Mr. Christmas Documentary

The documentary I chose to watch was called Mr. Christmas. It was about an elderly man that decorates his house with thousands of lights every year for Christmas. He begins working on his house in August and has it all finished by November. He turns the lights on the night of Thanksgiving every year and leaves them on until January 2nd. I enjoyed the "gut feeling" that is talked about in the book A Very Short Introduction. I also had an initial reaction when I saw the title of this documentary because I enjoy the holiday season very much. That initial reaction is also talked about in the first chapter of the book. The author of the book uses the term "portraits of real life" and I think this name is exactly what describes this documentary I watched. It was just a snap shot of this mans life but not a clear look at his life in its entirety. The man's reason for putting up the Christmas lights every year was to bring joy to people that saw his house which would in turn bring enjoyment to himself. He decided to start doing it after his wife passed away. She was also very into the holiday season and he wanted to do it for her and he also said he "still had a life to live" after she passed away so that is where he finds his motivation for putting up the lights every year. The book speaks about documentaries as films that usually are trying to prove something or convince an audience of something which is true for the most part. But not in the documentary I watched. It is not trying to prove anything or convince anyone it is just a story of a man that enjoys putting up Christmas lights and enjoys spreading holiday cheer to everyone that sees his house. I believe there can be documentaries about things like this and they can be just as good as ones that try and prove or disprove something.