Ebenezer Scrooge was a cruel man filled with hatred and greed, he didn’t care about any one but himself. It is Christmas eve, a holiday that Ebenezer truly hates, always spitting a hate filled ‘hum bug’ to any one who wishes him a happy holiday.
How ever Mr Scrooge is in for a rude awaken when he is visited by an old friend who tells him that he will have three unwanted visitors if he does not change his hating and cruel ways.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a classic Christmas story that has been told and retold since its release in 1842. It has become a part of our Christmas Traditions and has sparked several plays, books and film adaptation (including the horrible 2009 Mathew MaConughey film ‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, ugh). If you don’t know the premise of this glorious cautionary tale, a rich cruel man named Ebenezer Scrooge is visited on Christmas eve by his old partner who tells him that he will be visited by three Holiday spirits and if he does not change his hateful ways chains await him in the after life. Did I forget to mention his old partner has been dead for 7 years?
It is worth a read and I don’t mean watching one of the adaptations, I mean the actual book, but if you are truly interested in watching an adaptation, I suggests watching the 1971 version simply because the visual style is amazing. The film uses mood and tone to tell the story. It is a chilling film from start to finish empathizing the horror aspect of the story, because of course we have all forgotten that A Christmas Carol is actually a horror story wrapped up in a cautionary Christmas tale.
The old Alistair Sim version in black and white wins hands down. I’ve seen them all, heard the book both read and acted….. It’s an amazing story….
Ah, Scrooge, the classic “egoistic” straw-man for the morality of self-sacrifice. Altruists never seem to get tired of watching the straw-man get beaten down, do they? It’s either sacrifice your own interests for the needs of others or hate everyone else, we are told again and again. So spurious, so trite….
So so true.