Why does Scrooge change from a conservative into a bleeding-heart liberal socialist?

I saw Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" on TV last night with George C. Scott as Scrooge.





Scrooge undergoes a radical transformation from a conservative at the beginning of the film into what can only be called a bleeding-heart liberal socialist by the end of the film.





I thought that being a bleeding-heart liberal socialist was a bad thing. Yet, Dickens seem to say that it isn't.





How could Dickens be so wrong and isn't this just more evidence of the liberal/socialist media bias?

Why does Scrooge change from a conservative into a bleeding-heart liberal socialist?
I guess Jesus was a liberal socialist too.
Reply:He didn't change with respect to taxes, or right to life social issues. He changed from a self centered rich guy to one who chose to distribute HIS wealth. Socialist believe in having it done for them. Report It

Reply:Great observation! And yes, Dickens did indeed understand something about human values; the difference between a life wasted in materialism, and a life devoted to making a difference.
Reply:It's called " A Change for the Better" hhmmmm


Makes sense!
Reply:Ahh yes Christmas, when everyone smiles a little easier, you hold the door for a stranger, you tend to forgive little things easier...





The time when there is a 18% hike in domestic disturbances, spousal assaults, drunk and disorderlys, DUIs, etc. Assaults rise, burglary rises, desperation rises. Suicides used to spike just after Christmas, now people brood a little longer and kill themselves in February (mostly).





The point is, thank GOD everyone goes back to their regular rotten selves when they repack the Christmas tree after New Years. The alarming part is they are trying to stretch Christmas out the other way, Thanksgiving hardly got a nod this year, we went right from Halloween into Christmas prep mode. The longer you force people to be nice to each other, to go so against their nature, the more of them you will have exploding on Christmas Day, or close to it.





Dickens dealt with several factors in "A Christmas Carol", not the least important of which was keeping his favorite stomach filled. Another might have been what we refer to as the "Up Ending" scenario: Would the story have as much emotional impact on you if Scrooge were, through the first 2/3rds of the movie, a generous, kindly, fairminded fellow? That Marley appears to warn him he had better get greedy, or he would never survive? That he wakes up Christmas morning, flings open the window and stops the boy running beneath his window, JUST so he could hork up a half pound of lung butter on the kid's head? No one would buy such a thing (ok, David Lynch might- but he wont return my calls).


The other way is a HAPPY ending: Scoundrel finds redemption. What could be simpler? You have to appeal to the broadest market possible to get your stuff READ by the Teeming Masses (Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins live very comfortably by never forgetting this), so the symbols should be drawn large and plainly obvious, and the plot of "A Christmas Carol" makes this the perfect vehicle for ponderously large symbols.





I see no media bias in this: Just commercial bias. Dickens wanted his stories to PAY him. And corporations LOVE these types of movies, they're cathartic. You identify with Scrooge in the beginning, we all do. A brilliant man surrounded by syrupy fools who just want to waste that which Scrooge has worked so hard his whole lonely life for? SQUANDER the thing to which he has dedicated his entire life?


Then he gets a little TOO greedy. We find out why and we sympathize, but we also understand him a little better and that's a tricky thing to do with an anti-hero. So he must be shown the errors of his ways, and of course "get justice" (the concept of justice Ive seen in YA is nothing short of gladiatorial: Not much between it and Sharia law, the whole "Eye for an eye" thing. It should be proportional to the offense and if it's REALLY on the mark, it will also be some ironic ending specifically ironic to THAT character).


But, upon redemption (and let's be fair: The movie and TV versions seem to equate his realizing his mortality with redemption, and I dont see it that way: What I always saw was a miserly old fool who realized he was going to die alone and went about to buy himself as friends the only people who would even talk to him at that point: The Cratchits) he does a complete about face, the leopard LITERALLY changing his spots, and no one says anything about how Scrooge would not HAVE the gold to buy the "Biggest goose in all the land", had he NOT been that miserly old fool, cheating and scratching for every penny he made. He would not HAVE the money to help Limpy Jr there if he HADN'T been the Donald Trump of his era. Why does no one else ever SEE these things?