a christmas carol - adaptations on screen

7/29/2019 A Christmas Carol - adaptations on Screen

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Charles Dickens classic tale is a simple story but a challenging text - although itssimple allegory can be easily understood by all of those who have read or seen it. As Dickens

himself wrote in the Preface: I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the

Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each

other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to

lay it.1

And indeed, since its publication it has never lost its power to delight and it has been adapted

in numerous ways and for a great variety of media, which is around every Christmas

celebration.2 I dedicate this work to show two famous adaptations of this classic novella on

the screen, which are Scrooge (1951) and DisneysA Christmas Carol(2009), with a general

comparison both to the original text and to each other. In my analysis, a general Dickensian

approach of establishing some Christmas traditions will be pointed out as well.

Before reading or watching the Carol, some background information on Dickens will

be of great help understand the story and its allegory, because Dickens had a hard life in his

childhood and he never forgot that. When he was twelve years old in 1824, his father was sent

to debtors' prison. The family suddenly became poor therefore Dickens had to leave school and

go to work.3 It was a severely traumatic period for him and later on, in many of his writings

(eg. Hard Times), he drew peoples attention to the poor and to a more generous attitude to

poverty. This happens inA Christmas Carolas well and it is highly attributable to the authors

own life and social context.4

Now that I have introduced the time and the social context, lets say a few words about

the plot. As one of the movie titles shows, Ebenezer Scrooge, an old, cold-hearted, miserly

man is the main character. He is visited by his dead partner Jacob Marley to inform him that

three ghosts (or spirits) will visit him during each of the next three nights.

The first one is the Ghost of Christmas Past who escorts Scrooge on a journey into the

past to previous Christmases. Invisible to those Scrooge watches, he revisits his childhood

school days, his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to

1 Dickens 1843 [1991] ix

2 Dickens 1843 [1991] v3 Penguin Readers 2000 v4 A Christmas Carol Teachers Edition


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Belle (named Alice in the movie Scrooge), a woman who leaves Scrooge because a golden

idol has displaced her in his heart.5

The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge through London to unveil Christmas as it

will happen that year. Scrooge watches his clerk, Bob Cratchits largefamily, and discovershis crippled son, Tiny Tim, whose kindness warms Scrooge's heart. Scrooge also witnesses

his nephew's delightful Christmas party. At the end of the day, the spirit shows Scrooge two

starving children, Ignorance and Want, to beware them both6.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge his own grave and headstone. Seeing

this, he promises to give up his insensitive ways and to honor Christmas with all his heart .7

As the years went by, Scrooge was better than his word and it was always said of him,

that he knew how to keep Christmas well.8

Considering my chosen movie adaptations, both of them are quite faithful to the

original plot and text. The dialogues and conversations are very often word-by-word quoted

and apart from a few sequences, which are either changed in their order, or introduced freely

from the novella, the course of the plot is the same as well, especially in the Disney

adaptation. Lets see the very beginning of the tale as a first example in which Scrooge is

faithful to words; and A Christmas Carol is faithful to actions in their onsets. In the

adaptations, we can observe the clear resemblance not just to the original text, but to each

other as well being almost completely true to the classic novella.

Original text Scrooge 1951 A Christmas Carol 2009

Marley was dead: to begin Old Marley was as Yes. Quite dead.

with. There is no doubt dead as a doornail. As a doornail.

whatever about that. [] The registry of (Scrooge is signing

The register of his burial burial was the certificate of

[] Scrooge signed it: and signed by Scrooge death)

Scrooges name was good and Scrooge's name

upon Change, for anything was good on the

he chose to put his hand to. London Exchange

Old Marley was as dead as for anything he chose

a door-nail.9 to put his hand to.

5 Dickens 1843 [1991] 27.6 Dickens 1843 [1991] 49.

7 Dickens 1843 [1991] 62.8 Dickens 1843 [1991] 68.9 Dickens 1843 [1991] 1.


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In the following, I would like to introduce some

major strong and weak points of both adaptations.

