IMDb listing
The Man who Invented Christmas [2017] (directed by Bharat Nalluri, screenplay by Susan Coyne based on the book by Les Stradiford [GR] [IMDb]) is an incredibly stupidly / offensively titled film. Indeed, if ANYONE on the Left would wonder why Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, one could simply take a moment or two to contemplate the title of this film.
Did Charles Dickens "invent Christmas?" OF COURSE NOT. Why then _stupidly_ title this film --a film that COULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING (about how Dickens came up with the plot of his famous novel A Christmas Carol) -- in a manner that _guarantees_ that it will OFFEND TENS OF MILLIONS OF OTHERWISE POTENTIALLY INTERESTED AMERICAN VIEWERS.
My answer: Unless there's A LOT OF RUSSIAN MONEY invested in this stupid film (in which case its release under this name COULD HAVE BEEN INTENDED by emerging real-life SUPERVILLAIN Vladimir Putin TO PRODUCE shock and division in the United States), it would be that the Lunatic Left continues to have some kind of evil / misguided Death Wish.
Indeed, the Lunatic Left made both Franco and even Hitler possible: In 1930s Spain, Franco became a "voice of reason" (!) after unbelievably stupid Spanish Communists began storming Convents AND SHOOTING UP NUNS (in my Religious Order, the Servites, we now honor one such nun Bl Maria Guadalupe Ricart Olmos, OSM as a martyr because was SHE ONE OF THOSE NUNS taken out one random night during the Spanish Civil War and shot-up by some _crazed_ squad of "forward looking" Spanish Communists)
Then the Russian Bolsheviks' campaign of seeking to destroy Christianity in Russia (shutting down the churches, turning them into storage sheds or worse, deporting and/or shooting their priests) guaranteed that _tens of millions_ of German voters in the 1930s would see the "law and order" Nazis as a _far more sensible_ option to the chaos, arrogance / evil of the Soviet Communism.
But did Charles Dickens "invent Christmas"? Again, OF COURSE NOT. Readers remember here that I'M A CATHOLIC PRIEST:
Some weeks ago, we spent part of our Parish Liturgy Committee Meeting talking about which of the Readings from the FOUR Possible Christmas Masses (ALL OF WHICH ALL GO BACK TO AT LEAST THE TIME OF ST. GREGORY THE GREAT -- 5th-6th Century A.D.) we were going to use at our various Christmas Liturgies (from 4 PM and 9 PM on Christmas Eve to Midnight on Christmas Eve to morning on Christmas Day to early afternoon on Christmas Day).
The Christmas trees in our Church go back to the time of the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Gregory the Great's BFF (hence again 6th Century AD) who St. Gregory had sent to evangelize the then fearsome, barbaric and at the time rumored TO BE CANNIBALISTIC Anglo Saxons. The Anglo Saxons had over-run the southern part of previously already Christian Roman Britain (St. Patrick, who lived in the 4th century A.D., whose name derives from the latin word Patrician or basically 'rich boy' was Romano-British ;-). Returning to St. Augustine of Canterbury, he had the wisdom of not making a "problem" of the Anglo-Saxon custom of bringing into their homes the branches of evergreen trees in the height of winter. Instead, recalling the many times trees played a significant role in the Bible -- (1) the Trees of Good and Evil / Life in the Garden of Eden, (2) the Wood out of which Noah built the Ark, (3) Jesus being laid down in a Manger (the Midnight Christmas Liturgy referred to above took place originally in the NATIVITY CHAPEL at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome (built in the early 5th century), where THE RELIC OF JESUS' CRIB brought back to Rome by St. Helen, the mother of Constantine back IN THE 4th CENTURY was KEPT), and finally (4) Jesus being nailed to and saving us all through "the wood of the cross" -- the future St Augustine of Canturbury decided to "let it go" / bless said evergreen trees and ... from this we have our Christmas trees ;-)
Then we have our Christmas plays and our Nativity Sets depicting Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the animals, the stars and angels THANKS TO ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI who loved the story so much that he promoted it where-ever he could.
To this day, one could go to the Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples, Italy, and see an ENTIRE STREET with HUNDREDS OF SHOPS SELLING NOTHING BUT "PRESEPI" (Nativity Sets) of every conceivable level of complexity from the simplest -- Mary, Jesus, Joseph, Star above, to entire medieval town / village to contemporary city-scapes.
And if you were there, you'd probably hear, over and over again, playing in the background, probably the most famous Italian Christmas Carol ("Tu Scendi dalle Stelle" [wikip] [YouTube]) attributed to Napoli's own St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787). It should be noted that pretty much ALL of the traditional ENGLISH Christmas Carols -- Adeste Fideles / "O Come O Ye Faithful" [it-wikip]* comes self-evidently to mind -- are actually translated FROM LATIN hence predate their English usage. And I come originally from a Czech household. The Czech Christmas Carols "Narodil se Kristus Pán" (Born is Christ the Lord) [cs-wikip]* and Nesem Vám Noviny" go back to "ages past" the first to the 15th century, the second, as a folk hymn, honestly unknown.
So to purport that Charles Dickens (!), as great an author as he was, somehow _invented Christmas_ is NONSENSE arguably even EVIL NONSENSE that gives nihilists and other enemies of truth comfort. Shame. -- ZERO Stars.
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