It is Christmas season again, which means I will soon be watching George C. Scott in my favorite version of Dicken’s Classic A Christmas Carol. The production is lavish, with most scenes shot in a historical early Victorian community that is akin to Historic Williamsburg. Mr. Scott is brilliant, capturing just the right tone for Scrooge.
There is a danger of portraying this man as evil, a one-dimensional Simon Legree. But if that were the case, then his soul could not be reclaimed, which is the lovely message of the story.
The beauty of Dickens is characters. There are a lot of them, and they are richly crafted. Scrooge is not described as an evil man. Rather, he and the Victorian business men he represents are seen as uninvolved, indifferent to society. As the old saying goes, the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. This idea is wonderfully illustrated in my favorite scene.
When Scrooge compliments the ghostly Marley that he was “Always a good man of business,” Jacob’s reply is not “Thank you.”
'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'
The above is not only well written, it beautifully captures the essence of the message Dickens is trying to portray.
The only aspect of this TV version that strikes me as “wrong” is the relationship of Scrooge with his father (played by the great Brit character actor, Nigel Davenport). The movie shows Scrooge the Elder as a bitter old man, who although now disposed to take Eb back, still does not like or forgive him. Yet the point of the visit to the past is to teach lessons. And Schoolmaster Dickens uses the characters of Fan and her father to show that love and forgiveness are possible, and that Ebenezer himself was once the recipient of both. His father did indeed forgive him for causing the death of his mother in childbirth, just as he must now forgive his nephew for causing the death of his beloved sister, Fan.
Anyway, try and catch this version if you can. Or, reread Dickens on the topic, as I sometimes do. Both ways are highly rewarding.