Scrooge is regarded as the best film version even up

until today of the tale with Alastair Sim (shown in the

picture) showing the broadest range of any actor to ever

fill the role of Scrooge, and also turning the tale into a

brooding meditation on mortality that doesnt let up until

the finale.10

However, for some reason, this is the only adaptation that

omitted Scrooges very famous remark on Christmas having a disagreement with his nephew:

If I could work my will, said Scrooge, indignantly, every idiot who goes about with Merry

Christmas, on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buries with a stake of

holly through his heart. He should!11 Anyway, Alastair Sim could eventually get the chance

to say it in the animated 28-minute TV short A Christmas Carol in 1971 as the voice of

Scrooge.12

As far as the screenplay is concerned in the case of Scrooge, some minor and major

changes were made, naturally. Major changes include some added scenes, especially from

Stave II when the Ghost of Christmas Past appears. As the Did you know? section of the

imdb.com entry mentions as well, the movie added the scene where Scrooges mother dies

giving birth to him; or even created a new character, named Mr Jorkin, not appearing in the

book, but created to have somebody (after Mr Fezziwig) who employs Scrooge.13

Many other interesting interpretations were added as well. These scenes involve, for

instance, Scrooges sister, Fans death (shown

in the picture), who is portrayed to be older

than Scrooge, although she is younger

originally; and the take-over of Mr Fezziwigs

Warehouse, explained how Scrooge and

Marley's company became majority owners of

Mr Jorkin's business after they bail the

10 Moviezeal.com

11 Dickens 1843 [1991] 3-4.12 Imdb.com13 Imdb.com/trivia


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company out. It is so well-built in the plot as it were written by Dickens himself, but it is

totally made up.14

The makers of the movie seem to have a deep concern

in portraying the deaths of those people who were

somehow significant in Scrooges life, and for this reason

they made up the scene in which Marley dies as well

(shown in the picture). It is worth taking a closer look in

these shots because Marley had already tried to say

important things to Scrooge before he came to warn him

about the visits of the ghosts:

Marley: [lying on his deathbed] theres still time

Scrooge: Time? Time for what ?

Marley: We were wrong.

Scrooge: Wrong? Well we cant be right all the time. Nobodys

perfect.

Weve been no worse than the next man. Or better, if it comes

to that.

You mustnt reproach yourself, Jacob.Marley: We are wrong.

Scrooge: What?

Marley: Save yourself.

Scrooge: What? Save myself from what? Hmm? Speak up [Marley

dies]

This scene helps the understanding of Scrooges cold-heartedness and strengthens the

relationship between Marley and Scrooge who once were good friends and business partners.

But before Marley dies, according to the screenplay of the movie, Scrooge does not even

show a little remorse or grief, in spite of the years spent together. Still, seven years later,

Marley returns to Scrooge, which is now part of the original story, to warn Scrooge that he

has yet a chance and hope of escaping his fate. He says: You will be haunted by Three

Spirits. [] Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. 15 This scene of

14 Funtrivia.com15 Dickens 1843 [1991] 15.


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Marleys last words just as well played brilliantly by the two actors and fits in the story as if it

was written by Dickens a century ago.

I mentioned before that there are minor changes as well in the movie. For example, the

Ghost of Christmas Past is depicted with a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held

under its arm16, but it is eliminated from the movie, but apart from this change, the spirit

corresponds well with the description of the book.

Writing about a film that was made more than 50 years ago, it has some weak points,

though. Being black and white, it might be less enjoyable for some viewers. Due to this early

techniques of filming, there are some cases when a staff member or equipment is visible in

mirrors and windows, like in the scene when Scrooge comes to his senses after the visits of

the ghosts and wakes up in his bed, runs to the mirror to see himself several times, and the

reflection of a staff member can be seen twice. Another interesting thing is the use of optical

printers instead of digital composition by computers, but the modern technology with

computer graphics has fully displaced optical printers by now.17 Because of this technique, the

actors of Scrooge and Marley never actually played together on the set apart from the added

dying-scene, nor did Scrooge and The Spirit of Christmas Past.18

On the other hand, Disneys A Christmas Carol from 2009 incorporated the latest

technologies putting the classic on screen. Actually, this is the first Disney animated movie to

release in IMAX 3D.19 The film utilizes the motion capture technique20, a process by which

movement is digitally recorded. Therefore the computer animators can make non-human

characters more life-like. During filming, an actor wears markers on specific points on his

body. Then each marker is encoded manually (or by algorithm) into the computer.21

One might rightfully think that Disneys version is a darker adaptation of Scrooge and the

original text, the resemblance is so evident. It is darker because although it was intended to be

a childrens movie, I would not advise it to children without their parents for the reason that it

is scary and terrifying for the young ones, can be creepy for older ones as well. Especially the

visits of the three spirits, because the special effects sometimes proved to be too frightening.

