A Christmas Carol
1843 novella by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. In the process, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as cards and Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the novella, and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London's street children. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story or a Christian allegory.
Published on 19 December, the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been released. Most critics reviewed the novella favourably. The story was illicitly copied in January 1844; Dickens took legal action against the publishers, who went bankrupt, further reducing Dickens's small profits from the publication. He subsequently wrote four other Christmas stories. In 1849 he began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death. "A Christmas Carol" has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages; the story has been adapted many times for film, stage, opera and other media.
"A Christmas Carol" captured the zeitgeist of the early Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. Dickens acknowledged the influence of the modern Western observance of Christmas and later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit.
Plot.
The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled "staves".
Stave one.
"A Christmas Carol" opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men seeking a donation to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.
That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.
Stave two.
The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, the long-dead mother of Fred, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge, upset by hearing a description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost remove him from the house.
Stave three.
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market where people are buying the makings of Christmas dinner and to celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare.
Stave four.
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes involving the death of a disliked man whose funeral is attended by local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided. His charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions to sell to a fence. When he asks the spirit to show a single person who feels emotion over his death, he is only given the pleasure of a poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.
Stave five.
Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation to the charity he rejected the previous day, anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner and spends the afternoon at Fred's Christmas party. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay, and begins to become a father figure to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.
Background.
The writer Charles Dickens was born to a middle-class family which got into financial difficulties as a result of the spendthrift nature of his father John. In 1824 John was committed to the Marshalsea, a debtors' prison in Southwark, London. Dickens, aged 12, was forced to pawn his collection of books, leave school and work at a dirty and rat-infested shoe-blacking factory. The change in circumstances gave him what his biographer, Michael Slater, describes as a "deep personal and social outrage", which heavily influenced his writing and outlook.
By the end of 1842 Dickens was a well-established author with six major works as well as several short stories, novellas and other pieces. On 31 December that year he began publishing his novel "Martin Chuzzlewit" as a monthly serial; it was his favourite work, but sales were disappointing and he faced temporary financial difficulties.
Celebrating the Christmas season had been growing in popularity through the Victorian era. The Christmas tree was introduced in Britain during the 18th century, and its use was popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In the early 19th century there had been a revival of interest in Christmas carols, following a decline in popularity over the previous hundred years. The publication of Davies Gilbert's 1823 work "Some Ancient Christmas Carols, With the Tunes to Which They Were Formerly Sung in the West of England" and William Sandys's 1833 collection "Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern" led to a growth in the form's popularity in Britain.
Dickens had an interest in Christmas, and his first story on the subject was "Christmas Festivities", published in "Bell's Weekly Messenger" in 1835; the story was then published as "A Christmas Dinner" in "Sketches by Boz" (1836). "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton", another Christmas story, appeared in the 1836 novel "The Pickwick Papers". In the episode, a Mr Wardle describes a misanthropic sexton, Gabriel Grub, who undergoes a Christmas conversion after being visited by goblins who show him the past and future. Slater considers that "the main elements of the "Carol" are present in the story", but not yet in a firm form. The story is followed by a passage about Christmas in Dickens's editorial "Master Humphrey's Clock". The professor of English literature Paul Davis writes that although the "Goblins" story appears to be a prototype of "A Christmas Carol", all Dickens's earlier writings about Christmas influenced the story.
Literary influences.
Dickens was not the first author to celebrate the Christmas season in literature. Among earlier authors who influenced Dickens was Washington Irving, whose 1819–20 work "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." included four essays on old English Christmas traditions that he experienced while staying at Aston Hall near Birmingham. The tales and essays attracted Dickens, and the two authors shared the belief that returning to Christmas traditions might promote a type of social connection that they felt had been lost in the modern world.
Several works had an influence on the writing of "A Christmas Carol", including two essays by his friend Douglas Jerrold: one from an 1841 issue of "Punch", "How Mr. Chokepear Keeps a Merry Christmas" and one from 1843, "The Beauties of the Police". More broadly, Dickens was influenced by fairy tales and nursery stories, which he closely associated with Christmas, because he saw them as stories of conversion and transformation.
Social influences.
