#Mrs. Cratchit

[aslightlydifferentchristmascarol]

Mrs. Cratchit: Belinda, don’t you have something to say to your brother? Belinda: I’m sorry I flicked flour in your face. Mrs. Cratchit: Tim? Tim: I’m sorry you’re my sister.

[justice-for-jacob-marley]

I finally drew the three main female characters in my retelling of A Christmas Carol (save for the ghosts, of course)!

Belle is not Mr. Fezziwig's daughter, but rather his niece in my version. She also doesn't get married, but rather lives her life for a short period single before making up to Scrooge. (This aspect of her personality, as well as her character design, is chiefly based on how she is portrayed in the cartoon version of "The Stingiest Man in Town".) Right now, she's just his friend, rather than his girlfriend, although that may change over time.

Ann is Bob's wife and Tim's mother, and I don't really have a lot to say about her other than her design is actually based on how she looked in a Christmas Carol play that I, myself, was in (and the actress who played her was also the co-director!).

Amelie is an OC of mine, and Marley's love interest. She first met him upon seeing him break his foot after kicking a bucket out of his office, and over the years, they grew together. After Marley left Scrooge's business, he ran away to the town where she grew up, a small village outside of London. He stayed with her for seven long years, until he decided they should go back to London and check on Scrooge. They're currently engaged and living together in Marley's house. Although Amelie had some issues with Scrooge when she first met him (and still has a few today), she thinks he's become a good friend and a good person since being haunted by the three ghosts.

I was originally going to draw Fred's wife (Lily) as well, but decided against it since she doesn't have that big of a role in my retelling.

[spiritusloci]

A Christmas Carol (2024)

[blondebrainpowered]

Mickey's Christmas Carol, 1983

[weltato]

Starkid couples making me weep tears of joy, whether real (the actors) or fictional (the characters).

In this case, it's both.

[lilacthebooklover]

trying to sleep right now but all i can hear is lauren lopez singing "i'll toast my hope that he DIIIEEEEES" like an actual angel

[andy-clutterbuck]

Ebenezer Scrooge | requested by Anonymous

[bestmothertournament]

[sp00kysk3lly]

“You will be haunted, by Three Spirits.

Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls One.

Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night when the last strike of Twelve has ceased to vibrate.

Look to see me no more;”

- Jacob Marley

[lancelotslair]

anyways mrs cratchit nad her wife bob cratchit<3

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

QUARTERFINALS

Apple bracket, 1/6 4pm to 6pm (one new battle every 30 minutes)

Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas & Ferb) vs Iroh (avatar, the last airbender)

Hakoda (avatar, the last airbender) vs Bruno Buccerati (Jojo’s bizarre adventure)

Loid Forger (spy x family) vs Sailor Uranus (sailor moon crystal)

Sully (monsters inc) vs Ping (kung fu panda)

Bapelsin bracket, 1/6 pm, 7pm-9pm

Benjamin Sisko (star trek) vs Gomez Addams (the Addams family)

Pyrrha Dve (the locked tomb) vs Bob Cratchit (a Christmas Carol)

Alfred Pennyworth (Batman) vs Meta Knight (Kirby)

Lee Scoresby (his dark materials) vs Terry Jeffords (Brooklyn 99)

Also there was a mess up, I accidentally pitched Kim Dokja vs Sully instead of Meta Knight.

Links: to be updated

Previous Main rounds

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Second chance

[aslightlydifferentchristmascarol]

Cratchit: This is one of those things you always figure will happen to someone else. Mrs. Cratchit: Unfortunately, we're all "someone else" to someone else.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I’m sorry but if there is one thing the Tumblr left needs crucially, it’s the ability to celebrate.

I remember when marriage equality was called and there were waves of rainbows and love wins posts. When we successfully defeated Donald Trump, there was lukewarm relief, a reminder that you were only allowed one or maybe two days to celebrate and then it was back to work. That is if you were even a good person for voting Biden. We never did settle if he was better than Trump. (We did.). We didn’t celebrate student loan debt relief or any of the accomplishments of the Biden administration, or any of the times Trump was blocked, or other countries succeeding in keeping fascists out of office. Who cares if we had successes? It’s not good enough. Back to work!

And this anti-celebratory attitude stretches back to the past. On the 100th anniversary of female suffrage in America, we were reminded that not all women had the vote and so we weren’t allowed to celebrate. The only post I saw about Juneteenth was reminding us that there were enslaved people who were killed instead of freed and therefore celebrating the end of chattel slavery was wrong, and besides, we have prison labor so nothing really changed or got better and there’s nothing to celebrate anyway. Trans Day of Visibility comes with Trans Day of Remembrance so that people don’t fill the tags with hate crimes and death. So on and so forth. Nothing gets better. Nothing changes. Back to work!

So of course when we have a major setback, we fall apart and have to start frantic damage control. Frantic discourse ensues over how much people are allowed to unplug before it becomes bad and selfish. Yes, maybe you can have this one day off Mr. Cratchit but you better be here and miserable early the next morning. Like abusive bosses always insisting you squeeze out more, more, more, and any achievement is just proof you were lazy the other times and impetus for more work.

If we are never allowed to acknowledge any of our victories, how are we supposed to survive our defeats?

[weltato]

That is the look of "wise choice kid".

