Remember in October when I posted about seasonal horror movies? Well, I left out the king daddy of scary Christmas movies. "A Christmas Carol." That's right folks, Charles Dickens's classic holiday tale is also a classic horror/ghost story. Let's examine.
Okay, so you've got your main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, somewhat of a villain himself. Classic horror move, the most appealing character is the most disturbing one. The serial killer, the head of the cult, the cannibal, whomever is playing on our fears in whatever movie we happen to be watching. And who's scarier than a slave driver boss?
So we've established that the guy is pretty evil, or at least a giant jerk. Now this is where it gets good. We are then treated to a glimpse of his own private Hell. Each of the spirits Scrooge is visited by drive him further into torment. His old partner, Jacob Marley, being the warning to Scrooge (a cliche' of early horror). And then the descent begins.
In Christmas past Ebenezer is shown the good old days, a glimpse of the way things used to be and sees the happiness he could have if he had made the right decisions. My guess is that's too familiar to a lot of us.
Christmas present is perhaps the scariest part of all. Scrooge is forced to take a look at his life as it actually is. Not clouded by his own opinions or misconceptions but reality for its own sake. Many of us try to escape reality on a regular basis, and those who think they live in and understand reality are largely kidding themselves. When reality hits, it can be scary as hell.
And then, of course the ghost of Christmas future shows him what will assuredly happen if Eb (that's right, called him Eb) continues his ways. And, get this, most filmed versions of this tale use the Grim Reaper himself to represent this character. Awesome. Also quite appropriate as death is exactly what we're dealing with here, it is the bleakest part of the tale. Any gothic horror/ghost story worth its salt is dark and depressing in the third act and "A Christmas Carol" is no different. Oh, and they kill the kid-which is still a no-no even today. Dickens was ahead of his time here.
Adding to the horror aspect of this work is the possibility that this is all actually happening. Sure, Scrooge awakens from tormented sleep throughout the tale, but if we're talking about the supernatural here...well that's how it works. It is my understanding that when God reveals himself through visions they often happen during dreams. Most alien encounter stories (if one believes in that sort of thing) happen at night, many people claim to have been contacted in their sleep. So it's not completely out of the question. The other possibility is that ol' Eb is actually going insane, which is a delicious alternative for the horror fan to think about.
As we all know, the story turns out all right with Scrooge gaining back his love of people and Christmas, being given a second chance on life and love. You know, like the one camper who survives...
Anyway, the happy ending to this sort of movie was commonplace up until the mid-late 1960's, and certainly was expected back in Dickens's day. Most people, however fixate on this as being the point of the story, to keep Christmas and the love and charity it brings in your heart year round. WRONG. It is a warning about getting lost in your own wants and desires and what can happen to those who do. It also features the most evil villain in all the world, the human mind.
So yes, enjoy "A Christmas Carol" this year. It's okay to get the warm fuzzies at the end, that's certainly a part of the experience, the relief after the tension. Just remember that there is another side to this story, if you choose to see it.
Just in case you're wondering, my favorite version is the 1951 version starring Alistair Sim. His commitment to the role is total, and the Christmas morning giddiness he displays is unequaled in all filmdom. The movie suffers a bit from the techniques of the time, and the fact that the original masters have had some wear to them, but Sim's portrayal of Scrooge is one of the true great performances and makes up for any other shortcomings the film may have. Makes George C. Scott look like an amateur, not to say that Scott's portrayal is bad, but it doesn't touch this one. No one else can either. Well, maybe Scrooge McDuck from 'Mickey's Christmas Carol", but that's it.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
2010 Christmas Blog #1
Remember last year when confessed my love for Christmas music (traditional and modern) and listed a bunch of my favorite songs? Well, here's the opposite of that.
Even a self proclaimed Christmas music geek like myself has a line. There are songs I just don't like. I'm not talking about a mild dislike here either. For example, "The First Noel" isn't exactly a favorite of mine. Not a bad song, mind you, and it's got nice lyrics, it's just not my cup of tea. But that's not what we're dealing with here. These are the drive-me-crazy-turn-it-off-or-I'm-gonna-give-you-a-shiner-for-Christmas songs.
DAVE'S TOP TEN MOST DREADED CHRISTMAS SONGS
10. Where Are You Christmas-Faith Hill
-A relative newcomer to my consciousness and already on the list. Overblown claptrap with no real emotion behind it. The entire first half is just filled with "poor me" lyrics about how it's harder to get in the spirit as an adult than as a child. And then when she "feels" Christmas at the end (whatever that means), it doesn't sound like an emotional breakthrough at all-just a lousy key change. And, on a side note, when did Faith start sounding like Vanessa Williams?