Dickens was touched by the lot of poor children in the middle decades of the 19th century. In early 1843 he toured the Cornish tin mines, where he was angered by seeing children working in appalling conditions. The suffering he witnessed there was reinforced by a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several London schools set up for the education of the capital's half-starved, illiterate street children.
In February 1843 the "Second Report of the Children's Employment Commission" was published. It was a parliamentary report exposing the effects of the Industrial Revolution upon working class children. Horrified by what he read, Dickens planned to publish an inexpensive political pamphlet tentatively titled, "An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child", but changed his mind, deferring the pamphlet's production until the end of the year. In March he wrote to Dr Southwood Smith, one of the four commissioners responsible for the "Second Report", about his change in plans: "you will certainly feel that a Sledge hammer has come down with twenty times the force—twenty thousand times the force—I could exert by following out my first idea".
In a fundraising speech on 5 October 1843 at the Manchester Athenaeum, Dickens urged workers and employers to join together to combat ignorance with educational reform, and realised in the days following that the most effective way to reach the broadest segment of the population with his social concerns about poverty and injustice was to write a deeply felt Christmas narrative rather than polemical pamphlets and essays.
Writing history.
By mid-1843 Dickens began to suffer from financial problems. Sales of "Martin Chuzzlewit" were falling off, and his wife, Catherine, was pregnant with their fifth child. Matters worsened when Chapman & Hall, his publishers, threatened to reduce his monthly income by £50 if sales dropped further. He began "A Christmas Carol" in October 1843. Michael Slater, Dickens's biographer, describes the book as being "written at white heat"; it was completed in six weeks, the final pages being written in early December. He built much of the work in his head while taking night-time walks of around London. Dickens's sister-in-law wrote how he "wept, and laughed, and wept again, and excited himself in a most extraordinary manner, in composition". Slater says that "A Christmas Carol" was
intended to open its readers' hearts towards those struggling to survive on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and to encourage practical benevolence, but also to warn of the terrible danger to society created by the toleration of widespread ignorance and actual want among the poor.
George Cruikshank, the illustrator who had earlier worked with Dickens on "Sketches by Boz" (1836) and "Oliver Twist" (1838), introduced him to the caricaturist John Leech. By 24 October Dickens invited Leech to work on "A Christmas Carol", and four hand-coloured etchings and four black-and-white wood engravings by the artist accompanied the text. Dickens's hand-written manuscript of the story does not include the sentence in the penultimate paragraph "... and to Tiny Tim, who did "not" die"; this was added later, during the printing process.
Characters.
The central character of "A Christmas Carol" is Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly London-based businessman, described in the story as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens's conflicting feelings for his father, whom he both loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale—one a cold, stingy and greedy semi-recluse, the other a benevolent, sociable man. The professor of English literature Robert Douglas-Fairhurst considers that in the opening part of the book covering young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration for money to avoid poverty "is something of a self-parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself.
Scrooge could also be based on two misers: the eccentric John Elwes, MP, or Jemmy Wood, the owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and also known as "The Gloucester Miser". According to the sociologist Frank W. Elwell, Scrooge's views on the poor are a reflection of those of the demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, while the miser's questions "Are there no prisons? ... And the Union workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?"
There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between the character and the elder Martin Chuzzlewit character, although the miser is "a more fantastic image" than the Chuzzlewit patriarch; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable figure is a parallel to that of the miser. Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from "The Pickwick Papers" was also an influence when creating Scrooge. It is possible that Scrooge's name came from a tombstone Dickens had seen on a visit to Edinburgh. The grave was for Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, whose job was given as a meal man—a corn merchant; Dickens misread the inscription as "mean man". This theory has been described as "a probable Dickens hoax" for which "[n]o one could find any corroborating evidence".
When Dickens was young he lived near a tradesman's premises with the sign "Goodge and Marney", which may have provided the name for Scrooge's former business partner. For the chained Marley, Dickens drew on his memory of a visit to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1842, where he saw—and was affected by seeing—fettered prisoners. For the character Tiny Tim, Dickens used his nephew Henry, a disabled boy who was five at the time "A Christmas Carol" was written. The two figures of Want and Ignorance, sheltering in the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present, were inspired by the children Dickens had seen on his visit to a ragged school in the East End of London.
