Ebenezer Scrooge is one of literature's great iconic characters, one of those characters (like Sherlock Holmes) that's become an archetype. Even if you've never read A Christmas Carol, you know who Scrooge is and what his deal is. His name has become an adjective synonymous with miserly and skinflinted and his use of the word humbug to describe Christmas has transformed that word's meaning to one who doesn't like Christmas or isn't cheered by the holiday season.
Through the years, Scrooge has been played in various adaptations of A Christmas Carol by everyone from Basil Rathbone to Albert Finney to Scrooge McDuck to George C. Scott to Michael Caine to Captain Picard to a digital facsimile of Jim Carrey.
Who are some of your favorite Scrooges?
Do you really need to ask? The Picard of course! Not that I'm a fan of The Christmas Carol but that made it one thousand times more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteyou've just been scrooged!
from the action adventure version I'm writing featuring the Rock as Eb N. Scrooge.
it's a tie between Scrooge McDuck and JLP
ReplyDelete@Hannah: Do you really need to ask?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I knew you'd pick the Picard.
you've just been scrooged!
You know, I don't think I've ever seen an action/adventure version...you should totally write it!
@Anne: It's a tough call, right?
yeah i'm with anne.
ReplyDeletethough to be fair, Scrooge McDuck wasn't all that scroogy, per se. He enjoyed adventure and junk, he just was very frugal
@Falen: Scrooge McDuck wasn't all that scroogy, per se. He enjoyed adventure and junk, he just was very frugal
ReplyDeleteI think if you consider "scrooge" to mean miserly, than it fits Scrooge McDuck. He enjoyed adventure, but he definitely hoarded his money and watched it closely.
Although, frankly, he wasn't even frugal. He lived in a mansion, went on adventures, etc. All that must have cost a ton of movie.
Contrast that A Christmas Carol where Scrooge is usually shown living not an impoverished lifestyle but a relatively simple one: he lives in a modest urban house, not a palatial country estate. His clothes are serviceable but not extravagant, he has very few possessions, etc.
not i want to watch Duck Tales
ReplyDelete...
woo ooh
You're absolutely right about the simple lifestyle! Ebenezer was greeted by not a single servant when he got home, and he settled down to a bowl of GRUEL!
ReplyDelete@Marebabe: Ebenezer was greeted by not a single servant when he got home, and he settled down to a bowl of GRUEL!
ReplyDeleteMan, Dickens loved him some gruel. ;)
Good point. I remember the simple supper, but had forgotten the lack of servants.
ReplyDeleteScott, Caine, and Stewart were all great. Farther afield in the adaptation realm, Bill Murray as Frank Cross in Scrooged is a nice, self-aware variation. There's something about Scrooge McDuck turning happy and generous that's slightly freaky but also really heartwarming.
VW: protedis — Favoring a woman's nighttime unmentionables.
@Blam: Farther afield in the adaptation realm, Bill Murray as Frank Cross in Scrooged is a nice, self-aware variation.
ReplyDeleteI really need to go back and watch Scrooged again. It's been a few years since last I saw it, but I've always enjoyed it, and it's been brought up a lot in these posts. Christmas Carol adaptation + Bill Murray=good times, after all.