MovieChat Forums > A Christmas Carol (1984) Discussion > Clearing up the donation issue...

Clearing up the donation issue...

posted 14 years ago by goodthingsjohn
3 replies | jump to latest

Already posted some of this on another threat in a response to a question about how much money Scrooge donated. I thought it should be shared with all, as many seem to not know this, which is disturbing to me.

We do not know how much Scrooge donated because WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW. Dickens made this a point of his story--and this is one of the major morals of the story but I guess a lot of people have missed his point. Dickens did not want to reveal how much Scrooge donated because it might belittle smaller donations given by other people. In other words, the point Dickens was making is that it is not how much you donate, rather that you donate what you can.

In not revealing the number, Dickens sets the point that the joy in donating is simply giving what you can instead of some huge number Scrooge throws out that makes other, smaller donations look inconsequential.

Understand?

People can try to "read lips" all they want. There's no way Scott whispers a real number. I bet he said something totally unrelated to money. Every movie follows the story in this unrevealing way.

[–] hachmom-1 14 years ago

I have worked on several stage productions of a Christmas Carol and it is my experience that not only do the actors in this scene not mention money, but that whatever Scrooge whispers in the businessman's ear is usually unfit for family audiences and designed to try to get the actor playing the businessman to break charecter....
It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices

[–] MichaelM24 14 years ago

That is so funny you mention that! In 4th grade I was in a school play about the Gold Rush Express. During one scene, me and another boy had to pretend to be whispering "there's gold in those hills" to the kids playing townspeople, but we would instead whisper something involving a swear word to try and make them laugh. LOL!

[–] Adler-99 13 years ago

The screenplay is an adaptation of the book, not a word-for-word and scene-by-scene recreation. Show me in the book where Fred's wife is named Janet. Show me in the book the name of Mr. Poole who is collecting for the poor. Show me in the book where Scrooge says to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, "You're devilish hard to have a conversation with." And so on. There are many, many things in the movie that are not in the book and vice versa.

No monetary donation figure is spelled out in the book but I believe the actors whispered a specific number. While I think I know what they said, it doesn't really matter how much it was because it was what Scrooge WANTED to donate, and as he said, "A great many back payments are included in it, I assure you."