#barbie in a christmas carol

[enchanted-lightning-aes]

shout-out to eden starling for being one of the flawed fictional ladies i've been exposed from my youth. if it weren't for her, i wouldn't be supportive of women's wrongs. and women's potential to learn and grow from those wrongs. 😌

[ID: a gif of Eden Starling from Barbie in a Christmas Carol, giving a small smile while tilting her head to the side / finish ID]

and for being the reason why i'm obsessed with writing ladies, who have redemption arcs. yeh...

[spookyoffduty]

Edennn~~~

watched barbie in a christmas carol and needles to say i love eden she's so <3 love how she switched up when she saw the children, and the part where she scrambles the house for gifts and gives random pretty looking junk to her employees is so silly and adorable i just love her sm (even when she is sassy n mean)

[queen-erika-the-songful]

[barbielore]

I have never seen any of the Barbie animated films before. But it’s Christmas, and even though I don’t really celebrate the holiday, I love the book A Christmas Carol; and I love A Muppet Christmas Carol. So Barbie in A Christmas Carol seemed like the obvious way to dip my toe in.

My notes from watching are below!

In the framing device scenes of Barbie telling the story to Kelly, Barbie is wearing a silver dress that looks like pretty much the same dress as 2008 Holiday Barbie, even though that wasn’t an official tie in doll for the film.

Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman, we have Eden Starling, an opera singing diva. Her childhood friend Catherine seems to play the role of Scrooge’s nephew but given she also works for the theatre there’s a dash of Cratchitt in there too?

Eden tells everyone not to bother coming back if they don’t come in to rehearse for the new show on Christmas. Even Scrooge only told Cratchitt to be there all the earlier the next morning. 

Aunt Marie (the stand in for Marley) is draped in chains - but these chains have mirrors on the ends instead of cash boxes and ledgers. I presume to represent her sins of vanity instead of financial greed.

The spirit of Christmas past is really cute, like an excitable little elf. 

Little Eden wants to spend time with friends but Aunt Marie makes her rehearse all Christmas instead of seeing other people. Eden sneaks out to go to a party instead of practicing. 

I’m sure it’s in the interests of streamlining the story for Barbie audiences, but I’m a little disappointed the spirit of Christmas past only takes Eden to one place. 

Christmas Present shows the theatre workers throwing tomatoes at a picture of Eden. That’s pretty funny but it’s not much of a lesson. That’s okay - Christmas Present takes her to a second location, presumably so we can meet our Tiny Tim. In this case it’s the reveal that Catherine is working for another theatre as well; or so Eden thinks. Actually it’s an orphanage putting on a Christmas pageant, and our Tiny Tim is a little girl who walks with a crutch and idealises Eden. Catherine lies to her and says Eden is very sorry she can’t come in person but is so proud of all of them. I don’t know why but I got a little emotional about that!

Anyway the orphanage is about to close due to lack of funds. This doesn’t strike me as quite as resonant because Eden is a diva and selfish but none of her sins we’ve seen so far are related to finances.

Alright, time for Christmas Future. The show is a shambles because she fires all her staff for coming in late and their replacements are rubbish so the show is an embarrassment. This means Eden lives in squalor because she lost her career. Her best friend Catherine is now a famous fashion designer, but has got there by being as selfish as Eden is. The orphanage closed down because Catherine had to go out of town to find new work and she never found out what happened to the children.

Catherine indicates she would have adopted Tammy if she had known, but didn't get the chance. The other kids can just miss out I guess?

We the audience don’t find out what became of Tammy, so we don’t know if she died like Tiny Tim. We can assume it wasn’t a great outcome for her, but it’s left to our imagination. 

The red dress Eden is wearing at the end is the one from the tie in dolls! 

Eden adopts (by which I assume she means financially support) the whole orphanage which doesn’t seem really like it suits the arc but sure I’ll allow it. 

At the end of the movie I finally realise that Catherine was supposed to be Barbie’s friend Nikki. Apparently there was a doll prototype for Catherine, but I don't think she ever got released.