[princesssarisa]

Since A Dickens December just recently covered the scene in A Christmas Carol, where Fred and his guests play Yes and No, I've found myself comparing the book scene to its equivalent in The Muppet Christmas Carol. In the book, the humor at Scrooge's expense is balanced by Fred expressing his compassion for Scrooge, who, as he watches invisibly, takes the joking in stride and ends the scene in a happy mood. But in the Muppet movie, Fred's compassionate speeches about Scrooge are cut, leaving only the insulting humor (which is reworded too – instead of "rather disagreeable" and "a savage animal," Scrooge hears himself called "an unwanted creature") and Scrooge is hurt when he hears it.

During last year's Dickens December, I seem to remember some criticism of the Muppets' version of the scene, since it alters the scene's entire meaning and does a disservice to Fred's character. That's a valid critique.

But I want to try to analyze what makes it work within the movie.

Not only is the scene rewritten in the Muppet version, it's also placed before the visit to the Cratchit family rather than after. The order of the entire Ghost of Christmas Present sequence seems to be altered in the movie to create a "rising line of tension." (A quote from Robert Wise about the re-ordering of songs in the 1961 film of West Side Story compared to the stage version.)

Both versions of Scrooge's travels with the Ghost of Christmas Present open with the Ghost showing him the happy hustle and bustle in the streets on Christmas morning. Then, in the book, they visit the Cratchits: a happy scene in general, but increasingly bittersweet with the evidence of the family's poverty and with Tiny Tim's illness, and increasingly grim for Scrooge, first with the Ghost's foretelling of Tim's death and throwing Scrooge's own callous words about the "surplus population" back at him, and then with Mrs. Cratchit's disgust and the children's gloom when Bob proposes a toast to him. But after this comes a moody yet uplifting sequence where the Ghost takes Scrooge to various harsh, gloomy places – a miners' hut, a lighthouse, a ship at sea – where nonetheless, Christmas brings people joy. And then comes the joyful scene at Fred's party, where Fred laughs and jokes about Scrooge, but at the same time reveals his compassion for his uncle and makes it clear that his door is always open to him. Throughout these visits, Scrooge's emotional engagement steadily increases, culminating in his being swept up in the joy of Fred's party, forgetting that no one can see or hear him and joining in the games, and ending the visit "gay and light of heart."

The Muppet version changes the order of events to create a steadier line from joyful to poignant. The bustling street sequence is accompanied by the song "It Feels Like Christmas" (one of the best Christmas movie songs of all time). In a less moody and more lighthearted, Muppety way than Dickens, the song also encompasses the theme of "Christmas brings joy to even the poorest and harshest places" (e.g. to the poor mouse family, and to the prisoner and the jailor who act like friends for the day). Throughout the song, Scrooge slowly becomes engaged, and finally, awkwardly yet joyfully dances along with the Ghost.

Afterwards, swept up in the newly-discovered joy of Christmas, Scrooge asks to see family, so the Ghost accordingly takes him to his only family, Fred. Scrooge enters the scene still on an emotional high from the last one, unironically calling Fred his "dear nephew" and happily joining in the game while forgetting that he's invisible. But then, like a punch or a kick, he hears himself called "an unwanted creature," and sees everyone laughing at his expense. At this point the book's Scrooge has already been reminded of how others feel about him by Mrs. Cratchit, and worse, he's already had to face the fact that Tiny Tim might die because of his callousness. This, combined with Fred's compassionate talk, lets him take the mocking in stride; it's mild compared to what he's heard and realized about himself already. But for Michael Caine's Scrooge, it's a startling and brutal reminder of how he's alienated himself from others, just as he's been realizing how much joy friendship and family can bring.

Then the film's version of the Christmas Present sequence culminates with the bittersweet Cratchit family Christmas, and with Scrooge's realization that Tiny Tim might die because of him.

I understand feeling as if the Muppet version does Fred a disservice by cutting his compassionate speeches in the party scene. But his goodwill and eagerness to reach out to Scrooge are still conveyed in his visit to Scrooge's office at the beginning, and including his compassionate speeches might have broken the line of tension described above.

"Rising lines of tension" seem to be generally considered more important in film than they are in books. Notice how most adaptations of A Christmas Carol, including the Muppet version, slightly change Scrooge's emotional journey in the Christmas Past scenes too. In the book's Past sequence, his biggest emotional breakdown is over his childhood – he breaks down crying at the sight of his younger self all alone at Christmas in the miserable school. But the film versions always break him more slowly; he shows restrained sadness when he sees his lonely child self, but doesn't break down in tears until a later point, usually when Belle leaves.

Another comment is I'd like to make is that in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge's character arc is framed around his loneliness, his realization that he wants love in his life (both to give it and receive it), and his ultimate desolation at how alone and unloved he is because of his own greed and cruelty. Followed, of course, by joy as he finally gives love to others and receives it in return. I'm not sure if this is exactly Scrooge's arc in the book, but onscreen it works.

Analyzing the changes in adaptations, and determining why they work onscreen or onstage (though without trying to claim that they're improvements) is something I could do for hours. Someday I might want to write a whole essay about how, in the musical of Les Misérables, "A Little Fall of Rain" is arguably the most poignant death scene in the show and one of the most moving deaths in any Broadway-style musical – even though some people validly argue that it's much too romanticized and sentimental compared to Éponine's death in the novel, and that it dilutes her tragedy by having Marius grieve for her instead of just coldly pitying her. While of course it's always nice to see a meticulously faithful adaptation of a book, sometimes certain changes do work well.