Monday, December 21, 2009

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Charles Dickens.

This was kind of a surprise because I never get festive reading done even though I always want to. I never get Halloween reading done, for example, because of work. (I have five preps – bite me.) But after seeing the new film adaptation, I made Jonathan stop by Borders so I could pick up the book, mostly because I was so curious about how faithful the new adaptation was to the original story. As it turns out, it’s surprisingly close for a Jim Carrey movie.

Never having read the book before, but having grown up on a steady diet of Mickey’s Christmas Carol, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and various other animated cutesy Christmas Carols, I was surprised and pleased by how gruesome the original story really was. I always wondered why Jacob Marley’s head was wrapped as if he had a horrible toothache, and they certainly never showed us why in the cartoons, but Dickens shows the rag coming loose and Marley’s jaw disengaged, his chin hanging on his chest. The original story is fairly terrifying for the era… or, actually, it’s just fairly terrifying. The original (horribly depressing) story of Ebenezer Scrooge may not be ideal for people who enjoy the more light-hearted versions we see in movies.

That said, I enjoyed it immensely.

[Via http://elitist.wordpress.com]

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