It's got singing lobsters in it!
December 25, 2023 8:28 PM Subscribe
How Accurate Is “The Muppet Christmas Carol”?
She also did a History Hangout, chatting about her video and the story.
J. Draper is a YouTuber focusing on British History in general and London in particular. She’s also a London Tour Guide.
She also did a History Hangout, chatting about her video and the story.
J. Draper is a YouTuber focusing on British History in general and London in particular. She’s also a London Tour Guide.
they're legit muppets. I'm confident of that much.
posted by philip-random at 9:21 PM on December 25, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 9:21 PM on December 25, 2023 [11 favorites]
Are we sure that J Draper's pronouns are "she"? I get enby vibes from them, but I haven't seen anything stated one way or another.
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 3:28 AM on December 26, 2023
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 3:28 AM on December 26, 2023
The "London Tour Guide" link has testimonials naming Jenny -- I don't know the pronouns but assume J is used to defer misogynists and misogynist algorithms promoting default-men and not promoting non-default names.
Link looks interesting, have saved for later, thank you for introducing me to J Draper.
posted by k3ninho at 4:11 AM on December 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Link looks interesting, have saved for later, thank you for introducing me to J Draper.
posted by k3ninho at 4:11 AM on December 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Are we sure that J Draper's pronouns are "she"? I get enby vibes from them, but I haven't seen anything stated one way or another.
I've been using "she/her" because those are the pronouns used on her tour guide website, but like you I'm almost certain she's some flavor of queer, and I'll happily use whatever pronouns she prefers. Either way, I love her videos, and her take on Shakespeare and the Globe is one of my favorites.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:54 AM on December 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've been using "she/her" because those are the pronouns used on her tour guide website, but like you I'm almost certain she's some flavor of queer, and I'll happily use whatever pronouns she prefers. Either way, I love her videos, and her take on Shakespeare and the Globe is one of my favorites.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:54 AM on December 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Loving watching this. This is some high quality beanplating.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:04 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:04 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I can rarely sit still for even a 15 minute YouTube video but I watched this whole thing and loved it. She really did get tremendously specific about things! Like the costumes! It was delightful to hear just how accurate the costuming was.
“Would American children not understand what a Christmas pudding is? Do you not have them?” No, we don’t, and even as an adult I would not have known what one was until very recently, because the US definition of pudding is real different.
posted by rednikki at 5:35 AM on December 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
“Would American children not understand what a Christmas pudding is? Do you not have them?” No, we don’t, and even as an adult I would not have known what one was until very recently, because the US definition of pudding is real different.
posted by rednikki at 5:35 AM on December 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
Also pudding is a generic term for dessert in the UK
posted by brujita at 7:39 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 7:39 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
It is a neat video as some of the things she talks about as decisions were brought of in the commentary available on the dvd.
I was surprised that she slid right past the best changed line from the book to the movie:
Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it.
is a line I think of every day that is in the movie a paraphrase of Dickens.
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:40 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was surprised that she slid right past the best changed line from the book to the movie:
Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it.
is a line I think of every day that is in the movie a paraphrase of Dickens.
posted by MonsieurPEB at 8:40 AM on December 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
J Draper produces excellent videos, well-considered and thought-provoking. At least two of them have provided input for other talks my wife has given. I think the Boudicca one is particularly good for thinking about how history comes about. And plenty of varied topics.
posted by mdoar at 10:41 AM on December 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by mdoar at 10:41 AM on December 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
Would American children not understand what a Christmas pudding is?
J. Draper: What Is Christmas Pudding?
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:10 PM on December 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
J. Draper: What Is Christmas Pudding?
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:10 PM on December 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Thanks for posting, ChurchHatesTucker - I've only watched 5 mins of this but will enjoy the rest tomorrow!
Having watched MCC twice in the past four days (yay, my Christmas!), the one US/British thing that rankled with me on these watchings was that the sign over Fozzie's business was Fozziwig and Mom, not Fozziwig and Mum. But it's swiftly followed by lots of Fozzie, who is my FAVOURITE Muppet, so who cares, really? :)
posted by penguin pie at 3:19 PM on December 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Having watched MCC twice in the past four days (yay, my Christmas!), the one US/British thing that rankled with me on these watchings was that the sign over Fozzie's business was Fozziwig and Mom, not Fozziwig and Mum. But it's swiftly followed by lots of Fozzie, who is my FAVOURITE Muppet, so who cares, really? :)
posted by penguin pie at 3:19 PM on December 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
brujita: Also pudding is a generic term for dessert in the UK
...only by linguistic drift, where a few generations of kids were served school meals with a dessert course that was labelled 'pudding', say a lemon-meringue pie would be served after hot school dinner as a course called pudding. This drifted from earlier generations who had a specific fruit-filled boiled-or-steamed cake-adjacent dish known as pudding.
