Victorian Living Magazine

The theme of our project is cultural trends and their personification of the past, as a means of commenting on the present.

An online magazine-style blog, our project attempted to answer, through the exploration of modern day literature and art, these two questions:

Does Victorian Cool offer any sort of critique on the present, in regards to its aesthetics, principles, and technologies?

and

Does the nostalgia embodied in Victorian Cool suggest an optimistic view or a pessimistic view of the future of mankind?

At the end of our investigation, we decided that the prevalency of Victorian culture in the 21st century suggests that Victorian Cool is a means of teaching, through example, the folly of innovation without consideration. The Victorians were obsessed with science and materialism. Their lack of concern for the future of the planet has resulted in our current problem of Global Warming. They looked to the future, in regards to scientific discovery and material goods, but failed to acknowledge the consequences of such endeavors. In addition, we concluded that nostalgia, in Victorian Cool, offers an optimistic view of the future because, by reflecting on and learning from the past, we are able to improve on our present-day situation and prevent the re-occurrence of past mistakes.


We hope that you have fun looking at our blog, while learning something new about the 19th century.

Enjoy! :-D

A Sesame Street Christmas Carol

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A Sesame Street Christmas Carol

By Ashley Morford

In this version of Dickens’ story, Oscar the Grouch is the character of Scrooge. The puppet who delivers the mail (containing the three Ghosts) is named Marley, thus representing the Marley that appeared to warn Scrooge of the coming of the three Ghosts and his fate if he should refuse to listen to their messages. At the end of the movie, there is a little boy who gives Oscar a can for Christmas. This little boy represents Tiny Tim since he teaches Oscar about giving; Oscar appreciates this gift and is moved to give the little boy a present in return (A Sesame Street).


The Ghost of Christmas Past is a Briton from the Victorian Era who speaks (for example, referring to the washroom as the lavatory) and pronounces words as a Briton would. Other than that, the rest of the show is very modernized. It has all the trappings of a modern day Christmas -- from Christmas lights to televisions and computers.


There was one idea we learned in class which really stuck out to me as I watched this show: the anti-ideology of Dickens, in this case scientific (Charles Dickens). The Victorian Era was a time of scientific development, where science became another religion and England thought that science would change the world (2-4-09). The developments which took place during the Industrial Revolution did in fact greatly impact the world for, without the Industrial Revolution, we would never have the digital revolution -- and it is today’s digital revolution that the Sesame Street movie targets in an anti-ideological way.


The movie holds a pessimistic view of the future of mankind caused by the effects of the digital revolution. Rather than showing Oscar what his future holds in store for him, the Ghost of Christmas Future shows what the Christmas of the future will be like for mankind -- after all, Dickens’ story is not just an analysis of Scrooge but rather is symbolic of man plus society (Charles Dickens). In the future shown by the Ghost, family life has been broken up through consumerism and materialism, and an unwillingness to exert any physical labour; for example, people no longer eat normal food but rather eat meals contained in little capsules, they do not eat altogether at a dinner table, trees come pre-decorated, and people no longer hang Christmas lights. Without any preparations, Christmas is simply commercial. This implies that consumerism and materialism is going to be rampant in our future, and will destroy past and present traditions and aspects which matter most -- family and time spent with loved ones. Thus, the future of mankind is painted in a pessimistic light.


Works Cited


A Sesame Street Christmas Carol. Prod. Jennifer Smith, Dir. Victor DiNapoli, Perf. Caroll Spinney, Joey Mazzarrino. DVD. Sony Wonder, 2006.


Ogden, Stephen. “2-4-09.” English 206 Lecture. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. 4 February 2009.


Ogden, Stephen. “Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol.” English 206 Lecture. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. 14 January 2009.