday in the middle of the week where you eat a fancier meal. There's no longer the great autumn decorations and warm feelings of everyone starting to deal with the cold, dark winter approaching. As soon as October is over, Christmas decorations go up. I can't tell you how many towns I saw with garland and bows on their "Welcome To" signs on November 1st.
You would think that with the hyper fast decorating, Christmas would be in pop culture over drive. But I don't think that's the case. Sure there's still commercials and TV shows, but it's not the same as it was. Have you ever thought about the last iconic Christmas movies that came out? It was probably in the 90's and I couldn't even tell you what it was. The commercials now are just rabid consumerism and sales, not the great Christmas themed commercials for every single thing that exists (watch this). I don't know if it's because the world has become too PC for Christmas itself to be acknowledged, or people just don't give a shit about anything but buying stuff. But I hate it.
A lot of this has to do with how different pop culture is now than it was even 10 years ago. Like I mentioned earlier, everyone has cable TV now, and this has totally changed how television works. Regular network TV doesn't have to cater to kids and family anymore. The likelihood of a 26 year old single male watching networks that do showcase good old fashioned holiday fun (ABC Family and the like) without making a conscious decision to do so, is not very high. So I'm pretty much left to my own devices when it comes to holiday cheer.
The Internet, however, is one way pop culture has changed for the better for old crabby holiday enthusiasts such as myself. I can go on YouTube any time I want and enjoy holiday treats of old, and get those warm sentimental feelings I so desire. I wish I didn't have to seek it out on my own, but with our society being celebrity obsessed and reality TV addicted, that's just how it is. People would rather watch a shit kicker family raise their weird daughter, or TO jump into a pool than enjoy fine seasonal and/or holiday programming.
I may have an overly sentimental attachment to the idea of the holidays, but it makes me happy to be around that stuff when the time is right. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a wonderful family who spent all of our holidays together. Whether it was my dad taking my sister and me trick-or-treating, or all the Christmas mornings tearing through gifts and giving out handmade ornaments, I have many fond memories that are fun to relive when the stress of adult holidays weighs on you. With all these updated ways to celebrate, it's harder and harder for me to get back to those days. There was a time, as a young adult that I hated the holidays. But now that I've settled into adulthood, I really enjoy being able to relax and reflect during Christmas or Halloween. These are the things I think about when I have free time. I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend? Give me back my holidays, goddammit.
