Spirited (2022)

Last week I complained a bit about the secular version of the Christmas message in “Violent Night.” Another film that came out that same year was “Spirited.” It is a (somewhat bloated) musical reinterpretation of Charles Dickens’s “Christmas Carol.” This can serve as a reminder that a secular version of Christian values has pervaded our culture for over a century now.

Dickens, and his whole Victorian Culture, were at the forefront of providing a secular framework for the Christmas holiday. There are oblique references to Christ in Dickens’s story. No one in those days could get far away from the reason for the season, but what Dickens preached in ‘A Christmas Carol” is more of the secular humanistic version of “be kind, one to another” than basing that value on Christ.

In the nearly 200 years since “A Christmas Carol” first came out, another value has emerged or strengthened… the commercial value. Christmas markets have been around for centuries, but it is in the 19th and 20th Centuries where this really takes off. This is news to no one, but over the past several decades the commercial nature of Christmas has become predominate. As I write this in 2024, a dominate theme in Christmas ornaments being marketed is branding. You find fewer and fewer Nativity-themed ornaments, and more of the Santa and Frosty type ones. But the one most seen on Walmat shelves are Christmas Ornaments depicting brands such as Cheetos, soft drinks, and straight up commercial logos. You could decorate a whole tree celebrating consumerism!

However, Hollywood has been at the forefront of promoting the Christian values of kindness, sacrifice, and helping others in a wholly secular package forever. My favorite film of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is ostensibly a secular Christmas movie. You have to “pre-know” the Christian background of Christmas to know that the message of the movie only makes sense in a Christian culture.

“Spirited” takes the trend and runs with it. Instead of God sending His son to redeem a fallen world, we now have “ghosts” doing research and preparing an elaborate show every year to convince one mean person every year to be nicer. If you stop to think about the storyline, it makes no sense why any of this is happening. Things have been so far removed from Dickens’s time where Christianity was assumed, that there is no logical reason behind the story whatsoever. And the stakes—making one mildly mean person nice, in a world full of evil—you ask yourself, “why bother?” Seemingly, the Ghost of Christmas Present has the same question, so he tries to convince the enterprise to tackle an “unredeemable” person. You might assume he is targeting a terrorist, child molester, or serial killer? No. Just a guy with messed up priorities. Hardly a big challenge!

I may sound a bit grumpy, but I don’t mean too. I love a lot of these watered-down stories. It just pays to keep the real story behind the stories in mind. And… I would skip “Spirited” and go for something better in the way of “A Christmas Carol” adaptations. Like, just about any other one.