Themes.
The transformation of Scrooge is central to the story. Davis considers Scrooge to be "a protean figure always in process of reformation"; Kelly writes that the transformation is reflected in the description of Scrooge, who begins as a two-dimensional character, but who then grows into one who "possess[es] an emotional depth [and] a regret for lost opportunities". Some writers, including the Dickens scholar Grace Moore, consider that there is a Christian theme running through "A Christmas Carol", and that the novella should be seen as an allegory of the Christian concept of redemption. Dickens's biographer, Claire Tomalin, sees the conversion of Scrooge as carrying the Christian message that "even the worst of sinners may repent and become a good man". Dickens's attitudes towards organised religion were complex; he based his beliefs and principles on the New Testament. His statement that Marley "had no bowels" is a reference to the "bowels of compassion" mentioned in the First Epistle of John, the reason for his eternal damnation.
Other writers, including Kelly, consider that Dickens put forward a "secular vision of this sacred holiday". The Dickens scholar John O. Jordan argues that "A Christmas Carol" shows what Dickens referred to in a letter to his friend John Forster as his ""Carol" philosophy, cheerful views, sharp anatomisation of humbug, jolly good temper ... and a vein of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming reference in everything to Home and Fireside". From a secular viewpoint, the cultural historian Penne Restad suggests that Scrooge's redemption underscores "the conservative, individualistic and patriarchal aspects" of Dickens's ""Carol" philosophy" of charity and altruism.
Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in response to British social attitudes towards poverty, particularly child poverty, and wished to use the novella as a means to put forward his arguments against it. The story shows Scrooge as a paradigm for self-interest, and the possible repercussions of ignoring the poor, especially children—personified by the allegorical figures of Want and Ignorance. The two figures were created to arouse sympathy with readers—as was Tiny Tim. Douglas-Fairhurst observes that the use of such figures allowed Dickens to present his message of the need for charity without alienating his largely middle-class readership.
Publication.
As the result of the disagreements with Chapman and Hall over the commercial failures of "Martin Chuzzlewit", Dickens arranged to pay for the publishing himself, in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Production of "A Christmas Carol" was not without problems. The first printing was meant to have festive green endpapers, but they came out a dull olive colour. Dickens's publisher Chapman and Hall replaced these with yellow endpapers and reworked the title page in harmonising red and blue shades. The final product was bound in red cloth with gilt-edged pages, completed only two days before the publication date of 19 December 1843. Following publication, Dickens arranged for the manuscript to be bound in red Morocco leather and presented as a gift to his solicitor, Thomas Mitton.
Priced at five shillings (equal to £ in 2025 pounds), the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve. Chapman and Hall issued second and third editions before the new year, and the book continued to sell well into 1844. By the end of 1844 eleven more editions had been released. Since its initial publication the book has been issued in numerous hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and has never been out of print. It was Dickens's most popular book in the United States, and sold over two million copies in the hundred years following its first publication there.
The high production costs upon which Dickens insisted led to reduced profits, and the first edition brought him only £230 (equal to £ in 2025 pounds) rather than the £1,000 (equal to £ in 2025 pounds) he expected. A year later, the profits were only £744, and Dickens was deeply disappointed.
Reception.
According to Douglas-Fairhurst, contemporary reviews of "A Christmas Carol" "were almost uniformly kind". "The Illustrated London News" described how the story's "impressive eloquence ... its unfeigned lightness of heart—its playful and sparkling humour ... its gentle spirit of humanity" all put the reader "in good humour with ourselves, with each other, with the season and with the author". The critic from "The Athenaeum", the literary magazine, considered it a "tale to make the reader laugh and cry – to open his hands, and open his heart to charity even toward the uncharitable ... a dainty dish to set before a King." William Makepeace Thackeray, writing in "Fraser's Magazine", described the book as "a national benefit and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, 'God bless him!'"
