9/10/2023 0 Comments Lifetime ghost of christmas past![]() Every year, millions of adults feel the unparalleled pressure to spend – a type of pressure that only the Christmas season seems to be able to bring about. While our thoughts of Christmas may consequently be limited to the beautiful displays and Christmas morning memories, we somehow neglect to consider the costs involved in curating the experience. Individuals could try to recreate photographable magic, in pursuit of the family filled Christmas with laughter and love they believe comes with them, despite the fact that these scenes are the product of deep-pocketed movie studios. Buying into the narrative of these movies, and believing that these picturesque images are fundamentally tied to the positive storyline of the film, there is perhaps a subconscious reinforcement of consumerist ideals. Yet, they still possess that certain Hollywood Christmas magic in the set dressings and background that individuals are unable to achieve at home. There is perhaps a subconscious reinforcement of consumerist ideals ![]() For example, films like Little Women and It’s a Wonderful Life attempt to drive home the importance of family and non-material things, trying to instil in us these historically championed Christmas morals. It becomes interesting to think about the effect of the film industry on our ideas of Christmas, as generally, it seems that the most famous Christmas classics are the ones that highlight the virtues of family and generosity and anti-consumerist morals. They teach us to crave an idealistic version of Christmas by portraying them as the celebrations of average families and people, when really, the creation of these scenes took major budgets and huge teams of people to put them together. It’s not just the shops and advertisers who are playing this game, movie studios and producers also normalize extravagant and unattainable celebrations. From the placement of Santa Claus in advertising campaigns to the introduction of Christmas villages in large department stores – as well as the increase in opening hours as we approach the day itself, those at the top of the consumerist chain know exactly what they must do in order to get us to buy into that magical Christmas cheer. Retailers and advertisers have been perfecting their strategies to get us to spend more money over the holiday season for over two centuries. The commercialisation of Christmas is not a new phenomenon. But are pretty lights, fancy shop displays, and high-value gifts really all that Christmas is about in 2021? If these are the things we now associate with Christmas, then we are left to ask: has Christmas become corrupted and truly lost its meaning? Or has its meaning simply shifted into something more fitting with our modern values? ![]() With its memorable cast of characters such as Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is the most heart-warming of seasonal tales, a timeless classic that continues to enchant readers around the world and a lesson in charity and hopefulness that is as powerful today as when it was first written in 1843.Twinkling lights and big red bows, dreams of a white Christmas and a garden blanketed by snow, window displays that turn from Halloween witches to winter wonderlands – all images that capture the magic of the holiday season. This experience teaches Scrooge the true meaning of the holiday and leaves him a transformed man. One Christmas Eve, however, he is visited by a series of ghosts who reveal to him the innocence he has lost, the wretchedness of his future and the poverty of the present, which he has so far ignored. Ebenezer Scrooge is a lonely, miserly old man who hates Christmas, which he dismisses as “humbug”.
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