Study Through the Bible – Script



Movie Discussion Guide – Script

Main Title: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

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Dickens’ classic tale of gaining the world, while losing one’s soul, but scarier and in 3-D.

Film versions of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas ghost tale, written in 1843, started appearing in 1908. Since then, Scrooge has been played by everyone from Alastair Sim, to Albert Finney, to Bill Murray, to Mr. Magoo. Do we need another one? Apparently. And this time one featuring a 3-D animated Jim Carrey. This Disney version may be the scariest of them all, but it’s clear we still resonate with this story of greed, second chances, and conversion. Oh, and everyone loves a good ghost story.

This guide will help walk you through some of the themes found in Disney’s A Christmas Carol, like judgment, repentance, and “the Christmas spirit”.

Based on: Disney’s A Christmas Carol (Disney, 2009), directed by Robert Zemeckis, rated PG

Movie Summary

Disney’s A Christmas Story follows closely the text of Dickens’ familiar tale. Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) is a miserly money lender in 1840s London. The film opens with the death of Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley (Gary Oldman), and establishes Scrooge as greedy and cold-hearted. Flash forward seven years to Christmas Eve, Scrooge continues to renounce Christmas, the giving of alms, and, for his employee Bob Cratchit (Oldman), a fair wage. That evening Scrooge is haunted by the chain-laden ghost of Marley. He warns Scrooge that he too will be damned to an eternity imprisoned by chains forged by greed and selfishness, if he does not heed the three ghosts that will soon visit.

The spritely Ghost of Christmas Past shows our skinflint his childhood home, a lonely upbringing in boarding school, his kind sister, his generous first employer, Fezziwig, and love won and lost. Lost because of Scrooge’s slide into greed. Scrooge can’t bear the emotion of it all. Later, the jovial Ghost of Christmas Present, grants the miser the ability to see how his nephew views him as the butt of parlor game jokes, and the ability to see into the poverty of Cratchit’s home. Here he becomes aware of Cratchit’s disabled son, Tiny Tim, whose life is fading because of lack of medical resources. This ghost then confronts Scrooge with mankind’s twin children “Ignorance” and “Want”, and his disregard for the marginalized literally comes back to haunt him. The last ghost, the spectral Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, takes Scrooge to the edge of his own grave, as he sees a future where his death is celebrated and his destination is hell itself. Scrooge cries out in terror, “Is this the shadow of what will be, or what may be if I don’t depart from my course?”

Scrooge wakes up in his own bed on Christmas morning, giddy from apparently having been granted a second chance. His “conversion” is apparent as he humbles himself to celebrate Christmas with his nephew, opens his wallet to the poor, and specifically looks after the needs of Tiny Tim and the rest of Cratchit’s family. In the end, Cratchit narrates: “[Scrooge] became as good a friend, as good a master, as good a man as the good old City knew…And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well…May that truly be said of…all of us.”

-For a full review visit: ct/movies/reviews/2009/disneyschristmascarol.html

Rated PG

This film is rated PG for scary images and sequences. This is arguably the scariest film version of this story. Scrooge is haunted by ghosts who: pass through locked doors; wail; unhinge their jaws; turn into skeletons and disintegrate; appear as feral children; shrink him to the size of a rat; chase him with demonic horses pulling a funeral coach; drag him to his open grave and the flames of hell. You know, a kid’s movie.

Discussing the Scenes

Select one or more of these themes to discuss:

1. Judgment

2. Repentance

3. The Christmas Spirit

1. Judgment (Luke 9:23-27)

Images of judgment serve as bookends for Scrooge’s visits with the four ghosts. In the beginning we see Marley wrapped in chains, doomed to wander the earth. He warns Scrooge that his chains are even lengthier. At the end, the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come dangles Scrooge above an open grave, with the flames of hell presumably glowing beneath it. How does an awareness--or lack of awareness--of judgment affect the course of our lives?

Q What scared you in this film? Which ghost were you most affected by? Why?

