This past Sunday, I went with my cousins and Oma to see Disney’s 3D animated movie A Christmas Carol and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Not only does the movie have tremendous graphics and great voice acting by Jim Carrey (who, fortunately, doesn’t attempt to make the role comedic) as Ebenezer Scrooge, it also retains the original story’s wholesome message, unshaped by modern society’s ailments.
Ebenezer Scrooge is an archetypal Objectivist, forsaking love and happiness to line his pockets. He is scornful of the needy and refuses to donate any of his money to charity or even spend an extra schilling to ensure his life-long partner's ascension to Heaven. This movie thoroughly repudiates the sort of greedy individualism that is pervasive throughout American society. When Scrooge sees the future he is creating for himself and others because of his selfishness, he is finally able to see the light, and not only overcome his vicious ways but also find happiness. Our elites, on the other hand, have seen the future they are creating as well and have yet to change their ways.
The three ghosts Scrooge encounters are some of the most memorable characters I’ve encountered in cinema. The Ghost of Christmas Past, trapped in purgatory because of Scrooge’s stinginess, reveals the tragic story of Scrooge’s past. While some Christmas villians have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, one is truly touched by the story of Scrooge’s troubled past, while still seeing that his problems are his own doing. The Ghost of Christmas Present is probably the most unforgettable character in the film. Robust and merry, I found myself reminded of a mythical god, maybe Zeus or even Thor. The third ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a mere shadow which leads it to be perhaps the most intriguing, as the viewer is left to his or her own imagination to decide what he is like.
What I found most surprising about the movie is its consistency with the old story and the fact that it remained untouched by modernity’s multiculti-madness. After being exposed to the horrendous movie Shrek and the "virtues" it advocated (crudeness, ugliness, commonality etc.), I figured the likelihood of Disney producing a wholesome flick would be minimal. One friend gave me his opinion on Shrek, saying that “It teaches that tolerance is the sole virtue towering above the rest. All other merits are insignificant.” After a long hiatus from Disney movies, I was quite pleased to see this flick reassert traditional values like generosity, charity, and most importantly, community.
This movie not only doesn't feel the need to affirm multicultural ethics, it doesn’t have the compulsion to reshape the image of old British society, as the BBC so frequently does, with fictional token minorities. Instead, it portrays 19th century Britain as it was ethnically and morally with a society that fully gathered around the wonderful holiday that is Christmas. The English aren’t portrayed as having the obligation to acknowledge the supremacy of Mohammed and celebrating the great religious diversity their Sikh population provides, in spite of their adherence to the nihilism of Richard Dawkins. Instead, they gather around their community and traditions and have simple, life-affirming love for their own.
Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol is a true classic because of the simple fact that it stays true to itself. No need to alter a classic just to indulge every constituency, just a sincere, wholesome story.