The poet Thomas Hood, in his own journal, wrote that "If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were ever in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease." The reviewer for "Tait's Edinburgh Magazine"—Theodore Martin, who was usually critical of Dickens's work—spoke well of "A Christmas Carol", noting it was "a noble book, finely felt and calculated to work much social good". After Dickens's death, Margaret Oliphant deplored the turkey and plum pudding aspects of the book but admitted that in the days of its first publication it was regarded as "a new gospel", and noted that the book was unique in that it made people behave better. The religious press generally ignored the tale but, in January 1844, "Christian Remembrancer" thought the tale's old and hackneyed subject was treated in an original way and praised the author's sense of humour and pathos. The writer and social thinker John Ruskin told a friend that he thought Dickens had taken the religion from Christmas, and had imagined it as "mistletoe and pudding—neither resurrection from the dead, nor rising of new stars, nor teaching of wise men, nor shepherds".
There were critics of the book. "The New Monthly Magazine" praised the story, but thought the book's physical excesses—the gilt edges and expensive binding—kept the price high, making it unavailable to the poor. The review recommended that the tale should be printed on cheap paper and priced accordingly. An unnamed writer for "The Westminster Review" mocked Dickens's grasp of economics, asking "Who went without turkey and punch in order that Bob Cratchit might get them—for, unless there were turkeys and punch in surplus, someone must go without".
Dickens had criticised the US in "American Notes" and "Martin Chuzzlewit", making American readers reluctant to embrace his work, but by the end of the American Civil War, the book had gained wide recognition in American households. In 1863 "The New York Times" published an enthusiastic review, noting that the author brought the "old Christmas ... of bygone centuries and remote manor houses, into the living rooms of the poor of today".
Aftermath.
In January 1844 Parley's Illuminated Library published an unauthorised version of the story in a condensed form which they sold for twopence. Dickens wrote to his solicitor
I have not the least doubt that if these Vagabonds can be stopped they must. ... Let us be the "sledge-hammer" in this, or I shall be beset by hundreds of the same crew when I come out with a long story.
Two days after the release of the Parley version, Dickens sued on the basis of copyright infringement and won. The publishers declared themselves bankrupt and Dickens was left to pay £700 in costs. The small profits Dickens earned from "A Christmas Carol" further strained his relationship with his publishers, and he broke with them in favour of Bradbury and Evans, who had been printing his works to that point.
Dickens returned to the tale several times during his life to amend the phrasing and punctuation. He capitalised on the success of the book by publishing other Christmas stories: "The Chimes" (1844), "The Cricket on the Hearth" (1845), "The Battle of Life" (1846) and "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" (1848); these were secular conversion tales which acknowledged the progressive societal changes of the previous year, and highlighted those social problems which still needed to be addressed. While the public eagerly bought the later books, the reviewers were highly critical of the stories.
Performances and adaptations.
By 1849 Dickens was engaged with "David Copperfield" and had neither the time nor the inclination to produce another Christmas book. He decided the best way to reach his audience with his "Carol philosophy" was by public readings. During Christmas 1853 he gave a reading in Birmingham Town Hall to the Industrial and Literary Institute. He insisted that tickets be reserved for working-class attendees at quarter-price and the performance was a great success. Thereafter, he read the tale in an abbreviated version 127 times, until 1870 (the year of his death), including at his farewell performance.
In the years following the book's publication, responses to the tale were published by W. M. Swepstone ("Christmas Shadows", 1850), Horatio Alger ("Job Warner's Christmas", 1863), Louisa May Alcott ("A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True", 1882), and others who followed Scrooge's life as a reformed man – or some who thought Dickens had got it wrong and needed to be corrected.
The novella was adapted for the stage almost immediately. Three productions opened on 5 February 1844, one by Edward Stirling, "A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future", being sanctioned by Dickens and running for more than 40 nights. By the close of February 1844 eight rival "A Christmas Carol" theatrical productions were playing in London. The story has been adapted for film and television more than any of Dickens's other works. In 1901 it was produced as "Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost", a silent black-and-white British film; it was one of the first known adaptations of a Dickens work on film, but it is now largely lost. The story was adapted in 1923 for BBC radio. It has been adapted to other media, including opera, ballet, animation, stage musicals and a BBC mime production starring Marcel Marceau.
Davis considers the adaptations have become better remembered than the original. Some of Dickens's scenes—such as visiting the miners and lighthouse keepers—have been forgotten by many, while other events often added—such as Scrooge visiting the Cratchits on Christmas Day—are now thought by many to be part of the original story. Accordingly, Davis distinguishes between the original text and the "remembered version".
