Bah Humbug
Saturday, December 20, 2008

SO my kids were watching A Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol and it occurred to me that this holiday classic based on the literary classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens doesn't share the Christmas story. This prompted an internal dialogue, read argument, about the Christian value of this story and thereby the Christmas value. Sure we allow all kinds of other stories like The Night Before Christmas which have no value whatsoever, but they are much more obvious so it is easy to talk about how it doesn't really capture the spirit of Christmas. A Christmas Carol and all its versions, on the other hand, seem to share the spirit of Christmas. They even have Christmas spirits, so it adds to the confusion. I have decided to try and compare the good points and not so good points to see if this work really does embody Christmas or not.

How does A Christmas Carol Stack-up?

The Good

The Bad

  • No Santa
  • They say "Merry Christmas" not "Happy Holidays."
  • Super cute crippled boy with a super cute name "Tiny Tim."
  • Encourages giving to the poor.
  • Funny ghost of Christmas present with memory problems like that guy in 50 First Dates that can only remember a few seconds at a time.
  • Has a redemption story.
  • The Muppet version with Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat is hilarious.
  • Ambiguous source of Christmas power.
  • The creepy ghost of Christmas future.
  • The version with Bill Murray is not family friendly.
  • No mention of Sweet Baby Jesus.
  • The Redemption isn't based on the cross.
  • No really good songs outside the Muppet version.


 

Well, there are points for and against this story, but for now it looks like the good slightly edges out the bad. I guess this means it gets the green light for now, but I'll be watching closely from now on. Do you hear that? I'm watching you A Christmas Carol so you better behave yourself and never remove Tiny Tim's line "God bless us everyone."

Posted byNick the Geek
at7:53 AM

0 comments
 
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)