I figure J Draper explains this better, but I'm not watching YouTube just now.
posted by k3ninho at 4:15 AM on December 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
...only by linguistic drift, where a few generations of kids were served school meals with a dessert course that was labelled 'pudding', say a lemon-meringue pie would be served after hot school dinner as a course called pudding. This drifted from earlier generations who had a specific fruit-filled boiled-or-steamed cake-adjacent dish known as pudding.
I figure J Draper explains this better, but I'm not watching YouTube just now.
posted by k3ninho at 4:15 AM on December 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Fantastic video, I love J Draper's way of speaking.
When The Muppet Christmas Carol came out during my childhood, I was disinclined to it because I'm such a huge Kermit fan and I was not really ready to hear someone other than Henson as his voice. That has faded a lot with time, though, and I'm so impressed with how much work went into making it such an accurate and entertaining adaptation. I've seen historians who say it may be the most accurately costumed period piece ever made. What I love about this video is that while Draper seems knowledgeable about that aspect of it, and touches on other popular subjects like the direct wording lifts and how seriously Michael Caine takes his role, she also goes deep on the themes and the way the story has shaped our idea of how Christmas is celebrated.
In short, a lot of people make online content about this movie this time of year, but if the sentence "Fezziwig would have worn shoes" comes out of your mouth, you are at a level of detail I am here for.
posted by lampoil at 2:55 PM on December 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
When The Muppet Christmas Carol came out during my childhood, I was disinclined to it because I'm such a huge Kermit fan and I was not really ready to hear someone other than Henson as his voice. That has faded a lot with time, though, and I'm so impressed with how much work went into making it such an accurate and entertaining adaptation. I've seen historians who say it may be the most accurately costumed period piece ever made. What I love about this video is that while Draper seems knowledgeable about that aspect of it, and touches on other popular subjects like the direct wording lifts and how seriously Michael Caine takes his role, she also goes deep on the themes and the way the story has shaped our idea of how Christmas is celebrated.
In short, a lot of people make online content about this movie this time of year, but if the sentence "Fezziwig would have worn shoes" comes out of your mouth, you are at a level of detail I am here for.
posted by lampoil at 2:55 PM on December 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Fezziwig would have worn shoes
Ah, but Fezziwig didn’t have the adorable paws Fozziwig did, which absolutely demand to be shown off :)
posted by penguin pie at 4:32 PM on December 27, 2023
Ah, but Fezziwig didn’t have the adorable paws Fozziwig did, which absolutely demand to be shown off :)
posted by penguin pie at 4:32 PM on December 27, 2023
Fezziwig would have worn shoes
I was going to say it was open to interpretation, but then I reread the text:
Old Fezziwig . . . rubbed his hands, adjusted his capacious waistcoat, laughed all over himself from his shoes to his organ of benevolence and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice: "Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" [Emphasis added]
posted by dannyboybell at 5:55 PM on December 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
I was going to say it was open to interpretation, but then I reread the text:
Old Fezziwig . . . rubbed his hands, adjusted his capacious waistcoat, laughed all over himself from his shoes to his organ of benevolence and called out in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice: "Yo ho, there! Ebenezer! Dick!" [Emphasis added]
posted by dannyboybell at 5:55 PM on December 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
that is one helluva sentence
posted by rifflesby at 7:31 PM on December 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by rifflesby at 7:31 PM on December 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
From Jane Walmsley's Brit-Think Ameri-Think in the Brit Naff list: Don't call dessert pudding....They won't understand and they'll think you're one.
When I had a summer course at Richmond College in London I experienced this directly
when a staff member asked me "what's for pudding?" as I looked at the cafeteria menu. It took me a second to realize what she meant because I hadn't seen any custard type things on it.
posted by brujita at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I had a summer course at Richmond College in London I experienced this directly
when a staff member asked me "what's for pudding?" as I looked at the cafeteria menu. It took me a second to realize what she meant because I hadn't seen any custard type things on it.
posted by brujita at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:42 PM on December 25, 2023 [3 favorites]