09. Blue Christmas-Elvis Presley
-Always hated this one. Not clever or interesting or heart tugging or anything. Just a bad song. Can't blame Elvis though, no one can make this song sound good. When even Johnny Cash can't make it tolerable you know you're in trouble. Oh, and that Elmer Fudd parody that gets played on the radio each year isn't funny either. It just makes a bad song worse.
07. The Christmas Shoes-I don't know, some guy, don't care
-This is how songs like this one are written. "Let's make it overly sentimental and use chords and instrumentation designed to tug at the heart strings just right, and let's put a kid in there too. Oh, and don't forget to have someone dying on Christmas Eve, that'll get 'em to buy this thing. Wait, gotta throw in Jesus too...and put in a vague glimmer of hope and redemption so the Christian soccer moms will love it too." I hate this kind of song. I hate this prefabricated way of writing music. I also hate that this song works on me every time and I well up like a little girl when I think about that poor kid and his mama. Curse you, Christmas Shoes!
06. Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms/Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree-Brenda Lee (tie w/disclaimer)
-The reason these songs are a tie is because they are interchangeable. They were safe, sanitized rock and roll when they were written and have remained so. Neither have much to do with rocking. These songs are trotted out every year by people who think that this sort of thing is fun and exciting and to show kids that Christmas music can be hip-even though much hipper has happened since. But here's the deal-you can keep one of them. I'm not completely unreasonable. I know people truly like these songs, and they're both used in a lot of movies so I understand the significance. Therefore I will allow society to pick one to hold on to, I don't care which. Just let me know so I can finally move on.
05. Santa Baby-anybody
-I used to think "The Chipmunk Song" was the height of greed in Christmas music. But "Santa Baby" is the clear winner in this department. A song about children's greed is one thing, but coming from an adult it's just pathetic. Pretty true, but still pathetic and certainly not something I need a song about. Is this supposed to be sexy? Some lady trying to seduce a man for presents? Sounds like just another day in Beverly Hills to me. Is it supposed to be funny? It's not. It's annoying and sexist. Not sexy-sexist. Heh. Spinal Tap reference. Anyway, hate it.
04. Mary Did You Know-Kenny Rogers
-Well, I think she had an inkling. I mean, she was told the deal upfront. Gonna have a baby. Gonna be the son of God, the Messiah. So to a degree, yeah, she had some idea of what she was getting into. Now, she couldn't have known all the details or how things would wind up, but she wasn't completely blind to it either. Nice thought but a flawed concept. Incidentally, this song was originally written by Mark Lowry, a Christian stand up comic (and a pretty good one at that). Poor guy made the jump into music and this was all he came up with. Too bad. You know, I used to be a comic, and I write songs now too...kinda makes me nervous.
03. The Little Drummer Boy-traditional
-The only acceptable version of this song is the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet. Why? Because a.) Bing sounds so blitzed that the "rumpumpums" all run together in a fun way and B.) Bowie drowns out this awful song with another song on top. Plus, both Bowie and Bing are awesome. No-one else is allowed to sing this anymore ever. the "rumpumpums" hurt my brain. Next person to sing it gets a good swift kick. And by the way, why in the hell would you bring a drum to play for a baby?
02. All I Want For Christmas Is You-Mariah Carey
-Got no problem with Mariah overall, but this song just sucks. I think she was going for a Phil Spector/Ronnettes style tribute with this one, but failed. Miserably. spector's stuff was dense, sure, but crystal clear as well. This song is just a mess. Nice sentiment, poor execution. It actually hurts my ears to listen to this. Sucky, sucky, five dollar.
01. Do You Hear What I Hear?-traditional
-If it's the single most annoying Christmas song ever, then yes I do. The repetitiveness (if that's even a word) of this song just gets too me. It's lame and juvenile. No, wait, that's insulting to the young folks. This song is not only awful from minute one, but for Christians it should raise some concerns. Okay, first of all, talking animals? Sounds kinda pagan-ish to me. Also, which king would this song be referring to? When the sheppard boy informs the king of the Messiah's birth, the king seems to be overjoyed, prays for peace and declares the child bringer of the light. Huh. Last time I read the Bible King Herod wanted to have the Christ child killed. What is this, retro-active PR? Terrible song, bad theology.
