By Hyon O'Brien
The other day we treated ourselves to a film in a movie house. It's been ages since we did that. Usually we just get a DVD and watch a movie at home. It was good to sit and watch an entire film without going to the refrigerator for something to munch on or answering the phone. The movie was ``A Christmas Carol," based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novel.
Charles Dickens is famed for his social commentaries through his books during the Victorian age of prosperity bringing to the public's attention the working class poverty and social injustices that were the norm in his society. His characters are still very well-known and quite memorable in English literature: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Fagin, Pip, Samuel Pickwick, and, of course, from "A Christmas Carol," Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim and the rest. Dickens is known for the unforgettable beginning lines in his ``A Tale of Two Cities." ``It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Just as powerfully memorable is the utterance of Tiny Tim that ends "A Christmas Carol,": ``God bless us, every one!"
At the beginning of the story, Scrooge is shown as a coldhearted, tightfisted, greedy man who despises Christmas and all the related merrymaking. As we all know, his last name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness and stinginess, traits displayed by Scrooge in the exaggerated manner for which Dickens is well known.
The particular film we saw was an animated version. But, amazingly, the animation was so realistic that it made me think that one day we may not even need live actors at all.
The most visually appealing part of the film was the quaint but realistic and incredibly detailed portrayal of Victorian London, as the film unfolds on the Eve of Christmas. We quickly are introduced to Scrooge sitting at his place of business, and his lack of charity and shabby treatment of his clerk Bob Cratchit immediately turns our hearts against him. Scrooge's disregard for the poor evinced in his remarks about ``decreasing the surplus population" further cements our loathing of him. His utterance of ``Bah, humbug" to express his disgust of Christmas confirms our dislike.
Such is the degree of Dickens' success in establishing this unfavorable character that when we see the day-and-night difference in Scrooge's character later on it quickly wins our hearts and we are eager to forgive him and cheer him on. As the story unfolds with the visitation of the three ghosts of Christmas ― the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come ― viewers are drawn into the frightening experience of a selfish life being punished, enhanced with scary graphics and sound.
We see Tiny Tim, Scrooge's clerk's lame son, who dies because of Scrooge's lack of charity. He is shown his own death and the unkempt graveyard where he will be buried with all his accumulated wealth stolen by corrupt people. Upon seeing this, Scrooge weeps. He begs the ghost for a chance to change his ways before awakening to find that it is Christmas morning. He has been given an opportunity to repent after all. Scrooge does so and becomes a model of generosity and kindness.
Dickens describes the changed Scrooge in the following way: ``Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city, or borough, in the good old world. Many laughed to see this alteration in him, but he let them laugh and little heeded them. His own heart laughed and that was quite enough for him. And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"
In our current life far from the Victorian era, we are fortunate to witness goodness of the human heart being carried out in all parts of the globe. The on-going good news of Greg Mortenson's work in Pakistan to bring hope to remote villages by building schools through his good will and humanitarian concern; the Friends of Love getting ready to prepare thousands of baskets of lunar New Year rice cake soup ingredients to deliver to lonely single elderly people in substandard housing in Seoul; ongoing good works by singer Kim Jang-hoon, actress Kim Hye-ja and other generous-hearted people from the world of Korean entertainment; the news of the kindhearted American family named Torrey working for young people in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, to teach and equip the future generation to be ready for a united Korea; all around the world people building houses for the poor through Habitat for Humanity; doctors aiding the sick through Doctors Without Borders; the Red Cross; the Salvation Army; the list goes on.
Go ahead and put some money in the Salvation Army collection tin when you pass by a volunteer ringing a bell to help the poor. Write that letter of forgiveness and mend those broken fences. Pick up that phone and tell your brother that you love him. Let's make this season, a season of hope, a season of reconciliation. If Scrooge can do it, we can also do it. Let's also join with Tiny Tim and say, ``God bless us, every one!"
Hyon O'Brien, a former reference librarian in the United States, has returned to Korea after 32 years of living abroad. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com.