Last night off we went to the cinema this time for “A Christmas Carol” which is quite appropriate for this time of the year. This time we had a group of 35 including teachers, students as well as some children and teens. It really became a family movie! Just have a look:
For those who don’t /didn’t know, this immortal tale was written by Charles Dickens and published in 1843. The main character, Ebenezer Scrooge (JIM CARREY) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk, Bob Cratchit, and at his good-hearted nephew, Fred. On that same Christmas Eve, Scrooge goes back home where he is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Joseph Marley, who’s paying the price in the afterlife for his own meanness. Marley thus hopes to help Scrooge avoid a similar fate and tells him that he will be visited by three spirits: the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-to-Come. They all take Scrooge swooping the streets of Victorian London (as freely as Superman or even like in another timeless story as Peter Pan)on an eye-opening journey revealing truths he’s reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it’s too late – and it’s never too late to change attitudes, don’t you think? Indeed, Scrooges’s changes surprise all as he sends a huge turkey (not a goose!) to the Cratchits’ home, spends Christmas day at his nephew's, raises his employee’s salary and vows to assist his family, including Bob’s crippled son, Tiny Tim. For someone who started this movie saying “Christmas is humbug…when you find yourself a year older and not a penny richer” and finishes with the famous “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year” it means Scrooge has really learned a lesson he will never forget. Who would?
According to David Perdue (
http://charlesdickenspage.com/) Charles Dickens has had much more influence on the way we celebrate Christmas than we can imagine. In a time when misery spread around industrial England, Dickens’ Christmas stories, particularly the masterpiece “A Christmas Carol”, enhanced the joy of Christmas as a family feast. As Henry David Thoreau put it “The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much.”
Quoting Perdue now “Dickens' name had become so synonymous with Christmas that on hearing of his death in 1870 a little costermonger's girl in London asked, "Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?"
No, certainly not! The spirit of Christmas has prevailed as it was his wish; himself was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time; as for “A Christmas Carol”, it remains popular, has never been out of print and has often been adapted (this three-dimensional version is only the latest example once even by Disney there is another one, a 24-minute long film from 1983 with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck - as Scrooge, obviously - that you and your kids can’t miss).
Other curious facts (?) about Dickens and his role in the English Literature and storytelling are, for example, the opening of a new Literature themed amusement park in London in the spring of 2007 or, more recently, the world famous Christmas lights on Oxford Street, London, being sponsored by Disney and lit by Jim Carrey on Tuesday, 3 November 2009 on the same night of the world premiere of “A Christmas Carol”. Guess the theme of this year's Christmas lights??? Right: Dickens! If you wish to see London Christmas Lights, please visit
http://golondon.about.com/od/londonpictures/ig/Christmas-Lights-2009/ or
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/oxford-street-christmas-lights-feature-403.html
So, Dickens' book is a parable for all ages motivated by his real social concern; the social inequalities he portrays in many of his most famous books, including “A Christmas Carol”, were based on his bitter experience and dealing with such topics made readers aware that it is never too late to convert greedy, insensitive people into charitable people, real philanthropists (that Victorian England so desperately needed).
As for this Robert Zemeckis production, well, there’s not anything new really – the difference is clearly the technology, not storytelling. The flick remains true to the book but it’s retold now in a good 3D cartoon. Yet, do go to the movies and check it for yourself because I’ve known the story (by heart) for a long time as it is my all time fav Christmas book(and I haven't missed any film version either)! Ya, and there’s something else: should you take the kiddies to this movie??? Well, I´m not so sure... when planning to go, don’t forget it is rated PG which means Parental Guidance for scary sequences and images.
I wouldn't like to finish though without leaving you some (web)suggestions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_dickens (already suggested on Oct 29 when I posted "What the Dickens?" for info on the author as well as on Victorian England)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol (info on the tale)
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/achristmascarol/ (for games, videos, pictures, info,...)
http://www.freechristmasclipart.org/dickenscarol.htm (besides the Ebook and other stuff, you can find here the reason why Dickens called it a carol)
http://www.dickensworld.co.uk/ (Dickens World Amusement Park in England inspired by the author's work)
http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/christmas-carol/christmas-carol.html (the different versions of the tale, including the one with Mickey Mouse)
http://www.history.com/content/christmas/the-real-story-of-christmas/a-christmas-carol (history channel has loads of videos and data on Christmas, including on "A Christmas Carol")
...
Other suggestions (for teenagers or adults) include songs such as
"All I want for Christmas" or "Santa Claus is coming to town" by Mariah Carey
"Happy Christmas", John Lennon
"Christmas Time", Brian Adams
"Last Christmas", George Michael
"White Christmas", Bing Crosby
"Do they know it's Christmas", Band Aid
"Santa's depression", Gomo
...
For more advanced learners, why not, for example, ask them to read "The spirit of Christmas" by Vivian Edwards to find similarities between the two stories, ...
Nice reading (or viewing):)))and ADM students: do not forget to bring your 3D glasses into class for better understanding English - Eheheheh!!!