Legacy.
The phrase "Merry Christmas" had been around for many years—the earliest known written use was in a letter in 1534—but Dickens's use of the phrase in "A Christmas Carol" popularised it among the Victorian public. The exclamation "Bah! Humbug!" entered popular use in the English language as a retort to anything sentimental or overly festive; the name "Scrooge" became used as a designation for a miser and was added to the "Oxford English Dictionary" as such in 1982.
In the early 19th century the celebration of Christmas was associated in Britain with the countryside and peasant revels, disconnected to the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation taking place. Davis considers that in "A Christmas Carol", Dickens showed that Christmas could be celebrated in towns and cities, despite increasing modernisation. The modern observance of Christmas in English-speaking countries is largely the result of a Victorian-era revival of the holiday. The Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 1840s had produced a resurgence of the traditional rituals and religious observances associated with Christmastide and, with "A Christmas Carol", Dickens captured the zeitgeist while he reflected and reinforced his vision of Christmas.
Dickens advocated a humanitarian focus of the holiday, which influenced several aspects of Christmas that are still celebrated in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit. The historian Ronald Hutton writes that Dickens "linked worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation".
The novelist William Dean Howells, analysing several of Dickens's Christmas stories, including "A Christmas Carol", considered that by 1891 the "pathos appears false and strained; the humor largely horseplay; the characters theatrical; the joviality pumped; the psychology commonplace; the sociology alone funny". The writer James Joyce considered that Dickens took a childish approach with "A Christmas Carol", producing a gap between the naïve optimism of the story and the realities of life at the time.
Ruth Glancy, the professor of English literature, states that the largest impact of "A Christmas Carol" was the influence felt by individual readers. In early 1844 "The Gentleman's Magazine" attributed a rise of charitable giving in Britain to Dickens's novella; in 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson, after reading Dickens's Christmas books, vowed to give generously to those in need, and Thomas Carlyle expressed a generous hospitality by hosting two Christmas dinners after reading the book. In 1867 one American businessman was so moved by attending a reading that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey, while in the early years of the 20th century Maud of Wales—the Queen of Norway—sent gifts to London's crippled children signed "With Tiny Tim's Love". On the novella, the author G. K. Chesterton wrote "The beauty and blessing of the story ... lie in the great furnace of real happiness that glows through Scrooge and everything around him. ... Whether the Christmas visions would or would not convert Scrooge, they convert us."
Analysing the changes made to adaptations over time, Davis sees changes to the focus of the story and its characters to reflect mainstream thinking of the period. While Dickens's Victorian audiences would have viewed the tale as a spiritual but secular parable, in the early 20th century it became a children's story, read by parents who remembered their parents reading it when they were younger. In the lead-up to and during the Great Depression, Davis suggests that while some saw the story as a "denunciation of capitalism, ...most read it as a way to escape oppressive economic realities". The film versions of the 1930s were different in the UK and US. British-made films showed a traditional telling of the story, while US-made works showed Cratchit in a more central role, escaping the depression caused by European bankers and celebrating what Davis calls "the Christmas of the common man". In the 1960s, Scrooge was sometimes portrayed as a Freudian figure wrestling with his past. By the 1980s he was again set in a world of depression and economic uncertainty.
Notes.
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References.
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Sources.
Books.
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Online resources.
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Newspapers, journals and magazines.
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The Man Who Invented Christmas (film)
2017 film directed by Bharat Nalluri
The Man Who Invented Christmas is a 2017 Christmas biographical comedy-drama film about Charles Dickens directed by Bharat Nalluri and written by Susan Coyne. Based on Les Standiford's 2008 non-fiction book of the same name, the joint Canadian and Irish production stars Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, and Jonathan Pryce, and follows Dickens (Stevens) as he conceives and writes his 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol".
The film was produced by Parallel Film and Rhombus Media. It was released by Bleecker Street in the United States on 22 November 2017, and by Thunderbird Releasing in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2017. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot.
In 1843, four years after the success of "Oliver Twist", Charles Dickens is suffering financial hardship after the failures of his last three books. Rejected by his publishers, he sets out to write a new one and publish it himself, to restore his finances.
