The cruelness that Scrooge shows is through the way he treats his nephew, Fred. When Fred asks Scrooge to go to Christmas dinner with him, Scrooge refuses the invitation, stating that he (Fred) is a ‘fool’ for celebrating Christmas. Also Scrooge is a bitter man and is portrayed by Dickens as a selfish middle-aged man, who is greedy and cold hearted towards life itself. Scrooge is a wealthy man with a bitter mind. He is ignorant to everyone especially the poor. Scrooge is portrayed as an anti-socialist who doesn’t greet anyone and doesn’t get greeted, and avoids everyone, and Christmas. Also the majority of the language and dialogue used in both novel and the film such as ‘bah humbug’ is the same. This could relate to the way Dickens tries to emphasise the importance of the role of the characters, and the atmosphere around them. Also this could relate to the way scrooge is represented. For example scrooge calls his real nephew ‘sir’. He is very formal and gives me the impression that he does not like to become close to anyone.
This is shown in the video to be clearer, as you can hear Scrooge’s high, strong tone of voice and that he is clearly shouting, meaning he cannot be tempted to change his mind. Also the mood in the film is quite solemn and the pace is quite slow.
Scrooge’s stubbornness is interpreted through when the charity workers come to ask Scrooge for a donation of money to help the poor, but Scrooge refuses to give money and says ‘Are there no prisons or union workhouses’. Scrooge represents the rich community who mostly neglected the poor and only thought of their own well being. Which is out of order, we can obviously see that Scrooge has a lot of money as he owns a business, so why not give any to the needy. It wouldn’t do any harm would it! In the film, when the charity workers come, you can see carol singers in the background making us, the audience, feel sorry for them and despise Scrooge, as he refuses to help them.
However, by Stave 5, Scrooge is now aware of what people around him think and he knew he had to change after what the spirits showed him.
Scrooge is described to be happy in the novel as it describes him ‘laughing hysterically’ and that he is saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to everyone he meets. This is shown in the film by the sun coming out, and Scrooge’s happy, cheerful tone of voice. Clearly making people aware that he is happy. Also Scrooge carries a smile on his face and looks approachable. Dickens and the director of the film are showing a contrast of what Scrooge was like at the beginning and what sort of a man he is now. This in turn, changes the audiences opinion of Scrooge, making them believe he is a new man, but only if all the rich in Victorian times could change like Scrooge. Also the pace of the film changes, it becomes faster and the mood becomes light hearted.
The text shows Scrooge being aware of the people around him through the way he feels sorry for Bob and his family. So Scrooge decides to send Bob the biggest turkey he can find and Christmas Day off work. Also Scrooge raises Bob’s salary, knowing that Bob needs the many more and that Scrooge himself has plenty to live on. In the film this is shown by Scrooge asking a young, poor boy to buy the biggest turkey he can get and send it to Bob. Scrooge gives the boy the money for the turkey, also money for a taxi and extra. This is showing that Scrooge’s attitude towards the poor has completely reversed and now he wants to help them. Also Scrooge is shown to be enthusiastic to help the poor and that his mood is cheerful, through what he says and the way he says it.
In the novel, Scrooge is shown to be ‘merry’, when he goes to Fred’s house for Christmas dinner. In the text he is described to be ‘jolly’ and ‘merry’. Happy to be around friends and family. Also he is joining in with carol singing and dancing. In the film you can see Scrooge being merry quite clearly, as his facial expressions are those of someone who is having fun and when he is singing carols, his voice is loud and cheerful.
There are many similarities between the video and the novel, but as the video provides us with the visual aspect, the novel goes into greater detail and depth, letting the audience picture what is happening.
Also there are some differences between the film and the novel. These differences are mainly in relation to the obvious aspect, that one version is a written format and the other is a visually displayed format, the film. The novel goes into more depth and gives more insight onto “A Christmas carol”