And there you have it. Feel free to leave your most dreaded Christmas songs in the comments. Might be fun.
Until next time.
Even a self proclaimed Christmas music geek like myself has a line. There are songs I just don't like. I'm not talking about a mild dislike here either. For example, "The First Noel" isn't exactly a favorite of mine. Not a bad song, mind you, and it's got nice lyrics, it's just not my cup of tea. But that's not what we're dealing with here. These are the drive-me-crazy-turn-it-off-or-I'm-gonna-give-you-a-shiner-for-Christmas songs.
DAVE'S TOP TEN MOST DREADED CHRISTMAS SONGS
10. Where Are You Christmas-Faith Hill
-A relative newcomer to my consciousness and already on the list. Overblown claptrap with no real emotion behind it. The entire first half is just filled with "poor me" lyrics about how it's harder to get in the spirit as an adult than as a child. And then when she "feels" Christmas at the end (whatever that means), it doesn't sound like an emotional breakthrough at all-just a lousy key change. And, on a side note, when did Faith start sounding like Vanessa Williams?
09. Blue Christmas-Elvis Presley
-Always hated this one. Not clever or interesting or heart tugging or anything. Just a bad song. Can't blame Elvis though, no one can make this song sound good. When even Johnny Cash can't make it tolerable you know you're in trouble. Oh, and that Elmer Fudd parody that gets played on the radio each year isn't funny either. It just makes a bad song worse.
07. The Christmas Shoes-I don't know, some guy, don't care
-This is how songs like this one are written. "Let's make it overly sentimental and use chords and instrumentation designed to tug at the heart strings just right, and let's put a kid in there too. Oh, and don't forget to have someone dying on Christmas Eve, that'll get 'em to buy this thing. Wait, gotta throw in Jesus too...and put in a vague glimmer of hope and redemption so the Christian soccer moms will love it too." I hate this kind of song. I hate this prefabricated way of writing music. I also hate that this song works on me every time and I well up like a little girl when I think about that poor kid and his mama. Curse you, Christmas Shoes!
06. Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms/Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree-Brenda Lee (tie w/disclaimer)
-The reason these songs are a tie is because they are interchangeable. They were safe, sanitized rock and roll when they were written and have remained so. Neither have much to do with rocking. These songs are trotted out every year by people who think that this sort of thing is fun and exciting and to show kids that Christmas music can be hip-even though much hipper has happened since. But here's the deal-you can keep one of them. I'm not completely unreasonable. I know people truly like these songs, and they're both used in a lot of movies so I understand the significance. Therefore I will allow society to pick one to hold on to, I don't care which. Just let me know so I can finally move on.
05. Santa Baby-anybody
-I used to think "The Chipmunk Song" was the height of greed in Christmas music. But "Santa Baby" is the clear winner in this department. A song about children's greed is one thing, but coming from an adult it's just pathetic. Pretty true, but still pathetic and certainly not something I need a song about. Is this supposed to be sexy? Some lady trying to seduce a man for presents? Sounds like just another day in Beverly Hills to me. Is it supposed to be funny? It's not. It's annoying and sexist. Not sexy-sexist. Heh. Spinal Tap reference. Anyway, hate it.
04. Mary Did You Know-Kenny Rogers
-Well, I think she had an inkling. I mean, she was told the deal upfront. Gonna have a baby. Gonna be the son of God, the Messiah. So to a degree, yeah, she had some idea of what she was getting into. Now, she couldn't have known all the details or how things would wind up, but she wasn't completely blind to it either. Nice thought but a flawed concept. Incidentally, this song was originally written by Mark Lowry, a Christian stand up comic (and a pretty good one at that). Poor guy made the jump into music and this was all he came up with. Too bad. You know, I used to be a comic, and I write songs now too...kinda makes me nervous.
03. The Little Drummer Boy-traditional
-The only acceptable version of this song is the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet. Why? Because a.) Bing sounds so blitzed that the "rumpumpums" all run together in a fun way and B.) Bowie drowns out this awful song with another song on top. Plus, both Bowie and Bing are awesome. No-one else is allowed to sing this anymore ever. the "rumpumpums" hurt my brain. Next person to sing it gets a good swift kick. And by the way, why in the hell would you bring a drum to play for a baby?
