Ghost of Christmas Past
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The Ghost of Christmas Past is a character in what is one of the best-known works of the English novelist, Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.
The Ghost of Christmas Past was the first of the three spirits (after the visitation by Jacob Marley) that haunted the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent. It showed him scenes from his youth, that occurred on or around Christmas, in order to demonstrate to him the necessity of changing his ways, as well as to show the reader how Scrooge came to be the person he would become.
According to Dickens' novel, the Ghost of Christmas Past appeares to Scrooge as a white-robed, androgynous figure of indeterminate age. It had on its head a blazing light, reminiscient of a candle flame. It carried with it a metal cap, made in the shape of a candle extinguisher, with which Scrooge finally banishes it by extinguishing the light on its head.
[edit] Appearance in various film adaptations
The appearance of each ghost has varied in some of the film adaptations of the novel.
- In Scrooge, the Ghost is portrayed as a long-haired old man.
- In the 1954 version of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as a white-robed lady.
- In Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, a 1962 animated version, the Ghost is portrayed as a young girl with a flame above her head, a sprig of holly and an orange glow.
- In the 1970's version titled Scrooge, the Ghost is portrayed as an elegant lady with a red dress and a black hat.
- In the 1971 animated adaptation by Richard Williams, the Ghost is a blurred young girl with a pale glow.
- In the 1982 animated version of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as a Cupid-like young man.
- In the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as an old woman with blonde hair and a white robe.
- In Disney's 1983 animated adaptation titled Mickey's Christmas Carol, Jiminy Cricket takes the role of the Ghost.
- In 1988's modern adaptation titled Scrooged, the Ghost is portrayed as a cab driver with a Brooklyn accent.
- In the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as a little girl in a white dress.
- In the 1994 animated special A Flintstones Christmas Carol, Wilma Flintstone plays the role of the Ghost, as well as that of Scrooge's fiance, Belle.
- In the 1997 DiC Entertainment animated adaptation, the Ghost is a young boy in a blue Beefeater outfit with a Liverpudlian accent.
- In the 1999 film, A Christmas Carol, Joel Grey plays the Ghost as a pale man with long hair and a white glow.
- In the 2000 VH1 movie A Diva's Christmas Carol, the Ghost is played by Cathy Griffin.
- In the 2004 musical titled A Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as a lady that lights the street lamp posts.
- In the 2006 CGI film A Christmas Carol, the Ghost is portrayed as an anthropomorphic stork.
- In the animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the Ghost is parodied as the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, a robot with a penchant of making houses run with elf blood and telling long-winded, incomprehensible stories about the origins of Christmas.
- In the 2005 film V for Vendetta, the character V sarcastically claims to be the Ghost of Christmas past, just before he takes his revenge against the propagandist news reader.
- In Littlekuriboh's A Yu-gi-oh Chrismas carol Yami acts like ghost of chrismas past.
