What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Summary: Cozy Christmas movies are a fun staple of the holiday season, so what if pests could enjoy these films too? This blog explores a fictional world where pests can each watch Hallmark movie and sees which trope [theme or plot device] they would love the most. The featured pests are: bed bugs, carpenter bees, house centipedes, fireflies, grasshoppers, mice, mosquitoes, and ticks. Pointe Pest Control provides customized solutions for local homes and businesses.

There are many hallmarks (pun intended) of the holiday season: gingerbread houses, festive Christmas trees, and cheesy holiday movies that air on a steady rotation. The Hallmark movie phenomenon feels more like an annual tradition at this point. Nothing beats the winter blues like snuggling up under a blanket and watching the most predictable Christmas movies ever made.

There are a lot of tropes (frequently-used devices) in these films that make them easy watches during the busiest season of the year. All of this talk about Hallmark movies makes us wonder: if pests could watch these films, what would their favorite tropes be? Let’s uncover the answers by using each pest’s personality to see which movie trope they would love to see!

Big City To Small Town — Bed Bugs

hallmark big city What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Two words that kill the mood of any holiday party are “bed bugs.” Since they can’t fly, bed bugs have to crawl onto clothing, bags, and furniture to travel to a place that’s hopefully filled with mammals, for the sake of the bugs. Adults start laying eggs as soon as they consume blood because the protein boosts both the adult and its offspring.

If bed bugs watched a Hallmark movie, they’d love the “big city to small town” trope. This is when the protagonist goes from working for a big-shot corporation to staying in a small town for one reason or another. Only in this incredibly festive town does the protagonist experience the joy of the holidays, where they then feel that they have to stay forever.

As a big traveller, the bed bug would never get tired of this age-old storyline.

Home For The Holidays — Carpenter Bees

hallmark home What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Carpenter bees are different from typical bees in many ways. For one, carpenter bees live in tunnels they carve into wood, not beehives. The females place bee bread (a mix of pollen and nectar) in each cavity before laying an egg on the bread in order to give their offspring food. They’re the most docile of the bees and won’t sting unless their home is threatened.

The trope that carpenter bees would love is when the main character returns home for the holidays. Jaded by their city life, the protagonist learns about the value of family and the heart of Christmas by spending time in their old neighborhood. They usually run into their past boyfriend or girlfriend during their stay, leading to a promise to never leave each other again.

Home and family are everything to the loyal carpenter bee, so this trope would hit home for them — literally.

The True Meaning Of Christmas — House Centipedes

hallmark meaning What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

House centipedes don’t belong in a wondrous Christmas scene, based on their looks. These nightmarish pests prefer to stay in total darkness as they hunt their prey every night. They often have no eyes, but even the ones who are lucky enough to have eyes can’t see very well. So, they rely on their antennae to feel around their environment in search of smaller insects and fresh water.

We think these critters would have hearts of gold, and their trope of choice would be the protagonist learning the “true meaning of Christmas.” This often coincides with the previous 2 tropes because their small town, friends, and family all open the main character’s heart. It’s often implied (or just said) that being with loved ones is the actual meaning of this holiday.

House centipedes would feel the depth of this trope and spend their nights in solitude pondering this sentimental trope.

Matchmaking By Meddlers — Fireflies

hallmark meddling What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

You wouldn’t believe your eyes if a bunch of fireflies lit up our backyards now — because they’re hibernating! These bugs usually stay in fields and meadows since they need to stay away from artificial lights in order to communicate. Fireflies use their bioluminescence to speak with other fireflies, attract a mate, and ward off predators.

Since fireflies spend much of their time searching for love, they would love the “matchmaking” trope. This is when the protagonist is either in a loveless, boring relationship or completely single. Their friends and family — or sometimes, weirdly enough, Santa Claus — don’t like this and set them up with a new person. The quest for true love is central to these films.

Fireflies would be jealous of the meddling and matchmaking skills of the side characters since the bugs are on the hunt for their own match.