Seeing inspiration around London, most notably a rich man's funeral that is largely unattended and a mean-spirited old man who gives him the catchphrase "Humbug" and inspiration of a new character, Charles begins writing "A Christmas Carol". It's due in six weeks in order to be published by Christmas, despite his friends and publishers telling him that the book will also be a failure, as Christmas (at the time) was considered irrelevant and few people celebrated it.
As Charles develops the story, he interacts with the characters that manifest in front of him, most notably Ebenezer Scrooge. He is helped by one of his servants, Tara, a literate Irish nursemaid to his children, with whom he discusses story elements.
While writing his book, Charles is greeted by the unannounced arrival of his eccentric father John Dickens, whom Charles views as immature and fiscally irresponsible. When Charles shows Tara the next draft, she is distraught that Scrooge would not save Tiny Tim. She believes that people can change and suggests instead that Scrooge saves Tiny Tim.
However, Charles is unable to believe that a man as cruel and cold as Scrooge could change. He rejects the notion but it continues to haunt him in the form of writer's block. Charles' relationship with his family and friends is increasingly strained as he struggles with Scrooge's ending, and his debts mount.
Finally Charles sends both his parents and Tara out of the house in a fit of rage. The next morning, he regrets dismissing her, but is unable to find and rehire her. His wife, Catherine Dickens, tearfully confronts Charles over his recklessness and instability, and admits that she believes that he puts his work before his own family.
It is revealed that much of Charles' animosity toward his father stems from his childhood trauma of laboring in a blacking factory after his family was taken to debtors' prison, all due to John Dickens' failure to pay his debts.
Returning to the long-abandoned factory, Charles is forced to confront his own insecurities through Scrooge. He realizes that his story should be one of redemption and races home to finish his manuscript. As Charles is about to leave his home to submit it to his printer, he finds that Tara has come to return a book that he had lent her, and he apologizes for his angry outburst and invites her back to the household.
His wife suggests that Charles do the same with his father, who is about to board a train to leave London. He does so and, after reconnecting with his family, submits the manuscript in time for publishing before Christmas.
The Dickens family celebrates the holiday, while a text epilogue explains the overnight success of "A Christmas Carol" and its lasting impact on the Christmas holiday.
Cast.
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>* Dan Stevens – Charles Dickens
Production.
In addition to filming at Ardmore studios in Wicklow in Ireland, location filming was completed in and around Dublin (including Henrietta Street and North Great Georges Street) as well as in Wicklow; the latter was "transformed into 1840’s Victorian England" according to one source. Principal photography was completed on 21 January 2017.
Historical accuracy.
In an interview, Stevens said of the film's historical accuracy: "Frankly, whether it's historically accurate, I'm not that concerned about. I was interested in that moment of the creative process, watching a great man struggle – to me, that's dramatically and comedically interesting. Certainly, I was keen not to play Dickens as a bearded old sage." He also expressed an interest in Miriam Margolyes' theory that Dickens was bipolar, saying: "There were moments when he was bleak and depressive. But I think there were moments when he was great fun to be around, very silly and playful."
A "Time" magazine review mentions that "some major plot points are the product of dramatic license" but concludes that the film "does provide viewers with a fairly accurate sense of how Dickens successfully changed the way Christmas is celebrated".
Dickens is shown visiting Warren's Blacking Factory as an adult, but this building was demolished in the early 1830s.
Release and reception.
The film was released in the United States in 500 theaters on 22 November 2017.
Critical response.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of


Ariel Winter
American actress (born 1998)
Ariel Winter Workman (born January 28, 1998) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Alex Dunphy in the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" (2009–2020), for which she and her several costars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series four consecutive times from 2010 to 2013.
Early life.
Ariel Winter Workman was born on January 28, 1998, in Fairfax, Virginia. She is the daughter of Chrisoula ("née" Batistas) and Glenn Workman. Through her mother, she is of Greek descent, and through her father, of German descent. She is the younger sister of actors Shanelle Workman and Jimmy Workman.
Career.
Winter obtained her first entertainment industry job in a Cool Whip commercial advertisement in 2002 when she was four years old. She had her first television role in an episode of "Listen Up", and followed it with appearances in a variety of television shows such as "Freddie", "Monk", "Bones", and "ER".
