Scrooge

My cousin Matt started a tradition a few years ago to get together and watch Scrooge, the Albert Finney version. This is good for a lot of reasons, first off it is great to see everyone and there are so many little ones, they just have a blast. Of course the food is great, but what I like best is the actual story; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. There is much to like about the story. Most of you know it so I won't tell it, but what I will do is explain why I like it.

I like the whole redemption theme. Scrooge is going to hell and must change his life to change his destination. Truly he is an awful guy, I mean he is the definition of miser. Then the ghosts come and he sees life from other perspectives and decides to make changes.

And change he does. While Ebenezer is not a sympathetic character himself, you want him to succeed in his transformation. Here is Dickens own description
“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty.”
And my favorite “Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.”
My favorite part is the dancing on the coffin scene with everyone singing "Thank you very much" because he died. But what I like is that after he changes his vision of the future becomes reality, but not because he died, but because he finally started living.

Watching this makes me want to be a better person. That is the best thing about it. It is an inspiring story for all us have things we want to change about ourselves, and if Scrooge can change than anyone can.

I will end with some of my fav. quotes. I also really like the script. I think Cratchet is such a great character and love that he toasts to his rotten boss, thankful for the small things.
Here are my favorite lines:
Ebenezer Scrooge: Fifteen shillings a week, a wife and five children... and he still talks of a Merry Christmas!

the Ghost of Christmas Present
"We are at the home of one Robert Cratchet. You may look through the window, it will cost you nothing, which I'm sure is good news for you. "
Ebeneezer Scrooge
"Will they be able to see me? "
the Ghost of Christmas Present
"No, which I am sure is good news for them."

Scrooge "I will start anew/I will make amends/and I will make quite certain/that the story ends/on a note of hope/on a strong amen/and I'll thank the world/and remember when/I was able to begin again!"

the Ghost of Jacob Marley
"Hello, Ebeneezer. I've been waiting here for you... No one else wanted to come."

[a knock at the door]
Scrooge: Plague and damnation! Can't they see that I'm trying to run a business here?
[He flings the door open]
Fred: Uncle Ebenezer! I cannot tell you what a joy it is to see your happy, smiling face.
Scrooge: Oh... it's you.

the Ghost of Christmas Present: There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not here any more.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Why do you walk the earth? Why'd you come to persecute me and what is that great chain you wear?
the Ghost of Jacob Marley: I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it, link by link and yard by yard, while on Earth and now, I will never be rid of it any more than you will ever be rid of yours!
Ebenezer Scrooge: Mine?
the Ghost of Jacob Marley: It was as heavy and long as this seven Christmases ago. It's a terrible, ponderous chain you are making, Scrooge!
Ebenezer Scrooge: Tell me more, Marley, but speak comfort to me!
the Ghost of Jacob Marley: I have none to give.
Ebenezer Scrooge: None?
the Ghost of Jacob Marley: Comfort comes from other sources, Ebenezer Scrooge, and it's given by other ministers than I to other kinds of men than you. When I lived, my spirit, like yours, never walked beyond the narrow limits of our counting house.
Ebenezer Scrooge: But, you were always a good man of business, Jacob.
the Ghost of Jacob Marley: Mankind should be our business, Ebenezer, but we seldom attend to it."

Fred: A Merry Christmas, Uncle Ebenezer! God save you.
Ebenezer Scrooge: God save me from Christmas. It's another humbug.
Fred: Christmas a humbug? Come now. I'm sure you don't mean that.
Ebenezer Scrooge: And I'm sure that I do mean that. Merry Christmas indeed. What reason have you got to be merry? You're poor enough.
Fred: What reason have you got to be miserable? You're rich enough.
Ebenezer Scrooge: There is no such thing as "rich" enough. Only poor enough.
Fred: Don't be so dismal Uncle Ebenezer!
Ebenezer Scrooge: What else can I be when I live in a world full of fools babbling "Merry Christmas" at one another? What's Christmas but a time for finding yourself a year older and not a day richer? There's nothing merry in that. If I could work my will, nephew, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a steak of holly through his heart.