Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is likely the most famous Christmas story ever written. First published 177 years ago, it has been produced as stage plays, adapted into dozens of films and spoofed and parodied countless times on television shows, in comics, and other media. Whether from Disney, The Muppets, Scrooged, the original or somewhere else, it is likely a story that you know by heart. And yet, despite its obvious connection to the holiday, it shares very little in common with traditional religious or secular versions of Christmas. Instead, it is more of a cautionary tale on the failures of capitalism packed with horrific gothic tropes. On this week’s episode, Hannah leads Mav, Wayne and Katya through a discussion of how a Marxist ghost story became a treasured literary holiday classic and how it and its modern adaptations relate to politics and culture of the 1800s and today.
Citations and Links:
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)
- Pussy’s Road To Ruin by Madame Clara de Chatelain
- “Charles Dickens Tried to Banish His Wife to an Asylum, Letters Show” by Palko Karasz
- “The Costumes in The Muppet Christmas Carol Deserved an Oscar | A Dress Historian Analysis” by Abby Cox
- “A Christmas Carol” by Wayne Wise
- Find your local food bank with Feeding America
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
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