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News & ArtsWednesday, December 17, 2008
Books / Film Scrooge Learns to be a Republican
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Dirty Harry's Blog, a conservative film site, discusses the politics of A Christmas Carol. First he gets an e-mail from a reader that goes, in part:
[M]y girlfriend despises this movie. She is a hardcore subscriber to Ayn Rand’s philosophy and believes this movie does nothing but guilt and punish someone for being successful. I told her I chose to take it more as being about how their is more to life than work.
Dirty Harry, or whoever the film blogger is, responds, in part:
A Christmas Carol is a conservative story. Does Scrooge complain about taxes? Not much, but he sure complains bitterly about private sector charity. As far as Ebeneezer is concerned the government-run work houses are sufficient to take care of the poor. And like many Leftists, Scrooge doesn’t believe in guilt. His taxes funding the government are a Get Out Of Guilt-Jail Free card. If Scrooge were around today he’d wrist-flick all those private sector do-gooders and leave them in a cloud of self-righteous Prius dust.
The first thing that really strikes me is that nobody's talking about A Christmas Carol as a story, written by Charles Dickens, until the last comment on the page, and then that comment ends with this remarkable sentence:
If Dickens were easily shoved into political pigeonholes, whether 19th-century or modern, he would not be a great novelist. He would be an ideologue; indeed, he would be Ayn Rand.
This is astonishing to me. I've frankly always been under the impression that Dickens would have been a very progressive Democrat if it were somehow possible to transplant his ideology to this time, and I've always thought of A Christmas Carol as a story of a pathologically self-interested man developing a social consciousness, and I'd never tried to affix political labels to it. But then, I think it might be best to refute the conservative movie fans with a movie. This movie is, I think, all about refuting Reagan Republicans:
And it's the best Christmas Carol adaptation ever put to film. That closing monologue of Bill Murray's really knocks me out every time.
1
Maybe the commenter isn't so much comparing Rand's and Dickens' ideologies, but rather the way they infuse their writing with their respective ideologies. I fully agree that Ayn Rand isn't a good writer; her characters are mere vehicles for her philosophies and just can't stand up outside the ideology.
I don't feel the same way about Dickens' writing, but I don't think anyone would reasonably compare his politics to Ayn Rand's.
I don't feel the same way about Dickens' writing, but I don't think anyone would reasonably compare his politics to Ayn Rand's.
4
wow, that is some first rate self delusional rationalization. the message of a christmas carol isn't really very political, it's about discovering the truly valuable things in life, like family and friendship and generosity and how these things feed your soul. to claim that scrooge is a republican because he fails to complain about taxes and makes some off hand comments about poor houses is laughable at best.
5
A Christmas Carol is a tale of letting go of self need and helping those less fortunate. It matters not to Dickens whether that help comes from private or public sources. The key is to be generous with the less fortunate.
Scrooge was a tyrant to Bob Cratchit. Is that a Conservative value, too?
Dickens wasn't (I've heard) the nicest of men, but A Christmas Carol's purpose, I believe, is a warning to those of us alive that life is awfully short and to waste it enveloped in total self-interest cheats one out of real happiness. That's Dickens' legacy - be grateful for what you have and be generous to those less fortunate.
Scrooge was a tyrant to Bob Cratchit. Is that a Conservative value, too?
Dickens wasn't (I've heard) the nicest of men, but A Christmas Carol's purpose, I believe, is a warning to those of us alive that life is awfully short and to waste it enveloped in total self-interest cheats one out of real happiness. That's Dickens' legacy - be grateful for what you have and be generous to those less fortunate.
6
Declaring "A Christmas Carol" a conservative story based on Scrooge's behavior and statements at the front of the book is like reading the Bible and basing your beliefs on the Old Testament, even where they are overwritten by Christ's words in the New.
7
@6:
Which, I think, pretty much sums up the Conservative viewpoint quite nicely, since as best I can tell, they seem to prefer the "Big Daddy/Big Stick" approach of the OT Yahweh, over the soft-and-fuzzy "God is love" Jehovah of the NT.
Which, I think, pretty much sums up the Conservative viewpoint quite nicely, since as best I can tell, they seem to prefer the "Big Daddy/Big Stick" approach of the OT Yahweh, over the soft-and-fuzzy "God is love" Jehovah of the NT.