Q What was the basis of Marley’s judgment and damnation? What were the links made of in Marley’s chains?

Q At first Scrooge doubts Marley’s reality, attributing his appearance rather to “a slight disorder of the stomach…an undigested bit of beef”. What things brought Scrooge to a realization of the reality and gravity of his situation? How did that affect Scrooge?

Q When did you first come to a realization of God’s impending judgment? How did that affect you?

Read Luke 9:23-27

Q What would it look like for someone in your life to “gain the whole world” but lose his or her own soul? What would it look like to save one’s life by losing one’s life?

Q What is the basis for judgment in this passage? What is the good news here?

Q How will you take time to weigh your life against this passage this week?

Leader’s note: Read Daniel 5:1-30 for another good and sobering ghost story.

2. Repentance (Luke 19:1-10)

Scrooge goes from despicable, oppressive, cold-hearted miser to a giddy, joyful, grateful convert. “I don’t know what to do,” he exclaims. “I’m as light as a feather…I’m as merry as a school boy!” But, more than emotion, Scrooge shows his repentance by opening wide his pocketbook and giving money away like a government bail out program. Repentance is a nice church word, but what does it really look like?

Q Why do you think Scrooge, the boy, grew into such a cold-hearted man? What clues does the film give?

Q What brings Scrooge to a point of conversion, or repentance, in this movie? Why does he change? Was it only for fear of judgment, or something more? Explain.

Leader’s note: Besides judgment, perhaps it is also the grace of a “second chance” and the draw of a life of generosity and joy.

Q What do you think of when you hear the word “repentance”?

Read Luke 19:1-10

Q What motivated Zacchaeus to jump out of the tree? What motivated his change of heart?

Q Zacchaeus never prays “The Sinner’s Prayer”, how can Jesus be so sure that “today salvation has come to this house”?

Q What was the evidence of repentance in Zachchaeus? What has been good evidence of repentance in your life?

3. The Christmas Spirit (Luke 2:8-20)

“I have always thought of Christmastime-apart from the veneration due its sacred name and origin-as a…kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut up hearts freely and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave…” Scrooge’s nephew Fred argues. We often attribute charity and generosity to the “Christmas spirit”. What do we mean when we say “Christmas spirit”? What would it look like to “keep Christmas well” in our hearts throughout the year?

Q Why do you think Dickens sets this story at Christmas time, as opposed to, say, Halloween?

Q React to Fred’s quote above. What encourages you? What discourages you?

Q What is the message of the Ghost of Christmas Present? React to mankind’s twin children “Ignorance” and “Want”.

Leader’s note: Are some of the issues of social injustice and poverty we see around us due in part to our “Christmas spirit” approach to solving them? We give money once a year, rather than establish an ongoing, relational “neighboring” with those in need?

Q The alternative to Scrooge’s miserly life seems to be one of “Christmas spirit”. How would you define “Christmas spirit”?

Read Luke 2:8-20

Q What is the message of Christmas here in this passage? Write down the elements of the angels’ announcements.

Q What types of people are chosen to receive these announcements? What are the reactions of the hearers of the message? How would imitating these reactions help us “keep Christmas well”?

Q In what ways does “Christmas spirit” allow us time for reflection? In what ways do we allow “Christmas spirit” to compete with Christ himself?

As the Credits Roll

Q One moviegoer commented, “Good to see the real meaning of Christmas shown in a movie.” Does Disney’s A Christmas Carol portray the real meaning of Christmas? Why or why not?

Q At times this film seems too scary for kids and too kid-ish for adults, who is this movie for?

Q From this story what do you think was Dickens’ view--or theology--of God? Jesus? Judgment? Redemption?

Q Maybe more than other versions, this film emphasizes the message of social justice found in Dickens’ book. What is the message? What’s the value of this film and story in these economic times?

Study by Kyle White, director of Neighbors’ House, a ministry to at-risk kids in DeKalb County, Illinois. He blogs at: kyleLwhite.

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