Today's guest poster is my good friend and coworker, Jared ("Mr. T"). Jared is a special education teacher at ALES, who works primarily with 2nd and 3rd grade students. Jared is a bit of a movie buff (I don't think "buff" is strong enough of a word...he really, really, really likes movies!), every time Aaron had to watch a movie for his silly movie class, Jared had already seen it (and now that I think about it, I should have asked Jared to help Aaron and maybe he would have gotten a better grade in movie class!). But I digress...Jared is writing today about A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, in its variety of movie forms (The Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooged and the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol) and how the screenplay and characters differ from the original. And I love how he compares the Ghost of Christmas Future to a dementor! Enjoy!
The Muppet
Christmas Carol
Screenplay
- There is a lot of great care taken to
incorporate so much of Dickens’ original writing into the script. It adds quite an authentic feeling to the
movie with the magical prose threaded through the kid catching musical numbers
and the comedic banter between Gonzo and Rizzo.
Out of all three movies being reviewed, I think this has the best
connection to the book with regards to its screenplay.
Scrooge
- Michael Caine makes you speechless
throughout. He is old, miserly, and
repulsive as Ebenezer Scrooge. You hate
him so much with his cruelty towards others.
I will say that his transformation into the reformed Scrooge is the most
illustrated out of all three. You really
see the emotion seep out of him as he realizes he has been a complete jerk to
everyone in his past and he now wants to make amends. You as the viewer want to smack him when he
is evil and then hug him when he learns his lesson. My only one criticism is that I feel like his
transformation feels a little rushed, almost like he is almost revived before
he even gets to the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Granted, being a kids’ movie, you have to move fast in 90 minutes, but
it still always feels just slightly rushed to me.
Marley
- I appreciate that they use Statler
& Waldorf for Marley & Marley and create them as brothers. There song is fun to listen to and they are
usually the more “adult” comedic relief, which I think I have find them more
enjoyable as I get older.
Bob Crachit
- Kermit, so iconic and you are always
rooting for him. I think he is a
wonderful Bob Crachit and with Piggy as his wife, she is hilarious. I’ve always had my doubts, from the book and
the movies how gracious he comes off.
With having such a mean boss like Scrooge, I’ve never understood how he
can always be so patient, even in his dire financial situation. I would assume he must develop some type of
physiological problems with being so internalizing of Scrooge’s cruelty toward
him.
Tiny Tim
- He is so heartbreaking in this movie,
with his coughing, limping, and when they get to the part they are singing
around their dinner of a pitiful goose, you just want to jump into the screen
and adopt him into your home. My issue
with Tiny Tim in any adaptations is they never truly explain his health
issues…my guess with the period; he maybe has early stages polio and TB??? Although, I will say when he quotes the
famous line “God Bless Us, Everyone” it does not have the same emotional impact
as some other Tiny Tims do.
Belle
- I’ve never liked this version of
Belle. It is more irritating when she
sings that song, because she is an awful singer. I feel like she never truly shows her
heartbreak and if he had asked, she would have stayed with him. It’s the 1800s, why is she so feminist? It doesn’t fit the character within the
setting of the story.
Ghost of X-Mas
Past
- I love the etherealness of this
ghost. She is very indifferent and
ambivalent, almost gloating as he rubs his face in his past mistakes. What has always made me sad about the past,
in any adaptation, is that there usually lacks any time where he seems truly
happy in any form to the point that you start to develop sympathy for him.
Ghost of X-Mas
Present
- I always found him funny when I was
younger, but don’t like that he is absent-minded and a little buffoon-ish;
however, he does have the best song in the movie (in my opinion). The thing that always gets me in his sequence
are two things: (1) that Fred appears poor yet appears to live in a decently
nice house and (2) Fred has such a large Christmas spirit it seems a little
contradictory for his character to make fun of his uncle, regardless of
Scrooge’s cruelty toward him.
Ghost of X-Mas
Future
- When I was younger, I always was
irritated that it never spoke, but now that I watch it, it is a lot more
menacing when he forces Scrooge to discover the possibilities on his own. I’ve always doubted Scrooge’s naivety related
to never truly thinking that the people are talking about him. My other question that always bugged me was,
how long had Tiny Tim passed since this Future scene…they talk about how he
only passed no more than a week before since their words seem to indicate that
they have not had the funeral yet.
Scrooged
Screenplay
- I realize it is a comedy and really
went in that direction; however, having some authenticity with regards to the
original novel, would have had a better feel to it. I always felt like if you knew nothing of “A
Christmas Carol” that you could almost say that this movie stands alone as an
original script.
Scrooge
- Bill Murray, a comedic genius he
is. He does a good job of playing quite
evil to others; however, I never truly believe that he has ever reformed. I always felt that at the end, things would
get better for a month or so and then he would go back to being the same old,
same old.
Marley
- He’s my least favorite of the three;
probably because I think he just like a dusty old Halloween costume, and yet
ironically the make-up department was nominated for an Oscar, so go figure…what
do I know?
Bob Crachit
- I’ve always enjoyed the “twists” they
do on the original novel such as having a female “Bob Crachit” and seeing the
hardships that she goes through. One
thing that I like about Alfre Woodard’s take on it is that she does show resent
against Scrooge, which I always felt makes her more “human” where as Crachit
typically is the height of patience and kindness, it is just a tad unrealistic
for me.
