WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
It’s that wonderful time of year again (well, yesterday but Boxing Day still counts as part of the Christmas holiday right?) and how has it taken me 5 years to talk about possibly the most adapted Christmas story? OK, I’ve never actually read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol but I’ve seen A Muppet’s Christmas Carol so many times I know the story pretty well. The only part of the original story that rarely appears in any adaptation is the appearance of Want and Ignorance – outside of the Jim Carey version that is…
My Dad is Scrooge
I guess you can’t really have an article like this without having a film for the kids. The opening of this film reminded me a little bit of Nativity, absolute chaos with a children’s play! The proof of that… EB’s business partner Marnie (like Marley, get it?) is still alive and no ghosts as in their place we have talking animals pretending to be our past, present and Christmas yet to come. With the way this film is set up, the fact that Oliver and June are our main characters instead of EB, the story of A Christmas Carol is explained as the film goes along instead of just being played out by the characters. It feels a little cheesy in places but I guess there’s nothing wrong with that when it comes to a children’s film. I quite like the idea of the children using the story of A Christmas Carol to bring back their dad’s Christmas spirit and save their neighbours farm, it’s a nice twist on the original story. It also deals with loss and grief, the fact that EB stops liking Christmas because of the fact that he lost his mother on few years ago around that time of year.
A Christmas Karen
In a weird kind of way, watching this film for a Christmas girl’s night actually inspired this article. I was expecting it to be unbelievably cheesy, which at times it is but for once not in a bad way. With this film we have our first female Scrooge in Miss Karen and I think we have ALL dealt with a woman like her in our lives! I guess this is the kind of person we would consider as a miser nowadays – especially as this “can I see the manager?” attitude is usually used to get stuff for free. What I loved with this film was the little references to the original story – like the fact that the cocktail bar Karen worked for was called Fizzy Pig, like Scrooge’s first boss Mr Fezziwig, and, a little more on the nose, that Nia’s dog is called Dickens. Along with that, they bring it right into the modern era with the fact that they tackle themes like racism and homophobia which I’ve never noticed in any other version of this story. I think this also helps with Nia’s story as she is the modern iteration of Tiny Tim. Now, I’m not saying that his story isn’t sad, it’s just that him having tuberculosis is much harder to relate to than a child with leukaemia meaning that Nia’s story tugs at the heart strings that much more. Of all the films that use spirits to represent past, present and future – this is the only ghost of Christmas yet to come that actually speaks!
It’s Christmas, Carol!
I have a confession! I only chose this film because it stars Carrie Fisher but it’s also nice that this is a Hallmark film that isn’t about finding love at Christmas. Or so I thought but then again, the Ghost of Christmas Past does show Scrooge his life with Belle. Much like Scrooged, this film feels much closer to the original telling of the story. What’s funny is, unlike the other films in this article – they actually comment on the fact that they are retelling A Christmas Carol in a pretty humorous way. Especially as when Carol, our Ebenezer Scrooge if you will, realises what’s happening Eve reels off other films, not all of them Christmassy “Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, It’s not Star Wars is it?”. This is the only film where all the ghosts are played by the same actor but this also means we do not have a Jacob Marley style character as Eve, played by Carrie Fisher, takes on past, present and future. This strangely adds a bit more flow to the story instead of a back and forth between sleeping and introductions to new characters. This also isn’t the only person that encapsulates more than one character as Kendra is both Bob Cratchett and Scrooge’s nephew Fred. It’s also funny that both this and A Christmas Karen show Scrooge on the TV.
Scrooged
The fact that I already referenced possibly my favourite adaption of this story above, I don’t think I could have written this article without talking about possibly my favourite Bill Murray film. That isn’t exactly saying much because, he seems to play basically the same character in everything I’ve seen but for this it seems to fit with the storyline. This film definitely doesn’t start the way I remembered, so much so I was fooled by the opening. What’s clever about this film is that this has a Scrooge, creating a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol called Scrooge which is live streamed across the world. This is where I have an important question about the ending, is Frank speaking to the audience watching the show that he is airing OR is he breaking the fourth wall and speaking to the audience watching the film about the show that he’s making? Fun fact, Frank’s brother James Cross is played by Bill Murray’s real life brother John. I definitely think this is the darker version out of all the films on this list with touches of humour here and there – especially as Lew Hayward appears as much more rotted than any of the other adaptations of Jacob Marley and definitely don’t get me started on quite how creepy the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is! On top of that – more often than not our Tiny Tim character is sick, which you notice we didn’t have one in It’s Christmas, Carol, however in this he has what you can only describe as selective mutism due to trauma.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
OK, some may say that this shouldn’t be used because it isn’t a Christmas film/story but it has all the elements of A Christmas Carol. I guess another key element to Scrooge’s miserly nature is his attitude towards love – he’s even cold towards his own nephew and this is the focus of this film. Connor Mead is a serial dater, and honestly that is the politest way to describe his behaviour, who is visited by 4 ghosts as is typical of the traditional story. The first being the ghost of Uncle Wayne – our modern representation of Jacob Marley – followed by 3 ex-girlfriends. The morale of the story for this film is that for all his life and no matter how much he tries to avoid it, Connor loves Jenny but unlike Scrooge – he never actually gets the girl! Well, that’s inaccurate – he gets with Jenny but majorly screws it up! I love the fact that Paul, our representation of Fred, actually defends his brother whereas Fred criticizes Uncle Scrooge along with his friends. Of course, with the change in style of the story – the ghost of things yet to come (or future girlfriends in this case) isn’t a haunting spooky figure. Instead she is a beautiful blonde who shows him how much his present messes up not just his life but Paul’s too. Is it wrong that I wanted the film just to end with the selfless act of Connor saving his brother’s wedding and not worry about him finally getting Jenny back? I know it was the point of the film but it felt a little clichéd.
Last Train to Christmas
Now, here’s a different twist on the way to tell the A Christmas Carol story – time travel on a train. Tony Towers doesn’t feel like much of a Scrooge in comparison to some of the others in this article. Yes, he’s rather self-centred and closer maybe to Connor Mead in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past but he’s a happily engaged man in 1985 with a seemingly successful business. In truth, this film isn’t about Tony needing to change his ways but more about realising he doesn’t always need to look out and make decisions for his brother. There are no ghosts in this version, Tony just skips to different time periods in his life as he’s trying his best to get to the buffet car to buy some champagne to celebrate his recent engagement to Sue. It’s unclear where the first jump takes him to but on his second try, he ends up 10 years in the future. I started to wonder if 1985 or 1995 was the present, but the moment Tony choses to walk into the carriage behind theirs to try and work on his and Roger’s relationship it makes it clear what’s positioned where. The key thing about Tony, compared to the other Scrooges is that he tries his best to fix everything as he goes along – instead of the realisation of death setting his mind straight. Well, this is actually the only film where it isn’t the Scrooge character’s death that’s seen. Unfortunately, for a long time no matter what he does, nothing goes right – so much so that I wasn’t sure if this film was going to have a happy ending like the others. I guess I’ll leave it to you all to make the decision on whether you think does or not…
