Dumbed Down Dickens?

                                                       


Advent Blog; day 19

(Warning, this blog comes with a sacharine alert)

Hands down, no contest,  "Muppet's Christmas Carol" is my favourite Christmas movie of all time. You can keep your "Its a wonderful life" and your "Miracle on 34th street". For all the schmaltz and goodwill they don't hold a candle to the Muppet's marvellous take on Dickens classic. Whereas, to my mind at least, "It's a wonderful life" makes you drink a cup of foul medicine in order to make a spoonful of sugar, afterwards, taste amazing by contrast, A Christmas carol, essentially the same redemptive story, has its humanity and warmth affirmed throughout, at least it does in the Muppet's version.

I was forced to watch this film when I was a student at bible college 20 years ago. Well, Okay, not forced exactly. We had no TV and the only things we got to watch were either at the cinema or on college social nights. On a social night we were compelled to send a committee to blockbuster in order to chose a film that Christians from all kinds of theological/denominational backgrounds and all kinds of nations would be happy with. As this was bible college 18 certs were off the menu. A 15 may just have slipped under the radar if we had the right potential audience that night. The decisions and debates we had in the video rental shop were legendary, probably both among the students and among the staff of Blockbuster. They could last almost as long as the run-time of the movie itself, or at least it felt that way. The lowest common denominator of moral standard (or perhaps highest) usually prevailed. We usually ended up with something Disney-made.

I have always been a bit of a movie-lover and out of sheer desperation to simply "watch" something I would even attend showings of the children's films that we usually ended up selecting. There was a great sense of camaraderie in those viewings. I came to love them. So when I say forced, I suppose I was forced by my own movie hunger rather than by anyone else.

At first I was not a fan. I had remembered enjoying the Muppets as a kid but I didn't really remember the jokes, other than Miss Piggy's Karate chops and Animals manic drumming. But, if I am honest, it hadn't meant a great deal to me. And also I wasn't really a fan of Michael Caine, to start with. This was not improved  when he started singing! Thirdly Not a fan of musicals per se. I have attachments to certain ones because of my mothers love of them but generally, not my genre, thank you.
But during that first viewing the good natured humour won me over. Enough so that when I was looking for a Christmas film to show the kids club I was running at the college it seemed perfect and  on a second viewing, the repeated watch seemed to greaten the appeal.

There are two elements that make it great. Firstly the songs are full of warmth and hope (they're quite catchy too). The lyrics speak of gratitude for the simple joys of life and for the company of friends and loved ones. They talk of shared human experience and shared possessions and wealth. The words are not religious but they speak of thankfulness, a quality often lacking in our cynical materialistic world. And when I hear them I know who I am thankful to.

And the redemptive power of Dickens original story, though this is not a serious film, shines through like a radiant beam of low winter sun through the window. Its about second chances. The chance to start again. How we long for that. The lessons that Scrooge has learnt from all the spirits are most notably prominent in the lesson of the ghost of Christmas present. A wonderful pun, I think. His lessons are about living in the moment, seeing whats in front of you. Living well NOW whilst learning from the past which in turn creates a better future.

Christmas is always about second chances. Jesus came to wipe the slate clean. I see his spirit in Scrooges joyful waking on Christmas morning when he has experienced such a paradigm shift that he will never view things in the same light again.
The  present is a very forgiving tense. It is, like the Ghost of Christmas present, a forgetful spirit. It remembers not the faults of the past, it worries not for the unfulfilled future. It is content with what it sees. The ghost of Christmas present reminds me a lot of the Father, looking on us in his loving grace. The spirits open invitation to Scrooge is the same as that of the Father's to us. "Come in and know me better".

I get that it might be a bit sickly for some but its the complete innocence of the film that bowls me over. I do not think there is any equivalent for its feel good assault on the consciousness. If its not your thing, fair enough but take away just one small part of the words from this, the best song in the film, in my opinion.

  Stop and look around you
The glory that you see
Is born again each day, don't let it slip away
How precious life can be

Dumbed down dickens; maybe but it still packs an emotional punch with me. Here's a link to that song for those of you who want to put yourselves in the mood. Just go with it, it will brighten your day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpb9EbmvM5M. God bless us, one and all.