While some wait for Christmas eleven months out of the year, for others, December marks the beginning of a long Stations of the Cross. Between the tube All I Want for Christmas Is You broadcast in a loop on all radio stations, Christmas films scheduled the day after Halloween, the traditional markets set up on every street corner, the 12 meals planned on the agenda – with family, friends, at work, as a couple , between neighbors and we pass – and the multitude of gifts immediately resold on the Bon Coin for some Christmases, is too much (but then really too much).
And we at 20 minutes, as we are aware of our duty to inform, we decided to take risks and ask ourselves the real questions, those that will move the debate and the world forward (yes, just that): wouldn’t be doing a little too much with Christmas?
Christmas, “all the sauces”
We are not going to lie to each other, once the summer has passed, back to school and Halloween, there is a long tunnel of emptiness before the end of the year holidays, accompanied by grayness, cold and boredom. Eight endless weeks that television channels and radio stations have chosen to fill by broadcasting for the eighteenth consecutive year Love Actually (we checked this info) and this, from November 1st. The opportunity for Marina, our reader, to bang her fist on the table: “Already the advertisements for toys and decorations in stores from October onwards are too much, but then the 48 Christmas films every year. days for two months on all channels, with exactly the same scenario, it’s overdose. »For Emilie, this over-solicitation is even in the process of “spoiling the magic of Christmas”: “Before we started to think of Christmas at the beginning of December, there was joy and lightness in preparing everything, now it’s a never-ending marathon. “
But then what is the objective of the TV channels which bet on Christmas from November 1st? Make us learn Hugh Grant’s choreography by heart? (The author of this paper pleads guilty). For Laurent Fournier, anthropology professor at the Côte d’Azur University in Nice and author of the book Anthropology of modernity (Armand Collins – 2021), it is a question of supply, demand and values: “For advertisements and films, the more there are offers, the more the channels are obliged to share the audience time. . And Christmas values are a godsend for them. When we think of Christmas, we think of peace, sharing, tolerance and love. They are very consensual, almost non-criticism, the TV channels can only use it ”. The researcher adds: “For economic players, the holidays are an attempt to fight against the crisis. Christmas is no exception, it is an object of marketing, advertising, it is used in all sauces. “
Christmas, “it’s overdose”
If only the Christmas TV marathon was the only problem of these end-of-year celebrations… After the over-media coverage, there is over-consumption. Imagine: you arrive at tata Françoise’s, she has set up a table worthy of a Almost perfect dinner, she slipped into the skin of Cyril Lignac (who could obviously solve the problem of hunger in the world on his own) and hid around thirty gifts at the foot of the tree, while you will only be six during all evening.
For our readers, such as Saïd, this excessive consumption is the last straw that broke the camel’s back: “We throw ourselves on the food, we buy too many gifts, we get drunk on lights and decoration. , we wander like lost souls in the markets, we buy anything and everything ”. “Me who loves Christmas so much, it has the opposite effect. Too much is too much, children have everything, they no longer even appreciate their gifts, Marilyse got carried away, who also answered our call for testimonials. Their only pleasure is opening dozens of packages that they won’t even play with. “
Like Marilyse, many French people are also in the process of “having a reflexivity by being more and more critical of consumption and waste”, explains Emmanuelle Lallement, professor of anthropology at Paris VIII. “We are at the heart of a cycle where these questions of festivities are called into question. We are less in the fever of purchases and decorations than before ”, continues the author ofFestive bursts (Editions de la Sorbonne – 2018). “When Christmas was thought of, we were in an economy of limited goods. This celebration came as a one-off moment of spending, of conviviality, we went against a situation of economic limitation, ”Laurent Fournier analyzes. However, today, “it’s Christmas almost every day, we never deprive ourselves, it contributes to this feeling of overdose”.
Christmas, “it was better before”
For some of our readers, this overdose especially highlights social disparities, like Fabienne, who says she is “disgusted by the general enthusiasm while some will be alone in front of their plate”. “We are in excess, in terms of meals, gifts, it’s indigestion. Except that now, there is awareness, even in moments of enchantment like Christmas, ”explains Emmanuelle Lallement. For our two experts, this “indigestion” has above all resulted in “a devaluation” of Christmas, the famous “it was better before” (which aunt Françoise gives you all the sauces): “We celebrate Christmas almost too much, we talk about it. too much. People are not idiots, they see a phenomenon of communication, of media manipulation, that is what exceeds them. It is an inflation mechanism with, at the end of the day, a devaluation of meaning, ”adds Laurent Fournier.
And many of our readers no longer rediscover the Christmas of yesteryear, the magic of their childhood, the stars in their eyes when the presents are opened and the taste buds shivering at the idea of the meal (yes, we are going too far. ). Like Catherine: “Before, we waited impatiently for Christmas, for the meal, because at the meal we ate things that we never ate during the year, and gifts. Now the children have them all year round ”. A feeling shared by Sandra, who remembers her young years during which “Christmas was two weeks before, with the pressure that mounted until the explosion of joy on December 24”. “We are no longer in this consensus fever around Christmas as before. We are all more and more aware of commercial springs. The enchantment operates less than before, ”analyzes Emmanuelle Lallement.
If you are close to indigestion, don’t panic, in our next article, we will help you answer the most distressing questions of aunt Françoise (again her): “And you, what are you doing?” “. And above all, Merry Christmas!