Ebenezer Scrooge

I should really be in bed, but I just watched Muppet Christmas Carol because, well, it's a piece of my past and childhood and muppet movies are fun. And the statement I want to make is: I don't think Ebenezer Scrooge was really that bad...

I don't find him inherently evil. Like it was his only goal since he was born to terrorize and attack and make all others around him suffer like some kid from The Omen. And I find I identify with him probably more than I should. But I like Christmas a lot, so I think I'm in the clear. Now, I can only go off this version since I haven't read the book and haven't really seen or paid attention to any of the other movie versions (mainly because there is no singing involved), but I'm not seeing Scrooge purposefully out to get anyone like a terrorist may do to get recognition.

He was studious, knew what he wanted right away, seemed he was concerned about making sure he could live a stable life in a maybe unstable world. He stayed behind after school was over to work on his studies, and his headmaster encouraged him. Now, maybe he was pushed some into it by the headmaster, and he clearly at that young age had begun to lose perspective of the whole spectrum that life has. That there is "play" as well as "work." And he found love, but he didn't know what to do with it. He was preoccupied with work, which is very common in this day and age. He was always concerned about the finances, not being able to spend money for a wedding, and was incredibly flawed from that. I think he had the best intentions to his ability, but it drove everyone around him away because it was just too much and too narrow minded. After all, there is that saying: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The movie clearly depicts all these life events that shaped him happened on or the day before Christmas, which makes me think he could be jaded towards that holiday. When he's asked about how he sees all the happiness on Christmas day and can only respond with "no spirit, I'm sorry, I don't," I get it. I'm jaded with certain things like that myself. Places, communities, not so much holidays in a whole. That gives me an understanding for his aggression against Christmas at the beginning of the movie. He abhors it and has good reason (as he thinks) for it, but he fails to see the other millions of people around him who still have a chance and can still be happy from it. Yea, he is very selfish.

I can't help but feel a little he focuses so strongly on his job and finances and his own well being and his own sense of the law with making sure renters pay when they should or they get kicked out because he didn't want to be a part of the real world anymore. He didn't want to go back to the past and watch his fiance break up with him all over again, he was conscious about that; it was another part of the past he was blocking out by focusing on something that doesn't let him down: a job. His cold hearted outer shell became a defense mechanism because he knew he had screwed up in the past. And he screwed up bad in the past. I know that one too.

But he had feelings and he had a conscience. He wouldn't have asked if Tiny Tim was going to survive if he didn't feel a connection and empathy for the crippled child. He wouldn't have been hurt when his nephew made a joke at his expense. He wouldn't have lashed out and said "I want no more of this" because he was hurt and afraid of what else could be coming at his expense. He wouldn't have been concerned of the person whose death was rejoiced about if he didn't feel. And no one wants to know that after they die, people will rejoice because of this fact. And no one wants to know that no one will show up to their funeral.

All my life, I was under the impression that Scrooge was this terrible man, and when someone said "don't be such a Scrooge" to someone else, it was a huge insult. But he is no more than a broken man. He is no more than a broken man who felt the only way to survive was to shut others out and focus on something that would never let him down: work. And I understand it. I get it, I get it so much. I'm not pardoning his behavior because he did do and say some things that are wrong, but if you've ever felt jaded or hurt or lost or broken, haven't you?