Student Voice | Christmas 2017

Student Voice COMMERCIALISED CHRISTMAS

by Emma Williams

It was the end of September when I saw the first Christmas decoration in a store. Two weeks later, every shop I went in to had Christmas music blasting through their speakers and Christmas trees in the entrance. It was commercialisation at its finest the process of managing or running something principally for financial gain - essentially, a modern society’s version of Christmas.

Commercialisation can be traced back to the Victorians. The 1880s saw a rise in window displays, as department stores were fighting to ‘outshine’ each other and, in 1888, JP Robert opened up the first Santa’s Grotto, where kids could go in and meet the ‘real’ Santa Claus.

In 1848, The Illustrated London News posted a photo of the Queen and, her German-born husband, Prince Albert standing around a Christmas

tree. It wasn’t long before almost every household in Britain invested in the Christmas tree. It is evident from these facts that almost all of the traditions we have come to know and love began with the Victorians.

But modern society also has its fair share of commercialisation, from writing out a Christmas wish list, to delving into YouTube, watching teenage girls sharing What I got for Christmas 2017 and insisting “I’m not trying to brag”. It’s evident that every store that you go into - Waitrose, Morrison’s, etc. - starts stocking Advent Calendars and Lindt Chocolate Bunnies, even before the Halloween Pumpkins have begun to sell out.

The first term of the year has gone quickly and, as the ever-looming mock exam period comes around, it’s important that we all remember to take a few days out for some proper rest and relaxation. Oh, and sleep.

With two equally busy terms ahead of us, we, the Student Voice, wish you all the luck coming into the New Year.

Bring on 2018!

From the Editors: Eleanor Crowson-Jeffery, Julia Kearns, Ella Mapes and Deia Russell-Smith

Commercialised or not, you have got to love Christmas.

December 2017

CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRIA: THE TERRIFYING TRADITION

by Sarah McCrann

Christmas is rapidly approaching and you can’t have Christmas without traditions. The UK standard has Christmas pudding and crackers, reindeers and robins, Santa and stockings. However Austria has a slightly different tradition…

Austria is a German-speaking country in Central Europe. It’s characterised by mountain villages, baroque architecture and jagged Alpine terrain. I went to Austria on a school trip to ski in 2016, it was an amazing experience however something that I will always remember is the Austrian Christmas Tradition: Krampus.

Krampus is a horned figure described as “half goat and half demon”. He wears chains, thought to symbolise his binding to the devil. The impersonators thrash these chains for dramatic effect. The purpose of this chilling creature is that during the Christmas season, he will punish children who have misbehaved - quite a contrast to Father Christmas.

Being chased and whipped by lots of Krampus figures would seem to be the stuff of nightmares. But in Austrian towns whole families take to the streets and seem to enjoy being pursued by the monsters.

Perhaps the local children get used to the horns, fangs and sticks from an early age, as the loudest shrieks seemed to come from the foreigners!

Although Krampus is often seen as the counterpart to St Nicholas his origins go back even further.

He is said to be the son of Hel, the Norse god of the underworld, and his name comes from the Germanic word ‘krampen’ meaning claw. As Christianity spread through Europe the pagan Krampus remained a key part of the December celebrations. He has been banned more than once by the church and government but the people have always refused to abandon their Krampus and today the tradition is stronger than ever.

Happy holidays!

CHRISTMAS ADVERTISING SPEND REACHES RECORD HIGH

by Nathan Hodges

Statistics released by The Advertising Association says retailers will be spending £6bn on Christmas advertising this year, the highest it’s ever been.

The industry body forecast reports that there has been almost a 40% increase in spending on the adverts in just the last seven years. This is down to the intense market competition within the retail sector and the rise of big-budget campaigns.

The figures came out on the same day that John Lewis released their annual Christmas advert, which this year focuses on a little boy and his friendship with an imaginary monster (Moz the Monster) that lives under his bed. Filmed by an Oscar-winning director and featuring an Elbow cover of a Beatles song, the two-minute advert cost a whopping £7m to make! They could have made a Hollywood blockbuster for the same amount of money.

John Lewis Christmas adverts have become particularly highly

anticipated by the public, with advertisers having produced some uplifting adverts in the past, including Monty the Penguin, the Man on the Moon and Buster the Boxer. However, this year’s Christmas campaign, Moz the Monster, has had mixed verdicts from viewers on Twitter. One said “how heart-warming” the advert is, while another said that John Lewis had “lost their magic touch” with their Christmas advertising.

Other retailers, including Sainsbury’s, have released their annual Christmas advert. This year’s campaign features a song called Every Bit Of Christmas, penned by comedian and rapper, Doc Brown, and featuring two hundred members of the public, three members of real Sainsbury’s staff and even a dog! The advert also features the actor Ricky Tomlinson and Kermit the Frog amongst the many others singing about Sainsbury’s Christmas stock. Marks & Spencer’s annual Christmas advert features Paddington bear, while this year’s Asda advert features a little girl and her grandfather visiting a festive food factory.

