Scrooge's Future

The Christmas Future segment of Lionel Barrymore's 1947 recording of "A Christmas Carol" for MGM records is very brief. It only contains a scene of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showing Scrooge his own tombstone.

There's no context, so the only thing we (and Scrooge) know is that he'll be deceased at some Christmas in the future. What should Scrooge's takeaway be from this?

That got me thinking about how different versions treat this idea and what the original text indicates.

I think there's sometimes a misunderstanding that Scrooge is shocked that he's dead in the future. That's not really the case, however.

The wow factor of his name on the gravestone is not the fact that he's dead, but that he's the person whose passing got no sympathy from anybody and whose body lied plundered and bereft.

So, of there's not enough of a buildup, the grave doesn't have as much of an impact.

The other question to which there doesn't appear to be an answer is exactly how far in the future does Scrooge die and how?

Will his changed nature cause him to live longer, like he has more to live for niw?

We don't know how old he is, but he's on the old side. Life expectancy was shorter then as well.

Some versions seem to indicate Scrooge passes away fairly soon. Albert Finney seems to go from the impromptu parade celebrating his death to the Tiny Tim-less Cratchit house without any pause, which implies that they died around the same time, perhaps a year later.

And it looks like Jim Carrey sees 1840-something on his gravestone and that version is set in 1843, so that Scrooge wouldn't be around for too long either!

Conversely, Ronald Colman doesn't recognize one of the buildings in the future and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (who talks) tells him it will be built in years to come. So, even if this Scrooge were not to repent, he'd still have a few years left at least.

Things to think about!