A Closer Look at "A Christmas Carol"

DGS49

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2012
15,661
13,008
2,415
Pittsburgh
I took another couple hours yesterday viewing the famous George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol." It's a lovely tale of redemption, conversion, and all that feel-good stuff. But as with most of Dickens' work, it really falls apart when looked at more closely.

We have Ebenezer Scrooge, a successful commodities trader, and his pathetic but good-hearted clerk (pronounced, "klark"), Bob Cratchit. Scrooge is a miser and a misanthrope, whose life devolved into a devlish campaign to accumulate as much money as possible after starting his career as an apprentice of some sort with Mr. Fezziwig, who owned a large store. His early life had been wickedly cruel although he was part of a solidly middle-class family, but he became obsessed with the quest for money, giving up his first love and everything else that he should have valued and rendering him a pretty odious fellow.

At the end of the first full day of action (Christmas Eve), Scrooge goes home to his empty, cold townhouse. What. The. Fuck? If he is a Man of Means, why the hell doesn't he have any domestic help? A butler? A cook? A Cleaning Lady, for God's sake? He's only paying Cratchit "30 bob a week," which equates to US$4.36 in today's American money. What would it cost him to hire someone to start a fire in the fireplace, cook dinner, and clean the dump? A couple pounds a month? WTF? I don't buy it. That townhouse is a posh residence, indeed, and there is no way a guy with his resources would be living without any domestic help.

And how can Cratchit support a family of 6 on less than $5/week? His wife must be selling sexual favors on the side.

What about the Christmas turkey? Assuming the poulterer would be willing to believe the little urchin and deliver the "prize turkey" to Scrooge - a complete stranger - ON CHRISTMAS DAY, what do you suppose MRS. CRATCHIT would say, when presented with this giant fucking bird, including feathers and everything on Christmas morning? Especially when she had prepared to serve a much smaller goose? And that's even assuming they had an oven big enough to accommodate that dinosaur. She would just cook it? Hmmm.

I'm not a fan of the Cratchit guy. After being admonished emphatically several times on Christmas Eve NOT TO BE LATE FOR WORK on the 26th, he shows up 18 minutes LATE??? Fire the bastard!

And I've got a clue for Ebby's nephew Fred. If you are playing "Simile's," the correct answer is one that is unexpected, clever, and fits the definition. Telling his wife that she was "wrong" because she didn't come up with the exact same word he had in his mind. What a dick. I hope Ebenezer disinherited him.

I am a great fan of Dickens because of the characters he creates and the light he sheds on the England of his time. But his story lines seem like tales dreamed up by a psychotic.
 
I've read the book on a couple of occasions. I'm actually pleased by how faithful "Scrooged" was to the original story line, and how artfully it was integrated into the contemporary television culture.

But back to Dickens, I think he owes it to his audience not to insert fact patterns that make no logical sense, even in his time.
 
The key to the story is Bob Cratchet was far richer than Scrooge and Scrooge envied him.

Cratchet had a wealth of family and loved ones to come home to. Scrooge had a lonely townhouse with no real life outside of accumulating money.
 

Forum List

Back
Top