With retailers spending millions on their adverts, are Christmas adverts worth making? Jane Bloomfield, Kantar Millward Brown’s head of UK Marketing, said in an interview with The Independent last year that, a Christmas advert could potentially not just help boost sales during the festive period, but beyond the Christmas period.

She also said that advertising can help increase how much buzz and fame the advertising can generate and the longer-term impact that has on the brand. “The more famous the advert becomes, the harder it works for the brand and the more opportunity for that brand to convert it into increased sales”. Therefore, a successful advert could mean

increased sales in both short and long terms.

In 2016, John Lewis estimated that, since 2012, its sales have increased more than 35% thanks to the success of its Christmas advertising. Research has also shown that Sainsbury’s managed a profit of £24 for every £1 spent on its Christmas advert campaign in 2014. So, if retailers have successful Christmas advertising, they could make huge profits not only in the festive season, but throughout the year.

THE BEST MOVIES AT CHRISTMAS

by Toby Prentice

There are hundreds of Christmas films out there – good and bad – but the problem is, the only way you’re going to find out if you like a film is by watching it. This article will, however, give you a head start by giving you some of the best films to watch this Christmas.

First up is Home Alone (1990) – a classic. If you haven’t watched this film, you will have definitely heard of it. This film is a mash-up of family, comedy and action and will leave you feeling very festive (children and adults alike). It’s about a child who is left, as the title suggests, home alone during Christmas, leaving him to defend the house from a pair of persistent burglars. How

could you improve on watching Home Alone? Follow it up with Home Alone 2 (1992) but stay clear from the other sequels.

Second on the list is Nativity!

(2009). This film has a great cast, including plenty of amusing school children who were all local to Coventry where Nativity! was filmed.

The script is very funny and completely improvised which only adds to the laughs. It tells the story of a teacher who boasts that Hollywood is filming his school’s Christmas play and his attempt to produce a play never seen before; the result is very heart warming and enjoyable.

Next up is Arthur Christmas (2011), an animated adventure-comedy about Santa’s son being put on a mission to give out a present to a young girl in under 2 hours. Again, this film has a well-known cast which includes James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie and many more. Arthur Christmas may be the best film on the list to make you feel excited for Christmas as it involves many familiar Christmas icons as well as plenty of snow and presents. So, if you want a film that will get you Christmassy, then this one’s for you.

Last on the list is Elf (2003), another Christmas classic, starring Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf. This film is about a human, who is raised by elves, growing into an adult and finding out that his father is in New York City; he sets out to find him and teach him the Christmas spirit whilst also discovering his own identity. If you haven’t watched Elf, then watch it – if you have watched Elf, then watch it again.

AND THAT’S WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME

by Frankie Ballinger

Christmas means different things to different people and that’s one of the best things about the festival; everyone has different views on what it represents. Yet, it doesn’t matter who you are, what job you do, who you love or where you live, in the end there are only two different types of people on this Earth: those who love Christmas and those who hate it. The “Buddys” and the “Scrooges”.

If you belong to the former of these categories - which you should then you’re like me. As a result, you might agree that the best thing about Christmas isn’t the actual day with the presents or the food, but rather the whole atmosphere and build up in the cold December days before. The lights covering every main high-street, the Christmas songs blasting out of car radios, the cheesy movies and just the general feeling of (metaphorical) warmth and happiness.

Obviously, I know and appreciate the religious origin of Christmas; I have scarring memories from primary school of being forced into shepherd, king and, for some reason, cheerleader costumes as part of the annual birth of Jesus play.

Of course, the part every young girl wanted was Mary but having blonde hair meant I was automatically ruled out of that one but I was never cast as an angel either much to my dismay. Thinking back, I’m still quite offended. But to some people, that remains the fundamental principle of the holiday because it is such a big part of their life and religion.

However, in a time where Christianity is slowly becoming a less followed religion and more and more people are atheists, Christmas has become a lot more about the young children that are

told of Santa Claus and his reindeer, of naughty lists and winter magic.

Whether telling them these stories is morally correct or not is up to the individual to decide.

Personally, I think the happiness it provides them with adds to the joy of this time of year but you could spend ages debating the topic if you had the time or effort to.

And then, of course, you have the people who don’t celebrate Christmas at all, either for religious reasons or pure bah-humbug reasons. To them, Christmas and the days that come before are just regular winter days - maybe slightly irritating winter days for the grumpy ones. This minority aside, the spirit associated with this time of year turns everyone into “Buddys”, no matter what Christmas means to them.