02. All I Want For Christmas Is You-Mariah Carey
-Got no problem with Mariah overall, but this song just sucks. I think she was going for a Phil Spector/Ronnettes style tribute with this one, but failed. Miserably. spector's stuff was dense, sure, but crystal clear as well. This song is just a mess. Nice sentiment, poor execution. It actually hurts my ears to listen to this. Sucky, sucky, five dollar.
01. Do You Hear What I Hear?-traditional
-If it's the single most annoying Christmas song ever, then yes I do. The repetitiveness (if that's even a word) of this song just gets too me. It's lame and juvenile. No, wait, that's insulting to the young folks. This song is not only awful from minute one, but for Christians it should raise some concerns. Okay, first of all, talking animals? Sounds kinda pagan-ish to me. Also, which king would this song be referring to? When the sheppard boy informs the king of the Messiah's birth, the king seems to be overjoyed, prays for peace and declares the child bringer of the light. Huh. Last time I read the Bible King Herod wanted to have the Christ child killed. What is this, retro-active PR? Terrible song, bad theology.
And there you have it. Feel free to leave your most dreaded Christmas songs in the comments. Might be fun.
Until next time.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Great Googly Moogly
Well, the Christmas season has started and I rang it in by seeing Dweezil Zappa at the Pageant on the current version of the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Okay, so it's not exactly Christmassy but the band did play "Yellow Snow" and that's close enough for rock and roll, right?
I enjoyed the show quite a lot. I went in with no real expectations, just hoping that it wouldn't be "Dweezil exploits his dead father" for two and a half hours. Fortunately this wasn't the case. The music was treated with respect (and it does deserve respect), played faithfully yet playfully with room left for a little spontaneity here and there.
Frank Zappa is known for being weird, and writing songs with goofy lyrics which can be pure silliness, vicious satire, or pure filth. This is only scratching the surface. Musically, Frank was a genius. His instrumentals are quite complex, often giving each musician the chance to shine and yet still having memorable melodies, despite the turn on a dime nature of his compositions. They combine avant-garde jazz, blues and rock and roll in a way that no one before or since has managed. These songs were plentiful in the show (mostly second half) and emphasized not only the quality of the music but also Dweezil and the band.
As for the other stuff, y'know, with words, the entire "Apostrophe (') album was played which includes the aforementioned "Yellow Snow", a trip to "St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast" and a dissertation on that dreaded condition of "Stinkfoot". Also played was an off the cuff and (like totally) perfect version of "Valley Girl", an audience participation dance party to the tune of "Keep It Greasy", and of course, "Titties And Beer". Therein lies the secret of Frank Zappa's music. Silly, sophomoric humor mixed with high art. Brilliant, but an acquired taste...and not for the easily offended or anyone under 18.
The coolest part of the show however were the times when they played a video of Frank singing a vocal or playing his guitar and piped it through the P.A, so father and son could play together. Could have been cheesy but it was kind of sweet in its own way.
So, all in all a good time. Kinda hard to get into the Christmas music after that though.
I enjoyed the show quite a lot. I went in with no real expectations, just hoping that it wouldn't be "Dweezil exploits his dead father" for two and a half hours. Fortunately this wasn't the case. The music was treated with respect (and it does deserve respect), played faithfully yet playfully with room left for a little spontaneity here and there.
Frank Zappa is known for being weird, and writing songs with goofy lyrics which can be pure silliness, vicious satire, or pure filth. This is only scratching the surface. Musically, Frank was a genius. His instrumentals are quite complex, often giving each musician the chance to shine and yet still having memorable melodies, despite the turn on a dime nature of his compositions. They combine avant-garde jazz, blues and rock and roll in a way that no one before or since has managed. These songs were plentiful in the show (mostly second half) and emphasized not only the quality of the music but also Dweezil and the band.
As for the other stuff, y'know, with words, the entire "Apostrophe (') album was played which includes the aforementioned "Yellow Snow", a trip to "St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast" and a dissertation on that dreaded condition of "Stinkfoot". Also played was an off the cuff and (like totally) perfect version of "Valley Girl", an audience participation dance party to the tune of "Keep It Greasy", and of course, "Titties And Beer". Therein lies the secret of Frank Zappa's music. Silly, sophomoric humor mixed with high art. Brilliant, but an acquired taste...and not for the easily offended or anyone under 18.
The coolest part of the show however were the times when they played a video of Frank singing a vocal or playing his guitar and piped it through the P.A, so father and son could play together. Could have been cheesy but it was kind of sweet in its own way.
So, all in all a good time. Kinda hard to get into the Christmas music after that though.
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