{"id":938,"date":"2019-12-29T19:33:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T19:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=938"},"modified":"2019-12-30T10:46:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T10:46:43","slug":"bah-humbug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=938","title":{"rendered":"Bah! Humbug!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Quite how many times Ebenezer Scrooge\u2019s catchphrase echoed\nthrough the living-rooms of viewers across the UK as they looked on in\ntooth-gnashing disbelief at the BBC\u2019s latest adaptation of A Christmas Carol<\/em> can only be guessed at. All that can be said with\nany certainty, is that their number is likely to have been legion, for what we\nwere served up with here was far removed from the festive fare that many would\nhave anticipated. Gone was any trace of Dickens\u2019s customary humour, with even\nthe Cratchets reduced to a state of miserable domestic degradation in which\ntheir love for each other was supplanted by the sort of deep-rooted simmering\nresentment that  characterises the annual\nAlbert Square misery-fest of Eastenders; gone also was any trace of geniality in\nthe Ghost of Christmas Present, transformed from a masculine embodiment of\nfestive revelry \u2013 a green-robed variant of the archetype of Father Christmas \u2013\ninto Scrooge\u2019s dead sister, who showed him precious little of the merrymaking\nof others at this time of year. Also notable by their absence were this ghost\u2019s\ntwo terrifying child companions huddled about his feet: Ignorance and Want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot too differed in many significant ways, with Ebenezer Scrooge, it seems, never having experienced a single moment\u2019s joy in his life \u2013 no Fezziwig, and no warmth shown for his former sweetheart. The BBC\u2019s A Christmas Carol<\/em> was a cold and dark beast that touched upon certain repellent taboos, but never once made reference to that contemporary taboo of taboos \u2013 \u2018the surplus population\u2019 of which Scrooge was so apt to make remark (far better, apparently, to substitute nut roast for your goose or turkey so as to defer the inevitable Malthusian day of reckoning for a decade or two). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, in sum, might constitute a summary of the major gripes aired by those who disliked this production so much, but if we look upon this offering in its own right \u2013 as a story inspired by Dickens\u2019s A Christmas Carol<\/em> rather than an adaptation \u2013 then it has much to commend it. For those wishing to view a genuine adaptation, and an excellently entertaining one at that, then I would recommend the 1951 film \u2013 Scrooge<\/em> \u2013 starring Alastair Sim, Michael Hordern and George Cole, amongst others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marley came to the fore far more in the 2019 version of the\nstory, being engagingly portrayed by Stephen Graham, coming across as Scrooge\u2019s\nslightly more humane and junior sidekick, who required no further prompting to\nsee the error of his ways. His awakening from deathly slumber by a scurrilous\nshower was the sole laugh afforded during the entire three hours of viewing,\nthe act of the visitor to the dead man\u2019s grave aptly summing up the general\npublic \u2018regard\u2019 for both the deceased, and for Scrooge himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this reworking, Scrooge\u2019s childhood was far darker and\nmore sinister than previously imagined, providing an explanation for his\nimperviousness to human affection, and chilling disregard for the emotions of\nothers. For some indefinable reason, he at times put me in mind of Chris Packham\u2019s\nestranged and evil brother (it must be said here that to the best of my\nknowledge, Chris Packham has, thankfully, never had such a brother), possessed of\nan intellect finely honed to his specific compass of interest \u2013 the calculus of\nprofit and loss \u2013 the profit being no sweeter than when it was to the\nconsiderable loss of others. This theme \u2013 of the obsessive accumulation of\ncapital for capital\u2019s sake, without regard for the human suffering thereby incurred,\nand without any goal other than the further accumulation of capital \u2013 was\nstrongly carried over from Dickens\u2019s tale; its critique of the worst practices\nof early-Victorian capitalism being equally applicable to the destructive\nasset-stripping model of capitalism so favoured in both the UK and the US since\nthe advent of Thatcherism and Reaganomics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The look of the production was striking, with set pieces in\nthe street, the mill and the colliery, being handled atmospherically and\nimaginatively. Andy Serkis stomped around like Odin in Narnia, consigning\nbelongings and memories to an all-consuming fire amidst a snow-covered forest\nof Christmas trees, providing us with a chilling vision of festive purgatory.\nUntil the very last moments, this was the place to which Guy Pearce\u2019s Scrooge\nappeared undoubtedly bound, as he paused en route to hell (it has to be said\nthat his performance was particularly good).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, this was a highly-entertaining, albeit rather\ndour and miserable, three-part ghost story based upon the concept of Charles\nDickens\u2019s A Christmas Carol<\/em>, but to\ndescribe it as an adaptation would be misleading, for far too little of the\noriginal remained, and much additional material had been inserted. I, for one,\nenjoyed it, but think that it should be judged upon its own merits rather than\ncompared to other adaptations. If you come to it expecting Christmas pudding\nwith brandy, be prepared to content yourself with a helping of cold Stollen and\ncream instead; both are good, but quite distinct. What this interpretation did\nnot provide, alas, was any sense of festive cheer. In this respect, the spirit\nof Dickens himself had been exorcised from his own creation, and been\nsupplanted by a far chillier creature altogether, with the consequence that\ndespite Scrooge\u2019s redemptive change of heart, it seemed that the Cratchets\u2019\nhome remained something of a bleak house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of H.E. Bulstrode\u2019s festive ghost stories are included in Anthology: Wry Out West<\/a><\/em>, available in both paperback and Kindle. <\/p>\n

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