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Nordic Quack (2009)

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41–49 of 49 posts

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#41
post #11

Why is this bizarre? Most countries seems to have traditions relating to seasons. In the UK It's a Wonderful Life and The Snowman are iconic and broadcast every year. Japanese traditionally eats KFC at Christmas. I'm sure most countries have quirks like these. They are harmless, they create a sense of togetherness and humans in general likes traditions and rituals. Considering how big especially Donald Duck is in Sca…

As a Swede I think the main difference between "these are movies and shows that are popular around Christmas" is that it's always shown at the exact same time on the exact same channel and becomes a strict part of Christmas eve planning.

This has its roots in that non-state broadcast TV was outlawed until 1992 (satellite TV broadcast from the UK was the workaround but far from universally adopted)

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#42
It is possible that will change when Disney starts selling their subscription service in Sweden.

Disney will likely use its huge archive to sell subscriptions.

That likely is the reason Home Alone isn’t on public tv in the Netherlands, as tinus_hn says in https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=21871486

If they play it hard, a lot of traditional Christmas movies will move behind a paywall. For example, Die Hard and Jingle all the Way, commented on this page, all are from 20th Century Fox, which is Disney owned, as is The Sound of Music)

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#44
post #27

There are several films that are probably streamed throughout the world during christmas. One that I used to watch every year on cable TV here in Brazil when I was a child (you can guess I'm not that old) is "Jingle all the Way"[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_All_the_Way

Jingle All the Way is one of my personal Christmas favorites, along with Trading Places.

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#45

Sweden has a bunch of lovely Christmas traditions. My favorite is this huge straw Christmas goat (Gavle bocken: https://www.instagram.com/gavlebocken/ ) Interestingly, there is (semi-)traditional vandalism to burn the sucker down every year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat#Timeline Hopefully he survives this year!

It stands, third year in a row! Arsonists are busy burning cars.

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#46
post #10

In Germany they watch that old British sketch about a blind old woman and her butler having dinner with guests who aren't there.

They do likewise in Norway, on the 23:rd, even though the sketch itself is about New Years eve :)

It's a birthday. Her 90 year birthday. It doesn't have any relation to New Years or Christmas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#47
post #11

Why is this bizarre? Most countries seems to have traditions relating to seasons. In the UK It's a Wonderful Life and The Snowman are iconic and broadcast every year. Japanese traditionally eats KFC at Christmas. I'm sure most countries have quirks like these. They are harmless, they create a sense of togetherness and humans in general likes traditions and rituals. Considering how big especially Donald Duck is in Sca…

Another tradition is that Jews eat Chinese food on christmas. Don’t find that bizarre at all.

Chinese restaurants (or maybe more accurately restaurants run by Chinese immigrants) used to be the only places open on Christmas. For anyone wanting to eat out, it was a defacto non-choice.

It might be seen as a tradition now, but like most traditions, the origins were practical.

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#48
I moved overseas 15 or so years ago, and when I left I felt that this tradition was already on the way out. As far as I understand, it's been going away even more since then, but I don't have much in the way of evidence.

When I wad a kid in the 80's, they barely ever showed any Disney cartoons on TV. This meant that the Disney on christmas tradition was a big thing. These days it's available everywhere so there is really nothing to drive the tradition, any i believe that the only ones who even care about it are my age.

Re: Nordic Quack (2009)

#49

In Poland, we have a "bizarre TV tradition" of watching Home Alone during Christmas on one of the main TV stations (Polsat). Usually Home Alone 2 is played the next day. One year the station wanted to play a different movie during the holiday season and people wrote petition to bring it back.

Same thing in Portugal, for decades now. Similar to The Sound of Music.
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