Final Project Report

For my final project, I created a wiki-unit on A Christmas Carol that would last a little over two weeks. In addition to the novel, various scenes from two wide ranging film adaptations are used, A Muppets' Christmas Carol and Scrooged. The original novel is useful in many ways. It is one of the more popular works from the iconic Victorian author, Charles Dickens, so it would easily fit into an British literature course. Dickens' writings are a great way to introduce a Marxist critical lens. And the majority of students are familiar with the storyline but more than likely do not know the details of the narrative and the lack of enchantment in the plot would allow for a closer reading of the work.

A Christmas Carol is one of the most adapted novels of all time, so it is only right to utilize film adaptations to underscore certain elements of the tale. The Muppets' version is much more closely linked to the original tale. However, the use of the Muppets (and the production by Disney) allows the students to examine and discuss the various changes that are made for the intended audience.

Scrooged on the other hand does not follow Dickens' completely. Rather, Dickens' story is in the backdrop of the movie, and a more modern day (more tangible to the students) adaptation is placed on the tale. The change in the setting from Victorian London, to late 80's early 90's New York City, allows the students to compare the different historical periods.

The novel is broken up into five staves, and that is also how the reading would be assigned. To accompany in class discussions, relevant clips would be shown. I also created some googledocs for students to contribute on character descriptions and vocabulary words. A few of the sections also have discussion forums on the wiki that students would be expected to answer. Also, there is a paper assignment comparing different elements of the book and the adaptations. In addition, there is a group video assignment that would allow the students to create their own adaptation of a scene.

Here is my wiki.