2. So much business!
(But not the Scrooge kind.)
Paper 1 due on Canvas tomorrow at noon
(unless you’ve arranged an extension).
Poetry performances due Tuesday in class.
Reading for Tuesday: Browning and Tennyson.
◦ Excerpts from Tennyson, In Memoriam: Prologue
and Sections 6, 8, 13, 27-30, 59, 129-131. (Also,
read the Norton description of what’s going on
in that poem.)
Please start reading Jekyll & Hyde early!
What participation looks like today:
◦ 3 total points
◦ 1 point individual in full class discussion
◦ 2 points for group work (as long as you talk in
your group).
3. Overall Participation (as of this morning)
The RAW overall participation totals will be
curved and then converted into a letter grade
for your final participation grade in the course
(worth 20%).
As of this morning:
◦ Mean: 32
◦ Range: 0-48
◦ Std Dev: 12.6
Based on the distribution, this is what I think
would be fair participation grades if I assigned
them today:
◦ 36-48 = A range (22)
◦ 25-35 = B range (18)
◦ 10-24 = C range (3)
◦ 0-9 = D or F (6)
IF you don’t like this grade, you have seven
weeks to do something about it.
What could you do?
4. IF you celebrate Christmas,
what is a part of your
celebration?
MAYBE CHRISTMAS CARDS?
5. Angela: How does A Christmas Carol
define our version of Christmas?
WHAT SEEMS RECOGNIZABLE HERE?
6. Victorian Christmas
At the end of the 18th century, Christmas not much
celebrated in England (not a business holiday).
1833: first significant collection of Christmas carols
published.
1843: Henry Cole invents Christmas cards.
1843: A Christmas Carol.
1848: Prince Albert (Queen Vic’s husband) and the
Christmas tree (see picture at right).
1848: Christmas crackers invented.
How might A Christmas Carol have
affected/reflected key developments in Christmas?
7. “[A]s Scrooge and the Spirit went along the
streets, the brightness of the roaring fires in
kitchens, parlours, and all sorts of rooms, was
wonderful. Here, the flickering blaze showed
preparations for a cosy dinner, with hot plates
baking through and through before the fire,
and deep red curtains, ready to be drawn, to
shut out cold and darkness. There, all the
children of the house were running out into
the snow to meet their married sisters,
brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, and be the
first to greet them.” (42)
Victorians centered Christmas on the home,
the family, and on a particular set of positive
emotions/affects (cheer, generosity, goodwill,
etc.)
9. A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000)
Intro: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=2m
NYC and niece: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=15m17s
Marley: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=24m45s
Ghost of Christmas Past: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=31m12s
Success over love: https://youtu.be/emvp39x-PXs?t=43m56s
Some questions to consider:
1. How do they translate it into contemporary life? What seems
accurate to the “spirit” (lol) of the original? What seems like a
significant alteration?
2. How does making the main character a woman of color
change our experience of the story? How does it change the politics
of the story?
3. How do they deal with the “Christmas commercialism” problem?
10. Propose your own adaptation of ACC
Task: Adapt A Christmas Carol for big or small
screen.
◦ Be as creative as you want.
◦ Could be an entirely new project or could even
be an “episode” of an already existing series.
◦ Don’t worry about cost.
Come up with: “premise,” setting (time and
place), characters and casting (you can suggest
actors), plot outline,
maybe even a title?
What do you want viewers to get out of this?
What aspects of the original do you want to be
faithful to?
◦ Characters
◦ Events
◦ Emotions, affects (cheer, generosity, etc.)
◦ The moral
◦ The focus on individual change
What do you want to change and why?
Is there an aspect of the original you would
like to subvert?
Propose one scene (in some detail) that you
know you will need in your adaptation.