She voiced the character of Gretchen in the animated Disney Channel series "Phineas and Ferb" before winning the regular role of Alex Dunphy in the ABC series "Modern Family", which premiered in 2009 and ended in 2020. She has continued to work in TV animation, including providing the voice of Marina on Disney Junior's "Jake and the Never Land Pirates". In 2012, Winter was cast as the voice of Sofia, the lead character in a then-new Disney animated franchise "Sofia the First". The series premiered in January 2013 on Disney Junior.
In 2014, she voiced Penny Peterson, Sherman's adversary-turned-friend in the DreamWorks Animation film "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". She also lent her voice to characters in two animated films - Disney's "Bambi II" and Blue Sky's "".
Winter has appeared in feature films, most notably in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "Speed Racer", "Duress", and "Opposite Day". She also appeared on the Halloween-themed TV film "". For her leading role in the film "The Chaperone", she was nominated at the Young Artist Awards 2012 as "Best Actress in a Motion Picture".
Personal life.
In 2012, Winter's sister Shanelle Workman filed to become her guardian, alleging that their mother had been physically and emotionally abusive. In 2014, the court awarded guardianship to Shanelle Workman and permanently removed Winter from her mother's guardianship. Their mother later released a statement saying that "the family has moved beyond the conflict". In 2015, when she was 17 years old, Winter declared on Twitter that she was officially emancipated.
She is a purple belt in taekwondo.
In 2015, Winter underwent breast reduction surgery. In a 2016 interview with "ABC News Nightline", Winter explained the awkwardness of developing at 12 years old in the public eye, combined with the back pain that rendered her unable to stand up straight at times, was "really ostracizing and excruciatingly painful." Describing the improvement that the surgery had on her both physically and psychologically, she told "Glamour" magazine that it was "amazing to finally feel right. This is how I was supposed to be." At the 2016 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Winter gained media attention for wearing a Romona Kaveza gown that revealed her surgical scars. She was shocked after walking down the red carpet to see the photos the next day and "every headline be about my cleavage and -- not about my talent." Winter later tweeted: "Guys there is a reason I didn't make an effort to cover up my scars! They are part of me and I'm not ashamed of them at all."
Winter attended Campbell Hall School in Los Angeles, graduating in June 2016. She was accepted to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and scheduled to begin there in the fall quarter of 2016. However, she later confirmed that she planned to attend UCLA in fall 2017. On her decision to attend college, she explained, "You gotta have something else you can do. I've always been interested in law, so I think it'll definitely be something that I'll love to do and also go to school for." In 2018, Winter took an indefinite hiatus from UCLA to focus on her work.
Winter is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
She dated Canadian actor Levi Meaden for three years; they split in 2019. The couple lived together in Winter’s 3,200-square-foot home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Since 2020, she has been in a relationship with actor Luke Benward. In 2022, Winter moved from Southern California to Nashville, Tennessee.
References.
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Ferb Fletcher
Fictional character from Phineas and Ferb
Ferbs "Ferb" Fletcher is one of the two main protagonists in the animated television series "Phineas and Ferb". Voiced by British actor Thomas Sangster on "Phineas and Ferb"'s original run and American actor David Errigo Jr. since 2018, with a singing voice by series composer Danny Jacob, he was created by "Phineas and Ferb" co-founders Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. He first appeared in the show's pilot episode, "Rollercoaster". Ferb was born on February 29.
Ferb and his step-brother Phineas Flynn spend their days during summer vacation from school striving to have fun. They are featured in the majority of episodes as the A-Plot constructing large scale inventions or taking part in other outlandish activities. Ferb, an engineering genius, allows Phineas to do most of the talking for the pair and is "more of a man of action." When Ferb does speak, it is almost always a single sentence. In a conversation in the future time of "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo", it is revealed that he was at Camp David.
