not-very-tiny Tim
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — A Christmas Carol
aafleming-19569 — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 12:18 PM)
Is anyone else put off by how large and healthy-appearing "Tiny" Tim is in this movie? He is supposed to be small and sickly. In fact, in this movie the whole Cratchit family is either fat or plump, their home looks comfortable, and they are all wearing nice clothes. Not a very realistic or sympathetic portrayal of "poor" people in Dickens' time, when being poor really meant not having enough to eat, decent clothes, or enough heat in the winter. The George C. Scott version is the only one I can recall where Tiny Tim actually appears tiny and sick looking.
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howard.schumann — 9 years ago(December 24, 2016 09:02 PM)
I think the fact that Tiny Tim has a great smile and looks pretty healthy makes it all the more moving and tragic when Scrooge sees that Tim will die in the future unless he changes his ways.
I don't think the Cratchits are supposed to be dirt poor, only a struggling family trying to survive as best they can in a dog-eat-dog environment.
The truly civilized man is marked by empathy - Malcolm Kerr -
jsk32870 — 9 years ago(January 06, 2017 10:30 PM)
Actually, when you think about it, if all you can afford is two rounds of punch, that's kinda poor, isn't it?
Think about Fred's party, where he was hosting several people for Christmas dinner. Would you guess that he was only able to supply two rounds of anything to all of his guests? I would venture to say no. If that was the case, he's better off not hosting
anything
. And we are told that Fred isn't exactly well off.
So I think the Cratchits are not in a good place. Maybe not many families around them can afford two rounds of punch, but that says to me that their neighbors are even worse off than they are!