Obligatory Christmas post. Made it through a dreary November, had a great Thanksgiving break, and now it's on to the holiday fun and getting into the Christmas spirit!
So with that... A lot of kids at one point, see some scary movie that traumatizes them in some way. Usually it's some kind of slasher film or monster flick, but those never had that effect on me really; they just seemed cartoonish and predictable to me. The one movie that did it for me, traumatized me and sent me spiraling into an existential crisis at the age of 7 was... the 1970 movie version of Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol." So, what was so scary about that?
Up till then, most of the Christmas shows I had seen had been happy, cartoony, fun shows like "A Charlie Brown Christmas," of "Frosty the Snowman" or that old classic: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, with such memorable characters as Yukon Cornelius, the Misfit Toys, and the Snow Bumble. Most of you guys probably saw these when you were little, and I think they still show that old "Rudolph" one now and again, for a nostalgia trip. At this time, I was really into "Star Wars" and got my monster fix from English-dubbed broadcasts of the Japanese classic "Ultra Man."
But here was a film about a bitter, greedy old man, featuring his ghostly dead partner, two more Christmas ghosts, two starveling kids ("Want and Ignorance") and finally... The Grim Reaper. No happy clay-mation reindeer, dancing snowmen, or Santa Claus here. This was some seriously dark stuff to an 7 year old waiting for, and perhaps quickly outgrowing, Santa. I'm assuming most of you are familiar with the basic story line. Anyway, most stage adaptations end with the scene in the cemetery, with the Grim Reaper, representing the "Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come" pointing to an open grave with Scrooge's name inscribed on the headstone. At which time, he wakes up, mends his ways, and becomes a changed man. However, in the film version I saw, it goes further than that. In this version, the Grim Reaper actually shoves Scrooge into the open grave, and you get to watch him descend into Hell. Once in Hell, these demonic skeleton looking things seize him, and chain him to a post in an ice-cold cell for all eternity. (After which, he wakes up, mends his ways, etc.)
Well, all this was pretty freaky to my kid brain. I don't know why, but that had a huge effect on the little kid version of me. Obviously I'm sure that was the intent; don't grow up to be that cranky, bitter callous old guy, and what not, but it had me really thinking about life, death, hell, eternity, and other things most 7 year olds don't really think about. I did resolve though, to try to be a gracious and giving person and NOT fall into the trap of becoming old, amoral, cranky, bitter and callous, and hopefully I've succeeded. On that note,this past weekend I managed to finish up my Christmas shopping early. I've found as an adult, it's actually more fun to give people cool stuff, and hook them up with things that really make them happy, than it is to receive things, because the things that I want, are not the material things that you can buy.