Sometime things can remain resonant despite changing mores, even surviving a complete reversal.
One of the most well known stories is "A Christmas Carol", about an old miser who learns the value of generosity and compassion to his fellow man, and to celebrate the holiday season. One would think the moral of the story is downright progressive, and might be considered incendiary to be told around medieval hearths. But it is not completely out of whack with a pre-Industrial value system. One might even interpret a Christmas Carol a romantic rebuke of England's industrialization in the vein of Tolkien. In any case, Ebenezer Scrooge is not exactly a landed gentry to call about, but very clearly a much of the merchant class, a class distrusted by all sides of the social hierarchy until the early modern period. (And in Feudal Japan, considered the lowest of the low) And moreso, Scrooge does not really produce or trade in actual good, but engaged in money-lending, which, under Christian practices, was taboo in the Middle Ages. This is why banking was largely a profession of Jews, and there would unfortunately be a good chance that retellings of a Christmas Carol might have anti-sematic leanings.
There would also be an impetus for aristocratic class, particularly royalty, to encourage stories of festive charity. In the Middle Ages, money was meant to be spent, not hoarded to accumulate more wealth. Displays of conspicuous consumption were meant to project the image that all was well, and . It was also in the interests for feudal lords to make sure their vassals weren't holding on to some secret stash that could make them more autonomous--even a potential threat. Guilting the nobles into holding Christmas parties and feeding the poor accomplishes the dual purposes of draining other warlords and also maybe placating the commoners.
Perhaps the second most well known fantasy Christmas story is It's a Wonderful Life. Some argue the movie has bleaker connotation, but it may be more reassuring in a rougher medieval period. George Bailey is similarly a money lender, and the sentiment that everyone should have their own home is perhaps not the quite the sentiment medieval lords like to push, but the Bedford Falls Savings and Loans was not exactly the for-profit institution that has people quaking in their boots. In fact, the contrast to the more overtly usurious Mr. Potter definitely places George in a purer context. (And there's that old time abelism to boot) The economics of "It's a Wonderful Life" is ultimately aside to a story of self-sacrifice, family, and staying in one's place for the greater good.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Scrooged
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