Christmas Carol directed by Clive Donner 1984 Visual Arts Essay

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Analysis of 1984 and 1951 Film Adaptations of a Christmas Carol
The novel A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a timeless classic published in 1843 where its influence is still remembered every yuletide season. A Christmas Carol plot revolves around the story of an old businessman named Ebenezer Scrooge that is known to be mean, grumpy and stingy by the city folk. The people observed that Scrooge despise Christmas since there is no business during that day and it is waste of profit for giving a mandatory salary to the employees without labor. Little did the people know that there are particular circumstances that happened in Mr. Scrooge's past that led to his current negative attitude during Christmas day. Due to the warnings of ghost of his dead business partner and the different Christmas spirits, Mr. Scrooge realized his wrong doings in life, especially his inhumane treatment of other human beings, and managed to embody the true essence of Christmas spirit from the past, present, and future for the remainder of his life.
This novel had been and still being retold into different adaptations that further cemented its credibility as a traditional reminder of Christmas spirit. Among the different adaptations, this paper will focus on the 1984 film A Christmas Carol by Clive Donner and the 1951 film Scrooge/ A Christmas Carol by Brian Desmond Hurst. Both films presented an adaptation that is faithful to the original novel of Charles Dickens but some elements that are present in each film should be further studied such as the additional backstory, pacing of the storyline, film aesthetics, scene transitions, and animations since these elements gave more depth to the characters and storyline that better explained the plot of the story.
Additional Backstory
The original novel by Charles Dickens revealed the necessary background information that portrayed the past of Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge but the film adaptations presented additional scenes to complement Mr. Scrooge's past to induce additional emotional impact and understanding of his character. In the 1984 adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Clive Donner, the storyline is mostly faithful to the entire plot of the original novel of Charles Dickens, one scene during Mr. Scrooge's travel with the ghost of the Christmas past presented the presence of Mr. Scrooge's father that is very strict and irritated (32:13- 33:30). Initially, his father was only mentioned to be angry at him since his father blames him for the death of his mother during childbirth but the 1984 adaptation added the character to improve the understanding of Ebenezer Scrooges mean and grumpy attitude that he acquired from his father. Additionally, compared to the 1951 adaptation, the 1984 film presented what Mr. Scrooge had lost when he chose money over the love of his life, Belle (41:46- 43:20). This scene is emotionally impactful when Mr. Scrooge when he saw how happy Belle and her children that induces a sense of pity and regret.
In the 1951 film adaptation of Scrooge/ A Christmas Carol, the movie elaborated Ebenezer Scrooge's past by adding additional scenes and story line that is outside the plot of the original novel and the 1984 adaptation. ...