X EG Manilag Staff Writer he most wonderful time of the year is almost here, you guys! What better way to feel the holiday spirit than listening to Christmas songs? They really add colour to the season, be it the classic songs or the new ones. Whenever I see Christmas decorations hanging and hear those sleigh bells ringing from holiday jingles, it evokes nostalgic feelings. But there’s one song that gives me the ultimate Christmas nostalgia: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The song is not only catchy, but is also meaningful. Although there are some surveys that report the song as the most annoying holiday piece ever, the bop has many positive aspects that outshine any negative aspects. I think it is still a great seasonal song to this day. What I love about this song is its overall musicality. The melody and tempo are so amazing that they make your fingers snap and your body move around, the chorus is insanely catchy and very easy to memorize, and the instruments remind you of the season of gathering, merriness, and joy. It’s purely a universal song that has no religious standing and no age requirement—it’s the perfect equalizer as a holiday song. Carey’s jingle simply portrays love and love alone—a thing we can all relate to. It centers on the idea that JIN: Make my wish come true » Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ is still a great Christmas song we should be more excited to see our loved ones and spend time rather than focusing on the material things. We should all have this kind of motivation every holiday, it really makes sense. Another great thing about “All 1 Want si Have an idea for a story? M opinions@theotherpress.ca For Christmas Is You” is that it never gets old. The song’s popularity really stood against the test of time. Recently, the 1994 holiday anthem broke three world records. Just last week according to the Guinness World Records’ website, Carey’s holiday \A Illustration by Athena Little I wouldn't Elizabeth Bank on it » Men like female-led action movies—yours just looks sucky Jessica Berget Editor-in-Chief lizabeth Banks has been the subject of scrutiny as of late because of her comments on her recently released directed (and produced and starred) film, Charlie’s Angels (2019), and in my opinion, rightfully so. Her comments blame men for the success (rather, non-success) of her newest film. But don’t take my word for it, take a gander at exactly what she said. During a Fast Company interview, she explains her process of directing movies and describes how she shot it through a feminist lens and makes it all about powerful women. Which is all fine and dandy—who doesn't love a good action movie starring powerful women? What I take issue with what she says after this. “My real plea is for men to have enough empathy to go see movies starring women, because I’ve been asked to see movies starring men my whole life, and happily have done so, and I don’t know why men don't return the fucking favour.” Well guess what Elizabeth, you don’t have to plea. Men can, will, and have been the biggest supporters of movies starring women— they just don’t want to see your movie because it looks bad. Putting aside for one second the dozens of female-led movies men have flocked to see, how rude is it for Banks to say men don’t have enough empathy to see female starring movies, as if empathy has anything to do with film success or what makes people decide to see a film in theatres. If your movie looks good, people will see it; it’s not a matter of empathy, it’s a matter of making a good product that people will want to pay money to watch. Putting the blame on men isa lazy way to Still from ‘Charlie's Angels' explain why your film did so bad in the box office. Furthermore, why is it on men to see the movie, maybe there are lots of women who don't want to see your movie either— me, for one. Maybe it just doesn’t look good no matter what gender you are. Back to the female-led action films. Have we forgotten about Alien 1 and 2? Lara Croft Tomb Raider? Terminator? Ghost in the Shell? The Hunger Games? The newer Star Wars films? Wonder Woman? ¢ The annoying tradition of gift giving ¢ Men like female-led action movies ¢ The difference between and Dom and a prick explained ..and more hit song achieved the title for the highest- charting holiday song on the Billboard US Hot 100 by a solo artist; it is the most streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours (female); and the most weeks (20) in the UK singles Top 10 chart for a Christmas song. The music also had some successful covers sang by famous Canadian singer- songwriters, particularly Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber. Because of these awards and music covers, the classic song will stay evergreen. Despite the song reaching all those glorious feats, it’s still failed to please everybody. An electronic survey conducted by Huawei asked the British public to give and rank 10 holiday songs they thought were annoying. It comes as no surprise that “All | Want For Christmas Is You” is ranked first. It might be because it’s played too much in malls and restaurants, or it might be because their ears were just worn out due to hearing the same tune repeatedly. These reasons still won't undervalue the song itself. To me, Mariah Carey’s jingle is one of those childhood songs that we really liked but eventually got tired of. Those were the songs we repeatedly played for hours, giving us unlimited goosebumps. Now, if we remember those songs, we either get emotional because we know for a fact that their meaning is never lost. It’s still great and always will be. could go on... These are all female-led action movies that did very well in the box office and are regarded as classics, and men happen to be a major part of the support of these films. In fact, ina Fandom Entertainment YouTube video, they show a graph including data from US company PostTrak of the breakdown of the gender demographics of the opening weekend successes of female-led films. As shown on the infographic, the majority of the people seeing these actions films are men. So, Banks shouldn't be complaining about men not seeing her movie because they simply don’t like female-led movies—it’s an obvious fallacy. But she’s not done complaining yet. In another interview with The Herald Sun, Banks says “If this movie doesn’t make money, it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don't go see women do action movies.” Maybe, just maybe, your movie isn’t making money because it’s... not... good? Her newly released Charlie’s Angels has already notoriously tanked, only making about $8.6 million in the box office during its opening weekend. Until she stops illogically blaming men for her film’s successes or failures, I don’t think any of them will be box office hits.