A Christmas Movie for Me and for You
Story by Amelia Matheson, photograph curtesy of Gareth Gatrell/Netflix Studios
About two weeks ago, I watched Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey with my family. We are not particularly fond of musicals, but we were dazzled by the costumes, the setting, the characters, and, ultimately, the story. It is all around a very good movie.
Talbert's film is set in a Victorian-era themed town with a majority black cast, making for a brilliant blend called Afro-Victorianism. My family and I were a little surprised by this. We have always seen movies similar to Jingle Jangle with mostly white casts. I came to understand that young children who find the magic of Christmas and imagination are usually of light complexion. I couldn't help but compare this Afro-Victorianism to the Afro-Futurism of Black Panther. Both films show exactly why representation matters: it lets everyone envision themselves in the narrative. In Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, many young black girls can see themselves in the character Journey as she inspires her grandfather to believe in himself.
Growing up, I watched Hallmark Christmas movies every year. I loved them so much that I made sure to “clear my schedule” for the Christmas in July movies the TV station aired during the summer. Almost all of these films featured tall, handsome white men who fell in love with beautiful, doe-eyed white women. The plot always went somewhere along the lines of a poor woman falling for the secret prince of Luxembourg or a stoic businessman who hates Christmas ultimately marrying a small town girl. Around age 14, I got bored; I was able to tell you how the movie would end within the first twenty minutes. In addition, all of the black Christmas movies I saw seemed to lack the fairytale story that made the other films so alluring. They, instead, portrayed a family dinner ruined by sibling rivalry or some big family secret getting out. I found myself wanting, needing to see a "white" Christmas movie with a black cast. I was wondering why people who looked like me couldn’t have the "magic of Christmas"—why black women with curly, short hair couldn’t find epic love during the holidays. A childish part of me wanted to see that I, too, could marry the king of some little-known nation in winter and become the queen.
Jingle Jangle changed all of that for me. I saw black people sing and dance and play in the snow. I saw a grandmother not unlike my own read a story to her grandchildren. I saw a beautiful, intelligent woman reconnect with her father; a father that reminded me of my grandfather. I saw the diversity that was missing in other holiday movies; Talbert made sure to include people of all races and of all walks of life in his cast. Jingle Jangle shows us how alike we all are, how we can all coexist and love one another not just during the holiday season, but on every day of the year.
Two things I really admired about Jingle Jangle were the costumes and hairstyles. We have the talented Michael Wilkinson and Sharon Martin to thank for these. Wilkinson drew inspiration from West African fabrics and images of 19th century fashion. I was able to spot the vibrant colors of Kente fabric and the sleek silhouettes of the 1800s. I fell in love with the swirling skirts of Mrs. Johnson and the patterned suits of the three singing men. As for Martin, she told Vanity Fair that she began by researching images of black people during the Victorian era and went from there. She wanted to portray the female characters of the film without the expected straight hair. She told the magazine, "'black people and women are reclaiming their texture, and they’re proud of it, and it’s not being compromised. I really wanted to showcase that'".
All in all, I sincerely recommend that everyone watch this amazing movie. It is full of magic, love, music, and life. Talbert infused his film with the magic of Christmas without really even mentioning Christmas. More importantly, he showed audiences of every walk of life that this magic belongs to all of us.
*Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is available for streaming right now on Netflix.*
