Comparing Ron Howard's How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Dr. Seuss' Grinch

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was first published in London on the 19th of December 1843, the novella was instantly popular and still is to this day. Dickens inspiration for the short story seems to come from his childhood experiences and his sympathy for the poor. In the story a miserable old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, is shown the error of his ways and what will come of it if he doesn’t make drastic changes. Various ghosts and spirits slowly transform him into a kinder more pleasant man. A Christmas Carol is a powerful novella that uses symbolism like the children Ignorance and Want, Scrooge’s transformation, and Scrooges nephew Fred, to reinforce significant themes like social isolation, rebirth, and family.

Although a sociologist can look at Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch that Stole Christmas in all three of the major theoretical perspectives, the main one expressed is symbolic interactionism. The Grinch that Stole Christmas is a story about a “who” who was not considered to be part of their “whoville” society due to the fact that he not only looked different from the rest of the people, but he acted in different ways than their norms. The story is merely about how the Grinch hates the “whos,” because of how they treated him; until, a little girl named Cindy Lou Who gains a curiosity for the Grinch and wants to give him another chance to be a part of their society. Throughout the story both of the main characters develop a deep connection to each other. Upon viewing the story from a symbolic interaction perspective view, I discovered how the story thematically symbolizes an important part of Christmas by giving people another chance; meanwhile, focusing on the relationship between the main two characters help them regain faith, and while the setting symbolizes their society’s purpose.

One example of how the grinch has goodness in his heart is when he saved Cindy Loo. When the grinch stole all the presents he put them at the edge of the clif. Christmas morning cindy loo wanted to go see him cause no one else did. She went on the top of all the presents and they all started to fall off the clif while Cindy Loo was on top and the grinch stopped all the presents from falling.

The grinch was special from the start.the grinch was green love glass for some reason.The green had a crush on martha but there was competition. Agustis bullied him and said you can’t get martha you already have a beard. the next day the grinch had hack marks . Every wanted him so he ran away

Firstly, A Christmas Story changes the style of the framed narrative. In the story, Ralph Parker is looking back on his childhood after a woman expresses her opinion on “disarming the toy industry.” However, the movie opens inside Ralph’s childhood with an adult Ralph as the narrator. This change does not take away from the story, though. It allows the audience to be put right into the action of the story rather than making the audience wait for something to happen that causes the narrator to look back on their life.

As the story moves along Sam out the elder in different situations to see if he would eat the green eggs and ham, but to Sam’s dismay the elder wouldn’t. Finally after trying and trying and trying Sam gets the elder to try the Green eggs and ham. One of the most popular stories by Dr. Seuss is the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This story became so popular that Universal Studios not only picket it up for a movie, but also a whole theme for their Christmas season theme park. In this story the Grinch loathes Christmas and the who’s with every fiber of his being. The Grinch presents himself as socially cut off from the who’s down in whoville. He lives on top of Mt. Crumpit with his dog Max. All of this hate is because his heart is two sizes too small (and this time he’ll keep it off). He finally had enough of the Who’s bangboozaling and clangclangaling so he devised a plan to steal Christmas. After Santa Clause came and delivered all the presents to the houses he would sneak in, in his Santa Clause suit and steal every present, every light, every decoration, every tree, and all of the food for the feast. He even stole the roast beast! He would empty the houses one by one and he didn’t leave anything. Not even a crumb big enough for a mouse. So as he got done with emptying the houses and was about to dump everything over Crumpit he heard a noise, a weird

Dickens also uses his characters to endorse other lessons that he believed were essential in keeping Christmas ‘well’. Scrooge’s behavior in Stave 1 towards the two portly gentlemen and his rudeness displayed towards his ‘ruddy’ nephew Fred, encapsulates all the attitudes

Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit had a clear view of the vexation clearly shown on Scrooge’s face as he snatched up a ruler with such vigour that the child who had begun to recite a Christmas carol frantically scrambled away. He had been looking through the key-hole of the counting-house. Bob Cratchit felt a small drop of pity for the youth but many a child had been warned of Scrooge’s frosty temper particularly upon Christmas Eve.

The next perspective the Grinch demonstrates is humanistic. Being humanistic means you have the freedom to change your behavior. Following this concept, you could have something called unconditional positive regard which is a basic acceptance of someone no matter what they do or say. The Grinch gave a good example of this when he found it alright to raid Whoville and take everything they have; right after he did this he felt great about himself which demonstrates his strong unconditional positive regard for himself. Another concept he showed was his strong self-actualization which is the growth of an individual toward fulfilling higher needs. The Grinch showed this when he returned everything to Whoville and his heart grew three sizes

One difference in the movie was that the Ghost of Christmas yet to come has a hand of skin. Not a hand without skin that was wrote in the book. I think that this makes a difference though because it doesn't show a big impact on the story. I think Charles Dickens put the skinless hand in his story to give his story a "chill-factor". I don't think that the director of the movie version of A Christmas Carol thought that it was a big deal or a big impact to the rest of the story. Another difference between book and movie is that Scrooge doesn't go to church at the end of the story. I think it makes a big difference though, because it shows how much Scrooge has changed since the three spirits came to visit him. It shows a before and after effect which I think made a big impact on the story. The last significant change between the book and the movie is that when Scrooge follows the Ghost of Christmas yet to come, he ends up falling into his grave. This is significant because Scrooge gets to meet the old Scrooge and gives him a slap in the face of reality of what's going to happen if things don't change. It's ironic too because it's the new Scrooge that wakes up on the bed in the morning.

Scrooge's mean attitude was demonstrated when he said to his nephew, “What right have you to be Merry? You're poor enough" This is the first indication that Scrooge was not in the Christmas spirit as he was not joyful. This is also an indication that Scrooge was greedy and

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”( Erich Fromm) In the story, A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens. The main character is a greedy man named Ebenezer Scrooge who has no Christmas spirit. Scrooge starts off in the story with no joy in his life. He is then visited by the ghost of his former coworker, who says that the Scrooge will be visited by three spirits who show him the past, present, and the future. There are many similarities between the drama and the movie.

From the story, “A Christmas Carol”, to the movie, “Scrooged”, there are many similarities and differences in the characters, symbols and even plot although much of it is due to the change in setting from the early 1840’s to the late 1980’s. Beginning with characters, Ebenezer Scrooge carries his overall theme of generosity or lack thereof into the movie where he is referred to as Frank Cross. Cross shows this in his Christmas gifts that he gives out to family and employees which happen to be no more than a fluffy towel. Scrooge expresses his lack of generosity by giving Bob Crachit, his employee, little to no christmas bonus and being unhappy with his request to take Christmas day off. In both the book and movie, Scrooge and Cross both start out with a very annoyed and almost depressed demeanor, both having a short temper and being very dismissive towards others. Cross was vain and very dedicated to his television company while Scrooge was a workaholic and the only thing he cared about was money. He also craved isolation as he would return home

In Greek mythology you would have been buried with money to pay for your trip to the underworld. In the Jim Carrey version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge steals two coins from Marley's casket. Could this have been what ultimately doomed Marley? In the book this doesn’t happen but it does in the movie because the directors couldn’t do exactly what Ihappened in the book. What are some other differences and similarities between the Christmas Carol book and movie.

To illustrate, a background of the Grinch, he was a resentful individual who look to be in his 40’s who lived on a snowy called Mount Crumpits in the town of Whoville. In the film it depicts him spending a lot of time alone in the cave on the mountain reflecting depressed mood and his only social contact being his dog, named Max. He was abandoned as a child and was