Scrooge movie poster

M. writes in regard to the previous entry:

I have to disagree with Alex A. when he says that Scrooge’s transformation wasn’t as a result of seeing the light but of fear of the horrors to come if he doesn’t change. 

I’m basing my comments on the 1953 British movie version of the tale, starring Alistair Sim. Scrooge starts out the night by reviewing the reasons for the way he is now – the cold rejection of his father and the loneliness of being left alone at the boarding school over the Christmas holidays, the business failure of his beloved first boss which spurred in him a determination to be the sharp businessman his boss wasn’t, the death of his dearly beloved sister which kills his belief in a higher Good. Scrooge and his new partner Marley begin to have some business success and he’s proud and excited about it, and ambitious, and in his youthful pride and selfishness he isn’t as interested in his fiancée anymore, who doesn’t have the connections he seeks to make it even bigger. That’s very human. So we, and Scrooge, learn why he is the way he is. 

Then he sees what he is missing. He sees the love and warmth of the Cratchit family, the joy of his nephew’s home – things he wasn’t aware of in his tight, cold little world. He’d forgotten how good it could be to be among people you love and who love you. And he is shown that there is real pain in the world – the haunting image of the two children, Want and Ignorance, and the poorhouse where his ex-fiance is helping the destitute. And he learns how barren his real relationships to other people are – the scorn of Mrs. Cratchit, the way his employees happily sell off his possessions after his death, making disparaging comments about his penny-pinching, the way his former business associates won’t be bothered to go to his funeral unless a good meal is served. And ultimately, a cold, lonely, unvisited grave. 

The story is about a man who is scarred early in life and retreated from human warmth and love and who, by being shown why he is the way he is, and how good it is to love and be loved, “sees the light” and joyfully awakens to find that there is still time and a chance to spread happiness in the world and share love with others. He doesn’t want that because of a threat of punishment, but because he has been vividly reminded of the love he once knew and had forgotten. He’s tasted how good life can be again, and sees how much good he can do with the money he’s accumulated, and means to make the very most of what life he had left – and does. That’s a great message! 

I think it’s a wonderful story – one of the best, in fact – and I watch that 1953 version every Christmas Eve and have yet to get through a showing without a tear.

Laura writes:

No one surpasses Sim in his portrayal of Scrooge. He shows a man whose heart is thawed.

One of the most touching scenes in that movie is when Scrooge appears at last before Fred’s wife. “Can you forgive an old pig-headed fool?” he asks her.

Fitzgerald writes:

I feel a bit chastened by M.’s posting. I still stand by what I said, but perhaps my perspective has been tainted by the latest productions of Dickens’ story which gloss over the reasons for his scarred existence and therefore his withdrawal from the warmth of human relationships. 

This underscores the difficulty of maintaining a balance; the scene of Cratchit reporting to work late the next day shows Scrooge has perhaps experienced a deeper level of conversion, as M. asserts so eloquently. In particular, Scrooge gives Bob Cratchit a generous but not ostentatious raise and exhorts him to buy more coal, but he doesn’t send him home, as there is work to be done. Furthermore, the narrative states Scrooge was true to his word and became a second father to Tiny Tim. 

So it seems, true conversion may have taken place after all, although we are only given glimpses of his future behavior. A sequel is needed. We could see a new Scrooge portrayed as a paternal, manly figure embracing his humanity, caring for those around him, but still demonstrating frugality and restraint, husbanding his resources and harnessing their potential for good, without dissipating himself in the process. Were this a modern tale, one can only imagine the deluge of charitable propositions via phone, mail and fax once the news of his generosity became more widely known. [Laura writes: Ha!] 

In a related vein, the Scrooge portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in his coarse, ribald, and bitingly satirical A Black Adder Christmas Story presents an inversion of the Dickens classic. In it we see the overly sentimental side of modern “charity” where Ebenezer Black Adder dissipates himself and his fortune in a vain attempt to appease crowds of eager charities and thoughtless fools clamoring for his money. In the end, he becomes cold and cynical, the Black Adder persona played to humorous effect, in keeping with the old Scrooge, but in an overly zealous defense of self. A defense that is somewhat justified in my opinion.

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