Tiny Tim
- I like that instead of making him have
a physical disability, they make him silent.
I think it makes it more heartbreaking to watch. He’s completely adorable throughout and tears
are your heartstrings…you have “Niagara falls” by the end when he says “God
bless everyone” and his mother just breaks down over it. Emotion is just ripped out of you.
Belle
- I always felt that Claire is the best
“Belle” out of any version possible. She
is so endearing, self-less, and you truly can see her loving care towards someone as cold-hearted
as Scrooge…even when they break-up you still see her feelings for him.
Ghost of X-Mas
Past
- He has always come off as so creepy to
me. I like the idea of the
time-traveling cab and his funny jokes like “Niagara falls” just works so
well. I also like the pace of going through
the past and stretching out the love affair between Claire and Frank…most other
versions just show the first meeting and then the couple breaking up. As a viewer, you root for them harder because
you see their love grow before it gets ripped apart.
Ghost of X-Mas
Present
- The physical comedic banter between
Carol Kane and Bill Murray is so priceless and incomparable between two great
comedians in a film…it works so well that you would guess it is more ad-libbed,
but it is not. I find it a little
annoying at times, but you just can’t stop laughing over and over…particularly
when she hits him in the groin, that always hurts to watch.
Ghost of X-Mas
Future
- This is the only version that I can
recall in which he is referred to as the Ghost of X-Mas Future instead of the Ghost
of Christmas Yet to Come…Future makes more sense, the other way always sounded
a little pretentious to me. I like the
creepy, weird skeleton mask…it adds to the comedy because you can’t help but
laugh at it because it reminds me of Skeletor from He-Man. I think the coffin scene when they burn it,
is so simplistic in its nature and yet so candid.
A Christmas
Carol (1984)
Screenplay
- Although Muppet Christmas Carol
purposefully tried to use the original prose, I’ve always felt that this movie
sounds more authentic to the atmospheric feel of the novel. It has a more British feel, which I think
works ten times better as Dickens himself was British.
Scrooge
- George C. Scott is masterful as
Scrooge, because most other actors go too cruel and I think he hits the persona
as just more bitter towards others and quite genuinely appeals very stingy and
miserly with such penny pinching. When
he goes to the bank and meets the other people, you see that he does have some
human element in him. What I really like
is he comes off a bit more sarcastic yet extremely serious in his
convictions. As you see his feelings
transform throughout the film, you see him still quite stern and resentful, but
I think that works because he does not lose that aspect of his personality,
where as some Scrooges make such a full 180 it loses a little bit of
believability, because with Scott’s Scrooge some of his personality is still
there even though he has made a change.
Marley
- I think he is so authentic, spooky,
and believable. The tangibility of the
character, even though a ghost, allows the viewer to see him as a “real” part
of the novel and not something in which Scrooge is second guessing himself.
Bob Crachit
- I like his clever ways in which he
pushes Scrooge’s buttons in the opening scenes and he is a lot more human in
that although he never verbalizes his disgust with Scrooge, you see it
emulating from his body language. This
adaptation out of most is one where I feel like a large focus is not set on the
Crachit family per se.
Tiny Tim
- I have to say that he is cute for
about five minutes and then you feel your teeth decaying from his sweetness; he
just becomes too much for me personally to deal with…not my favorite compared
to most.
Belle
- I don’t like this Belle. I thought she came off as too naïve when they
first met and then when they break up she seems so cruel to him rather than
heartbroken. When they show her in the
“present/future” after they broke up, she does not seem remorseful when she
hears about him…she almost does not need to be included in this version. You are never truly rooting for her.
Ghost of X-Mas
Past
- She comes off as a creepy character
that is displaced and does not fit this movie.
She looks like she should be a character in “The Neverending Story” or
“Labyrinth” and it does not work for me.
I am torn between the connections with his family. I like how he appeared to have an optimistic
spirit and his controlling and unemotional father is what led him to where he
is today, quite sad as it is. On the
flip side, I don’t like that they make that connection, because it brings in a
more “nurture,” where I’ve always felt that he had a more “nature” aspect in
his hate for Christmas. In the past, he
appears more depressed, not necessarily bitter.
Ghost of X-Mas
Present
- Fun Fact: He never states “I am the Ghost of Christmas
Present” to Scrooge at any point. He
always looks a little like the Burger King mascot guy in the commercials, with
a tinge of a mix of the Oatmeal man and Brawny guy with his face…it is all a
little strange, but I do not understand why the present is necessarily
associated with “royalty and riches” at least from his appearance. I do like his spunk and character as a whole
in this version, particularly when he nails Scrooge for his words about the
“surplus population.” I like the scene
with Fred and his wife, because Fred never gives up hope, but I felt seeing the
people on the street making it a little long-winded, particularly the children
under the ghost’s robe were particularly creepy.
Ghost of X-Mas
Future
- What I love, it that it almost looks
like a dementor that guides him through the future events. What I love about Scrooge during these scenes
is that he comes off as so arrogant and pretentious believing that no one has
any emotion towards his death and you see his anger turn to remorse with such
subtleness.
Thanks, Jared!
