credit: Scrooged
During the Christmas season there are a lot of movies to talk about and classics that pop up on a lot of TVs that people watch over and over despite the fact that they know the outcome and probably every line of dialogue after years of watching. But there are usually different ways to look at old movies since the revelation of what each one means and how they apply to the people who are watching them can come with age, and it can come at the darndest moments when one doesn’t expect it. For instance, the idea that A Christmas Carol and Scrooged are even related still isn’t widely known to a lot of people, but the two basically mirror images of each other, with the era they’re set in being one of the biggest differences. There are many other differences, of course, but one of those that needs to be highlighted is that Scrooged is a far more relatable form of A Christmas Carol, no matter that the meaning behind each movie is essentially the same. Some might want to argue that both are easy to relate to, but the idea behind enjoying a movie and feeling that it speaks to you are different enough that Scrooged wins out in this manner since, like it or not, none of us today know what it was like to live in the era that the tale originated in.
credit: A Christmas Carol
Scrooged shows an updated world that takes this time-honored tale and molds it to the lives of many different modern characters.
Starting with Frank Cross it’s easy to see the Scrooge character since he’s kind of a monster. He values hard work, but he’s such a miser that he’s not willing to give anyone else credit unless it benefits him, or if that person in question is more powerful than he is within the company. His assistant, Grace, is the overworked individual with multiple children, a deceased husband, and infinite patience with her jerk boss since she needs the job and has possibly seen fleeting glimpses of hope that her boss might not be the devil incarnate. Calvin is a young child who is traumatized by the loss of his father, and it requires a bit of a push to get him to see the benefit of rejoining the world entirely. It’s odd that Calvin would respond to Frank as his trigger, but the correlation is interesting since Frank needs to reconnect with the world in a more personal manner, and eventually, the two have a moment when Calvin finally speaks, and Frank is the one that prompts this miraculous utterance. In a modern world, this kind of miracle, when utter strangers inspire each other to change, is much easier for many people to relate to.
The contemporary feel of Scrooged is enough to make a lot of people sit back and wonder if they’re living out the experience of some of the characters.
Given that this movie takes place in the 80s, a lot of individuals are literally able to look back and wonder how much of this movie they could relate to since those who were growing up in the 80s and those who lived through the decade as adults no doubt remember a great deal of what went on. From the hairstyles to the clothing to the way that people treated each other and the overall world of entertainment that was seen back then, it’s not tough at all to think that a good number of folks would identify easier with this movie since they were there, they did it, and they know how everything went down on a daily basis.
credit: Scrooged
Scrooged does deal with very real issues that are old in nature but were still easy to pick out in this era
The idea of firing someone on or near Christmas, the reality of working for a character that is more or less a nightmare on his best days and a true demon on his worst, is easy to relate to since a lot of people tend to look at their bosses as power-hungry monsters, or kind-hearted individuals that will gladly help with anything like Claire, Frank’s love interest. Plus, this movie shows the consequences of the choices that a lot of people make, and how those consequences can affect people around them.
The long and short of it is that life has changed quite a bit since the telling of A Christmas Carol, and most people can’t relate to that era
Given that the 80s happened decades ago instead of a century or more makes, Scrooged is much easier to relate to since this is the era in which a lot of people were born and that they recognize as their own. Older stories are still a lot of fun and can teach us just as much sometimes, but they’re harder to relate to since life hasn’t been that way for a long time.
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