Joylessness to the World

I cannot begin to fathom how the people who produced FX's "A Christmas Carol" miniseries-in-one-night thought they would "improve" upon Dickens' original by pretty much throwing out all the wording and wonder that make the book so amazing, but I'm sure somewhere in their fevered brains was the idea: What if Ebeneezer Scrooge was not repentant, and moreover due to life circumstances and choice was never able to be repentant? And oh, presumably another producer then chimed in, let's give him a rich inner life so he can justify everything as a grand experiment with human guinea pigs! Then, suggested an intern, we should have everyone drop lots of "F" bombs and say "this is not a game" over and over to prove how horrific we are! Whereupon a woman trying to fit in with all the guys came up with the idea of jettisoning Scrooge's usual backstory and replacing it with a childhood filled with implied buggery, a gun-toting sister not named Fan, psychological rape and at least one mine collapse.

This is not your parents', or anyone's parents', A Christmas Carol.

If you're at all a fan of Dickens' original, avoid this one like the plague.

Although I do admit I almost liked the bit where he realized he was beyond redemption so didn't look to anyone to forgive him but tried to better himself because it was the right thing to do in and of itself.

Otherwise, feh. A pox upon it.

I'll add this to my annual "You Shall Be Upheld In More Than This" essay, which I'll probably re-post on Tuesday.