A Not-So-Tense Competition — Grasshoppers

hallmark competition What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Grasshoppers may have an impressive jump height (30 inches) and a memorable appearance, but they are historically one of the worst pests ever. When clouds of grasshoppers descend onto a field of crops, it’s a farmer’s worst nightmare. These athletic pests eat half of their body weight in one day, so they can do serious damage to young crops.

Since they’re so high-energy in real life, grasshoppers would enjoy Hallmark movies with a competition. Don’t get too excited; these competitions aren’t a fight to the death for anything. Whether it’s decorating gingerbread houses or making a parade float, these competitions are just tense enough to make you want to know how the main characters win (you know they will).

Grasshoppers would not only enjoy any holiday movie with a competition, they would jump up and cheer on the characters like they’re watching a football game.

The White Christmas — Mice

hallmark white What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Mice are frequently said to be the worst winter pest, and for good reason. They’re desperate to get into a shelter (aka our homes), then spend the rest of the season reproducing and scavenging for food as usual. These disease-ridden pests contaminate everything they touch. The diseases they often spread include salmonella, hantavirus, and tularemia.

Mice would enjoy Hallmark movies with a lot of snow. This applies to most movies in the genre since a snowy Christmas is much more magical. Anonymous Hallmark writers confirmed that it’s actually a requirement of these films: “they can’t be waiting for the snow, there has to be snow” (Kinane, 2018). It’s important to note that the snow is never dirty, which isn’t very realistic to an Illinois winter.

Since mice would be cozy in their homes, they would be entranced by the magic of a white Christmas that looks much more enjoyable than our snow days.

Always Doing Christmas Activities — Mosquitoes

hallmark activities What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Mosquitoes have (thankfully) gone away for the winter, but they cause enough issues in the warmer months to land them an infamous reputation. These busybodies are always active in the heat of summer. Whether they’re laying eggs, drinking flower nectar, or feasting on our blood, mosquitoes make themselves useful to their species every year.

Speaking of staying busy, mosquitoes would prefer Hallmark movies with an abundance of Christmas-themed activities. Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit quite like watching happy characters decorate their homes, go ice skating, bake gingerbread, go gift-shopping, spend time with their family, and slowly fall in love with the attractive owner of a Christmas tree farm.

Mosquitoes would take notes of all the Christmas activities done in these movies so that they can create their own bucket list of festive traditions.

Pets Bringing People Together — Ticks

hallmark pets What If 8 Pests Had A Favorite Hallmark Movie Trope?

Ticks are at their most active in the warmer seasons, but they can technically stay active year-round. They hide in overgrown plants until a mammal gets close enough for the tick to crawl on and start feeding. The tick feeds for about a week, then drops off its host and hides while it digests the blood meal. If the tick has a disease, it can infect its host after 36 hours of feeding.

We think ticks would enjoy Hallmark movies with a pet-centric storyline because they feed on the blood from our furry friends in real life! These types of movies have the trope of a dog or cat bringing the main couple together in some capacity. The pet adds necessary emotion for the audience and a sense of responsibility for the otherwise lovesick couple.

A tick would get choked up at the final scene of the couple and their pet cuddling by the Christmas tree, but the pest would keep clearing its throat to hide the emotion.

Warm Your Heart With Pointe’s Solutions

The weather outside may be frightful, but your pest control doesn’t have to be! At Pointe Pest Control, our licensed technicians solve each pest issue with the utmost care and efficiency. We start by inspecting the property to find all signs of pest activity, then use our observations to create a treatment plan that’s personalized to fit your pest control needs. Pest control should never be a “one-size-fits-all” practice, so we tailor our services to solve the pest issues at hand. We take pride in keeping our wonderful customers pest-free all year long. Contact us today for a free quote on our year-round pest control services!

Citations

Holland, S. & Russell, T. (2023, December 19). 25 most common tropes in Hallmark Christmas movies. Sceen Rant. Available at https://screenrant.com/hallmark-christmas-movies-tropes/ (Accessed on December 2, 2024).

Kinane, R. (2018, December 19). What it’s really like to write made-for-TV Hallmark Christmas movies. Entertainment Weekly. Available at https://ew.com/tv/2018/12/19/made-for-tv-hallmark-christmas-movies-writer/ (Accessed on December 2, 2024).

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