Author: TheConversation

By Michael R. Nadorff, Associate Professor of Psychology, Mississippi State University; and Julie Cerel, Professor of Social Work, University of Kentucky No matter the merriment of the season, the holidays remain a struggle for those who have lost a loved one to suicide. In 2020, COVID-19 isolated many people from their families. Ironically, that isolation may have spared suicide-loss survivors some suffering; with no family gathering, one was less likely to notice the empty seat at the table. But this year, with many families coming together, grief will surely find its place. Half of all Americans know someone who...

By Thomas Adam, Associate Professor of International and Global Studies, University of Arkansas Each season, the celebration of Christmas has religious leaders and conservatives publicly complaining about the commercialization of the holiday and the growing lack of Christian sentiment. Many people seem to believe that there was once a way to celebrate the birth of Christ in a more spiritual way. Such perceptions about Christmas celebrations have, however, little basis in history. As a scholar of transnational and global history, I have studied the emergence of Christmas celebrations in German towns around 1800 and the global spread of this...

By James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Leicester It is the time of year for hunkering down to watch a Christmas film with the family, and to hold the annual debate over whether or not “Die Hard” actually counts as one. This debate has now become, in some film history circles, as big a question as to the meaning of “Rosebud” in Citizen Kane or whether Hаn Sоlо or Grееdо shot first in Stаr Wаrs. It is even important enough to warrant a poll from YouGov, which concluded that Die Hard is not a Christmas film. The...

By S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Cinema and Media Studies, by special appointment, Hamilton College If you are one of those people who will settle in this evening with a hot cup of apple cider to watch a holiday movie, you are not alone. Holiday movies have become firmly embedded in Americans’ winter celebrations. The New York Times reports a massive increase in new holiday movies this year. Disney, Netflix, Lifetime and Hallmark are now in direct competition for viewers’ attention, with both new releases and reruns of the classics. Holiday movies are so popular...

By Jeffrey Miller, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, Colorado State University Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke. A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” It has certainly earned its reputation for longevity. Two friends from Iowa have been exchanging the same fruitcake since the late 1950s. Even older is the fruitcake left behind in Antarctica by the explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1910. But the honor...

By Amanda J. Crawford, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University of Connecticut Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the United States. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process, and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the United States. American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new. But as the news cycle reminds us daily, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media...