8
I'm not sure I'm entirely qualified to comment, as it's been a while since I read Dickens original - however, the point that I found is that man can better himself (and possibly lengthen ones lifespan) by being kind to others. That's supposed to be the whole idea behind Christmas anyway, isn't it? To give of oneself so that others may benefit? Jesus did it, and so does Santa.
Sidenote: In college I wrote a thesis that tied Dickens to transcendentalism and positioned him more akin to Thoreau and Emerson than anyone else. I don't know that this adds to the conversation, but I did get a 'B' on it.
Sidenote: In college I wrote a thesis that tied Dickens to transcendentalism and positioned him more akin to Thoreau and Emerson than anyone else. I don't know that this adds to the conversation, but I did get a 'B' on it.
9
"Look, Frank, it's a TOAST-er!"
And then she smacks him in the face with a toaster. I fucking love Carol Kane.
And then she smacks him in the face with a toaster. I fucking love Carol Kane.
11
"I can't get the little atlers to stay on?"
"Have you tried Staples?"
That line gets me every time...
"Have you tried Staples?"
That line gets me every time...
13
I think A Christmas Carol shares the same message as Stephen King's The Shining. "All work and no play makes Scrooge a dull boy."
15
Anybody who thinks Ayn Rand represents an actual coherent "philosophy" can convince themselves of anything.
16
Scrooge also has to learn how to be generous toward himself. I haven't read the story in a long while, but the play makes it clear that Scrooge won't even spend money on himself. His home is kept as cold as possible, and he doesn't spend any time doing anything enjoyable.
17
Ghostbusters and Scrooged were Murray's best work. I need to see Scrooged again, thanks for the reminder!
18
Dickens was a progressive reformer; the one overarching theme of his writing was concern for the poor and action to ease their suffering. Anyone who doesn't understand that would have failed my seventh-grade English class, and has no business commenting on any kind of literature at all. IN ADDITION, Dickens was a brilliant novelist and imaginer of worlds. To compare his work to the rotting bags of garbage produced by Ayn Rand is ridiculous. Rand was not merely a bad writer; she was probably the worst writer of all time.
It would be difficult to take away a wronger impression of the message of A Christmas Carol than these boobs have. It is, of course, a profoundly pro-charity book. They have it utterly backwards; one wonders if they think Lolita is a polemic in favor of child molestation? Perhaps they only read the first fifteen pages?
It would be difficult to take away a wronger impression of the message of A Christmas Carol than these boobs have. It is, of course, a profoundly pro-charity book. They have it utterly backwards; one wonders if they think Lolita is a polemic in favor of child molestation? Perhaps they only read the first fifteen pages?
20
For some stupid ass reason, "Scrooged" is only playing on Christmas day in the Seattle area. Stupid cable. If I ran a cable station, I'd play this movie at least as often as that execrable piece of "Christmas Story" filth.
21
Dickens was all about helping the poor. Did these people not read any of his other books? So many of them are about helping out those less fortunate. Dickens is the opposite of Ayn Rand.
22
Scrooged is the greatest Xmas movie of all time. I plan on watching it tonight while drinking wine.
23
wow i REALLY need to watched scrooged again this year. why don"t they play this instead of that highly overplayed a christmas story?
24
Dickens wrote eloquently on the Victorian English class system, straight up. And usually, if you're going to the trouble of describing in painful detail the class system, you're going to end up exposing its faults, not praising it. Read 'Bleak House' to see Dickens take it to another level.
And yes, Scrooged is amazing. Already watched it twice this week. But, for my warm and fuzzies, it's all about 'Muppet Christmas Carol'. Sniff.
And yes, Scrooged is amazing. Already watched it twice this week. But, for my warm and fuzzies, it's all about 'Muppet Christmas Carol'. Sniff.
26
Will @10:
...and you wonder why very few people around here like you.
"But the Muppet Christmas Carol was a lot better than the other Scrooge ones."
...and you wonder why very few people around here like you.
27
"Light the lamp, not the rat! LIGHT THE LAMP, NOT THE RAT!"
Muppets FTW. Anybody who says differently is a heartless jaded scrooge.
Muppets FTW. Anybody who says differently is a heartless jaded scrooge.
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