The Family Man and Innovation at Christmas

The moral case for innovating the idea of Christmas stories.

There are so many stories about Christmas.

People love a great Christmas story and they expect certain things out of it. For the most part, they want it to be a beautiful story about family coming together and everything working out in the end. Usually involving a big family dinner with so many happy moments. At the very least, the story has to teach someone the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of family. That's what Christmas is about for so many people. Yet at the same time, there are only so many ways in which you can do this type of story before it becomes repetitive and difficult to watch. Once this happens, most people will fall back on the classics from their childhood. It makes them feel what they used to feel when they were kids. More often than not these involve either Scrooge or It's a Wonderful Life because of how great they are.

Being able to find a way to make something new and different is hard. Although one way you can create something new is by modernizing it. The other way is to find a new way to combine the stories which already exist and make something different out of it. You have to find a way to give people the best of both without hurting what was great about the originals. Naturally, what exactly makes people love the originals can be somewhat subjective. Yet when you do it really well, there's nothing like it in the world. To create a completely new and fascinating way to celebrate Christmas. A new way to feel good over the holidays and to see the whole experience like you were when you were a kid.

What people love most about stories like A Christmas Carol is how Scrooge is shown the error of his ways. He turns his back on greed and selfishness, ultimately embracing the true meaning of Christmas that's a time of giving and togetherness. The thing people love so much about It's a Wonderful Life is the fact that a very giving and honest man like George can finally see that he has value to the people around him. That despite everything he's sacrificed for other people, their lives are actually better with him in it rather than without him. Finding anything new and interesting about them isn't easy.

The Family Man is able to do this beautifully. Jack Campbell, as played brilliantly by Nicholas Cage, is someone who believes he has everything he could ever want. He's a high powered business executive who can buy and sell anything he wants. There's almost nothing which is beyond him... except maybe the love of a good woman and a family. So when a chance encounter gives him the opportunity to see exactly what he's missing, the whole thing is transformative. Until he isn't really sure that his money and power are the most important things in his life.

He's become... a family man.

Do yourself a favour and explore the innovation of Christmas by checking out The Family Man as soon as you can.

You can watch The Family Man on Apple TV as well as Amazon and Netflix in some places.