That doll I shared above wasn't the only tie-in doll though! There was also a giftset with Kelly dolls dressed as the spirits. Missed opportunity because the spirits were of different ages. I would have liked to see a doll of the Spirit of Christmas Present as seen in the movie!

I looked up some reviews of the novelisation to see if there were any changes, and only then did I realise I missed something -- Catherine isn't supposed to represent nephew Fred at all. The magician who has a crush on Catherine is Fred, leaving Catherine in just the Cratchitt role. That in hindsight makes a little more sense.

I'm not sure if I'll watch any more of the Barbie movies, but that was a good start. (If you think I should watch more, by all means tell me so, and recommend some!)

[cak31ssuperi04]

Christmas Carol adaptations amirite. Ft. The Scrooges

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Barbie Movie Moodboards // Eden Starling

I don't need you to tell me I was brilliant. I know I was brilliant!

[valley-of-the-lost]

it was very American Healthcare System of Aunt Marie to give Eden such bad trauma that all of Eden's relationships are dysfunctional and then only pay for THREE sessions of therapy

[muppetgelica]

Day 4 and my personal favorite: 2008!! I love her.

[sakuraswordly]

Source: @dollcinema

barbie in a christmas carol (2008) - official still

[causetheturtle]

Eden Starling after reading a Christmas Carol for the first time:

[bluesilver]

Barbie in a Christmas Carol: Eden Starling —Aesthetic

Eden Starling's Character & Personality

Eden is a young British woman from the Victorian era of London. There, she's a famous opra singer with her cat, Chuzzlewit. At first, Eden is a rude, selfish, bad-tempered, bratty and bossy person who's reluctant to change. However, her attitude is justifiable. As a kid, Eden was a good person and was quite friendly. But because of her strict and egoistic Aunt, who never let her niece be free, she grew up with confidence in her Aunt's words. In the possible future, Eden becomes greatly humbled in a life of hardship and poverty. Thus, being penniless and jobless, she's now timid and modest. After the three spirits visit her, Eden repents her disposition. She then changes into her true self: a kind, lovable and genuine person.

[movie-gifs]

Barbie in A Christmas Carol (2008) dir. William Lau

[queen-erika-the-songful]

A Barbie take I can't stand is the assumption that Eden only changed because she ended up losing her fame and comfy life. Like, did you even watch part of the movie?

Now, I do believe it is part of it, but not in the way that people apparently think. She had gotten her "just desserts" for firing everyone, but she ends up losing everything, not just her fame. All she ends up with is her cat and a small apartment that's falling apart. She and Chuzzlewit are completely alone, cast aside after Eden's show flops. Even if it's a "selfish" reason, it's still sad. Plus it shows that her fame was not only a perk, but without it she would struggle to survive in London. And besides that's literally what Scrooge would've done too. His bad future included him ending up alone and then dying without anyone giving a shit. Would you say that's the only reason he changed?

Moving on, the actual reason Eden changes is because of Catherine and the orphans. In the bad future she is shown, Catherine has become a huge star. But Catherine has changed in another way, becoming as cold and selfish as Eden was at the beginning. She even took on Eden's mantra, "In a selfish world, the selfish succeed". In addition, because Eden had fired her, Catherine had to leave town and when she came back, the orphanage was gone, including the sick girl she wanted to adopt, Tammy. Eden is devastated.

That is why she changed. Because of her behavior, Eden was about to ruin the lives of so many children (and the other performers though the movie neglects to mention them). And, the cycle of abuse she perpetuated would finally break her best friend and turn her into another diva that would go on to ruin other people's lives.

I really don't understand how people don't see this.

[wackypalooza]

yes i DO consider barbie in a christmas carol to be one of the best adaptations. MAYBE for nostalgia reasons, but also because it made scrooge a lesbian

[the-most-beautiful-thing]

Barbie in Barbie in A Christmas Carol

Barbie em Barbie em A Canção de Natal

[valley-of-the-lost]

hi its december again and the annual reminder time that eden was emotionally abused by her aunt and acts like a bitch at the beginning of the movie bc emulating her aunt was how she survived the abuse but she acted like that for so long it destroyed her ability to communicate with people normally kthanksbye