As an example, the death of the

Ghost of Christmas Present is really

scary with the loud sound effects and

16 Dickens 1843 [1991] 18.17 Wikipedia. Optical printer.18 Imdb.com/trivia

19 Imdb.com/trivia20 Disney.wikia.com21 wiseGEEK.com


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dark settings. The creepy laugh of the Ghost as he is dying (shown in the picture), the echoes

of embodied Ignorance and Want quoting Scrooges comments Are there no prisons? and

Are there no workhouses? are certainly cannot be understood by children in their original

depth, and as the wind blows away the bones of the spirit, the shadow of the Ghost of

Christmas Yet to Come is about to take Scrooge for the third experience into his future. If the

previous scene was not frightening enough for the viewers, the imagery of this spirit will

certainly be - as the future of Scrooge is really dark just as well as its representation.

In the future scene, the horse chase

through London and Scrooge becoming

smaller to a size of a rat (shown in the

picture) is not in the novella - but

undoubtedly spectacular in 3D for the

movie fans. In Disneys interpretation22,

the phantom horse just moved up to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come segment, because in

the novella, Scrooge encounters a separate ghost riding a horse before his visit with Marley

(Scrooge thought he saw a locomotive hearse going on before him in the gloom.)23

As I have mentioned it before, Disneys adaptation remained very faithful to the

Dickensian text just as well as Scrooge, sometimes even word-by-word. We have already seen

the resemblance in the very beginning of the tale, so let us just see the ending of it again

through the last dialogue between Scrooge and Cratchit in the office.

Original text Scrooge 1951 A Christmas Carol 2009

-Hallo! What do you -Cratchit! Youre late. What do -What do you mean

by

mean by coming here you mean by coming in here coming here at this

time

at this time of day? this time of the day hmm? of day?

-Im very sorry, sir. -Im very sorry sir. -Im very sorry, sir.

I am behind my time. I am behind my time, sir. I am a bit

behind in my time.

-You are? Yes. I think -You are indeed! -You are indeed.

you are. Step this way, Step this way Mr Cratchit, Step in here.

22 Disney.wikia.com23 Dickens 1843 [1991] 9


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if you please. please. -Well, its only once

a year,

-Its only once a year, -Its only once a year, sir. sir. It shall not

be repeated.

sir. It shall not be repeated. It wont be repeated. I was making rather

merry

I was making rather merry I was making rather merry yesterday.

yesterday, sir. yesterday, sir. -Now Ill tell you

what,

-Now, Ill tell you what, -Hmm hmm hmm hmm! Mr Cratchit. Im not

going

my friend. I am not going Im sure you were! to stand this sort of thing

to stand this sort of thing Well, we wont beat about any longer.

And therefore

any longer. And therefore, the bush, my friend. I am about to raise

your

I am about to raise your Im not going to stand salary! A merry

Christmas

salary! A merry Christmas, this sort of thing any longer. to you, Bob.

Bob!24 Which leaves me no alternative

but to raise your salary.

The chosen excerpts hopefully showed the faithfulness to the original Victorian text. No

wonder about that it was written by one of Englands greatest and most popular novelists,

and excellent narration and speech do not need much alteration, although it was written in

1843. Since its publication, it helped create our modern idea of Christmas in many ways, and

with its adaptations, it still popularizes such basic ideas, that we should hold Christmas as a

family celebration by all our heart and love, gathering around a great dinner. We should not

forget about the poor who need caring people the most at this time of the year so giving

money for good causes at Christmas is our public duty by the generosity of our spirit. And if it

is just a nice gesture towards our acquaintances, say Merry Christmas to them, because this

idea was popularized mostly by Dickens as well.25

24 Dickens 1843 [1991] 67.25 A Christmas Carol Teachers Edition


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All in all, it is a beloved story and an important part of every Christmas holiday. The

heart-warming journey of Scrooge is still entertaining and enjoyable one and a half century

later which is shown by its uncountable adaptations. Whether it is an old-time black and white

classic from 1951, whether it is a modern animated retelling of Dickens tale, the viewers will

certainly enjoy these adaptations if they enjoyed the original book, because the castings are

excellent and their faithfulness to the text and to the actions are both a guarantee that the

movie will provide the joys of watching these for any pleasure not just around Christmas

time.

a christmas carol - adaptations on screen

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