Documenti di Didattica
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39
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Series 10
hristmas is a time of inspiration for many people, not just in a religious sense but also artistically. The festive season has provided creative impetus for many folk tales, poems, songs, books, stage plays, artworks and films among other things. Some of the works of art are deeply solemn and religious, while others are more about the joy and festivities of the season. Although there are some exceptions, most Christmas-themed works are things that are enjoyed only at a particular time of the year.
Stories of Christmas
Of mice and nutcrackers
The Nutcracker And The Mouse King was written in 1816 by the German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann. The story is of a girl named Marie (this would change to Clara in other adaptations) who receives a nutcracker shaped like a man in uniform for Christmas. As the clock strikes midnight, Clara is being attacked by evil mice and is rescued by the nutcracker. The pair then race off to another land populated by dolls, where they dance all night. The nutcracker turns out to be a prince under an evil enchantment and Clara breaks the curse to become his bride. The story has been adapted many times as pantomime, theatre and in film but most famously as a ballet with music composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
From Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864)
Home Alone
One of the biggest films of 1990 was the Christmas story Home Alone, written by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. Macauley Culkin plays eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, who is inadvertently left home alone by his family when they depart on their Christmas vacation. Confronted by two burglars trying to rob the house, he fights them off using some ingenious methods. The movie was a box office hit and made $500 million worldwide. It spawned a series of sequels with Home Alone 2, 3 and 4.
St Nick drops in
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. This is the opening of one of the most famous pieces of Christmas verse. It was first published anonymously in the New York Sentinel in 1823. It is generally accepted that Clement Clarke Moore wrote the ballad, although there have been claims of other authors. The poem tells of a person in bed on Christmas Eve who hears a sleigh landing on his roof and catches a glimpse of St Nicholas delivering presents. In 1863 it was published accompanied by illustrations by Thomas Nast in a best-selling book. Since then it has become one of the best known poems written about Christmas.
A novel idea
One of the most famous novels set during Christmas is Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol. It is the story of miserly old businessman Ebenezer Scrooge, who hates everything to do with Christmas, dismissing the season with the expression Bah! Humbug!. Scrooge is visited by three ghosts in the night who change his view of Christmas. First published in 1843, the novel was a huge success and has never been out of print since. Dickens wrote four more Christmas books to cash in on the success of A Christmas Carol but none were as successful or as memorable. Dickens frequently gave readings of his book at public appearances and it was later adapted to the stage. The story was adapted to create what is possibly the first Christmas film in 1901 as Scrooge, Or Marleys Ghost. There have been innumerable versions since, including the famous 1951 version starring Alistair Simm, the 1970 musical Scrooge, a 1988 contemporary American comedy version starring Bill Murray called Scrooged, A Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, and the 2009 computer 3D animated film A Christmas Carol, with Jim Carrey providing the voice of Scrooge and most of his expressions through motion-capture technolgy.
Santa on celluloid
Since the invention of cinema people have been putting Christmas scenes on film. One of the earliest films was Scrooge, Or Marleys Ghost (1901) based on Charles Dickenss A Christmas Carol. Many more versions of the story would follow (almost too many to count). The 1923 silent film Christmas showed the misadventures of a man sent out by his wife to buy a Christmas tree. The 1947 film Miracle On 34th Street is about a man who claims to be Santa Claus who is taken to court to try to prove that he is not insane. It was remade twice for TV in 1959 and 1973 and more recently as a film in 1994. The film Its A Wonderful Life (1946), starring Jimmy Stewart and with its climax on Christmas Eve, has become a perennial Yuletide favourite although it can be enjoyed any time of the year. The modern classic A Christmas Story (1983), about a boys quest to get a Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas, didnt do well at the box office but has since become a classic and inspired a string of Family favourite: Tim Allen movies and television shows narrated by a person in The Santa Clause recounting their childhood. More recently the 1990 film Home Alone became the third highest-grossing film that year and stayed in cinemas well past the Christmas season and is another film that is enjoyed beyond the confines of the Yuletide season.
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