How the films we watched as kids shaped our political positions of today.
No matter what rendition of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol (1943) was your favourite when growing up, the moral of the story always reigned through loud and clear. My personal favourite film adaption of the tale, a popular version amongst many people of my age, is The Muppets Christmas Carol. Now, I know this choice divides opinion, but the musical interludes and familiar characters truly make Dickens’ story come to life. This is especially true for those too young to care for parables. I just hope that Dickens isn’t turning in his grave at the thought of Kermit the Frog starring in a production of his esteemed novella. Even as I am writing this, researching Dickens whilst watching The Muppets Christmas Carol, I do suddenly feel like the ridiculousness and Americanness of the Muppets does, slightly, ruin the honesty of the story. However, it adds a light-hearted element that makes the story enjoyable and timeless to younger generations. That is exactly why I am writing this article- considering how the films of our childhood shaped our political and sociological opinions when growing up.
A Christmas Carol was monumental for society.
In 1843, four years after the success of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens suffered financial hardship from the failure of his last three books. Rejected by his publishers, he set out to write a new book, and publish it himself, to restore his finances. Dickens began writing A Christmas Carol, despite his friends and publishers telling him that the book would be a failure, since the celebration of Christmas at the beginning of the Victorian era was near non-existent. The medieval Christmas traditions, which celebrated the birth of Christ and the Germanic winter festival of Yule had come under intense scrutiny by the Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell- hence the decline. Therefore, most Victorians considered Christmas as irrelevant and few people celebrated it. It was a risk for Dickens to write this novella. Many of Dickens’ works were published as serials in newspapers, common in the Victorian age when many could not afford to purchase a book, but could afford a newspaper or magazine. Dickens was writing this book as his family were bordering on poverty themselves, and after a few failed books they were in desperate need of the money. Books made more money in Victorian times but they were too costly for those in the lower classes. Therefore, Dickens decided to publish his story in the newspaper as serials, so that people from all social classes could read his story- even though his family sorely needed the money.
Dickens’ personal inspiration for the book, and his passionate care for charity (specifically those for children) was down to his childhood trauma from labouring in a blacking factory after his family was taken to debtors' prison. Dickens was further inspired to write A Christmas Carol after reading the Report of the Children’s Employment Commission, published in 1842. A social critic ahead of his time, Dickens sought, in his novella, to give insight into the working life of the poor families and their children, and to inspire his compatriots to give to the poor and relieve suffering. Dickens finally conceived the idea of A Christmas Carol after giving a talk at an educational centre for the working-class. Sharing the stage with the social reformer Richard Cobden and the politician Benjamin Disraeli (who later became Prime Minister), Dickens spoke passionately about society’s responsibility for educating and caring for it’s impoverished children.
Christmas was typically a time for ghost stories in the Victorian era, much like the Halloween we know today. Therefore, if you read any Victorian literature set around the Christmas period, there is usually a ghost story or two attached, and this is why we find four ghosts in A Christmas Carol (five in the Muppets version). Whilst Dickens was ahead of his time, he still needed to sell his books, and ghosts were a Victorian Literature trope of the time. Furthermore, the Industrial Revolution- in full swing in Dickens’ time- allowed workers little time for the celebration of Christmas. Thanks to the combination of long hours of unregulated industrial labour and displacement from the rural communities they’d grown up in, citizens did not have much energy or care for Christmas. Many of our ideas about what makes a ‘Merry Christmas’ (including the phrase itself) were first seen in Dickens’ story.
Dickens placed charity at the heart of the season. This made a permanent mark on how Christmas is viewed and celebrated in modern times. The vocabulary used in the play has crept into today’s conversations, with ‘Scrooge’ being someone who refuses to get into the holiday spirit, 178 years later.
The immense social change that this book brought upon England (and the world) is second to none. Alas, this article is not about the social change Dickens’s A Christmas Carol created, it is about how it affected / affects children’s political and sociological opinions. Let us look at the parables taught by each significant character and spirit.
Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s deceased work partner, teaches Scrooge not to be so money hungry that he purposely disadvantages people- or else he will end up in chains in the afterlife like himself. As a child watching The Muppets Christmas Carol, the two Marley’s set a tone for the rest of the story. I recognised instantly that Scrooge’s highest sin was greed, and that what follows would prove the sorrows he has faced in his life thus.
The Ghost of Christmas Past shows him his wasted childhood and youth in solitude and mathematics. I am not suggesting that children should stop trying hard at school, but Scrooge takes it too far and loses the inherent fun and innocence that all children should possess. The young ghost also shows him the end of his relationship with Belle due to his parsimonious nature, which Scrooge finds very hard to watch. This taught me as a child not to put money before those you love- whether it be family or friends.
In The Muppets Christmas Carol version, The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge his family playing games and he is the brunt of a joke. His nephew’s wife answers, ‘an unwanted creature, but not a rat, leach or a cockroach. It’s Ebenezer Scrooge!’ Every time I watch this scene, whether it was in my younger years or now, with Michael Caine’s aging innocent face trying to play along as he realises they’re talking about him, brings out my empathy to the max. I remember the first time watching this as a child feeling unbearably upset for him. This side story teaches that if you aren’t very nice to people- they won’t be nice about you. The larger than life Ghost then shows Scrooge Tiny Tim, his employee Bob Cratchit’s poorly child. Showing Scrooge the Cratchit family happy together teaches children that money does not equal happiness, and it is family and those who you love that are important. Later, Tiny Tim helps both Scrooge and the viewers realise the real-world experiences of those less fortunate or less able than ourselves, and highlights that everyone deserves equal respect and a living wage.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come teaches us and Scrooge that there is little point in being greedy and stingy for one’s whole life if there is no one to share it with. One dies alone- without their riches. Therefore, charity should be at the forefront of people’s mind, not only at Christmas but all year round. The ghost highlights the unnecessary habit of stinginess by showing other characters chatting about Scrooge’s death and trying to sell on the items left in his house. Moreover, the ghost shows Scrooge how Tiny Tim would not have a future if things didn’t change, for the better, for the family. This once again emphasises the importance of family and the need for humanitarianism in Scrooge’s life. Finally, Scrooge is shown his own grave. This is the ultimate turning point for Scrooge. ‘I am not the man I was.’
A side note, it is also fun to note that in the Muppets version, the businessmen are all pigs.
Of course, whilst writing an article on one of my favourite Christmas films, I cannot forget to mention that my favourite Christmas lyric comes from The Muppets Christmas Carol: ‘it is the summer of the soul in December’. How wholesome. Honestly, the song ‘It feels like Christmas’ is one of the best Christmas songs of all time… in my opinion.
In the words of Bart Simpson, ‘TV Shows have been milking that goat for years.’ Yes, it may have been overdone, in multiple forms and on multiple platforms, but the reason it has been repeated on our screens for many years and will do so for many more, is because the morals still stand the same. If one is wealthy or has spare riches,one should not sit on them and ignore chartiy. Wealth is meant to be spread, especially with those less fortunate. Dickens teaches that money does not equate to happiness, instead it comes from spending time with those you love. Ultimately, A Christmas Carol - no matter what version you watch (or if you read it every Christmas like my father) is a story of humanitarianism. It taught me, as a child, the value of human life, to treat others well, and provide help to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity.
A Christmas Carol delivers just the right message to bring families back to the original meaning of a holiday that often becomes a celebration of wealth and consumerism. Dickens reminds his readers and viewers that a joyful Christmas morning does not require money or wealth, but heart, love, and family. “It was as if, in writing the book, he could will into existence a world of universal charity, empathy, and family harmony that he had not experienced in his life” (Standiford).
Madison Challis
Edited by Charlotte Lewis (Editor-in-Chief)
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