Ferb was named after a set-builder named Frank Leasure, a construction foreman on several "Star Trek" properties and a friend of Povenmire and Marsh. His wife Melinda, an artist on "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" nicknamed him "Ferb". In "Vanessassary Roughness" Ferb explains that his name is short for something, but he didn't get a chance to say it. On Twitter, Povenmire announced that Ferb was actually short for "Ferbs". He cares for Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (daughter of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz) and saves her in the same episode when she gets tangled up and a lawn mower almost gets her, but he is able to save her with a giant tool which appears to be an exaggerated version of a Swiss Army Knife. In "Summer Belongs To You" Vanessa asks Candace what Ferb is short for; Candace realizes she doesn't know herself what it is short for. In the fourth season episode "Act Your Age", he as a teenager appears to be in a relationship with Vanessa. Ferb's design is based on a rectangle and also shaped like an "F" and is inspired by the style of late animator Tex Avery. As a character, Ferb has been critically well-received and appears in several pieces of "Phineas and Ferb" merchandise, including toys, T-shirts, and video games.
Role in "Phineas and Ferb".
Ferb comes from a blended family, a premise the creators considered underused in children's programming and which reflected Marsh's own upbringing. Ferb's birth mother is never revealed, but the series shows that both Ferb and his father Lawrence hail from England. Lawrence married Ferb's step-mother Linda after meeting her at a 1990s concert by the fictional band Love Händel. Marsh considers explaining the family background "not important to the kids' lives. They are a great blended family and that's all we need to know." Ferb and his family live in the fictional town of Danville, in a large, suburban neighborhood. Throughout their summer vacation, Ferb and Phineas conceive outrageous schemes to defeat boredom while sitting lazily beneath a tree in their backyard. Phineas mainly conceives each project while Ferb spearheads its construction. Their activities are almost always beyond the capability of a typical child and have included toy design (in "Toy to the World"); treasure-hunting (in "The Ballad of Badbeard"); engineering (in "It's About Time!"); and restaurant management (in "Chez Platypus"). Ferb's step-sister, Candace, is always trying to get the two in trouble with their mother for their schemes, but is never able to. Ferb talks very rarely, usually having only one line per episode. He speaks with a British accent. There are a total of 11 episodes in which he had no lines and the longest he ever spoke was in "The Lizard Whisperer" when he gave a speech which totalled 129 words.
Character.
Creation and conception.
Ferb was created by "Phineas and Ferb" co-creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, who originally met as layout artists on the Fox Network animated series "The Simpsons." "Phineas and Ferb" was inspired by their boyhood memories of summer vacation; Povenmire and Marsh both felt the theme of school in television had fallen to redundancy and wanted to create a series that took place solely in the summertime.
Ferb's name was derived from that of a mutual friend of Povenmire and Marsh named Frank, who "owns more tools than anyone [they] know." Frank was a set-builder who had worked building and designing sets for shows such as "." Frank's wife disliked Frank's name and gave him the unusual nickname "Ferb".
Design and voice.
Ferb was given a simplistic structure so that young audiences would be able to draw him easily. As with the other characters of "Phineas and Ferb," Ferb's design is constructed of geometric shapes in homage to animator Tex Avery. Ferb's head is based on a rectangle with a wider top than bottom. A square is used for his nose, and an egg-shaped oval is used for his eyes. The eye furthest from the screen is always drawn larger than the other. Povenmire uses a nine-step process to draw Ferb, starting with his head and ending with touch ups.
Ferb was originally going to be voiced by actor Mitchel Musso. However, when "Phineas and Ferb" was picked up as a full series, Povenmire and Marsh chose to make Ferb British and cast Thomas Sangster as his voice. However, they enjoyed Musso to a level that they recast him as the voice of the character Jeremy Johnson; although Musso no longer voiced a title character, his new role allowed him more lines. Sangster himself is a British actor and was among several cast members hired that hailed from England. Marsh himself had lived in the country for seven years and developed a fondness for the culture and people.
Personality.
Ferb was devised as a character devoid of ill will. Marsh explained, "It was important to us that [Phineas and Ferb] never did anything with any animosity. They never tried to get their sister in trouble or outsmart their mother and get away with it." Instead, he and his brother create things for the sheer enjoyment of it or to help out others ("and for the ladies"); for example, Ferb and Phineas carve Candace's face into Mount Rushmore for her birthday, set up a roller derby for a rematch race with his Grandmother Betty Jo's old rival, create a haunted house for their friend Isabella to cure her hiccups and make a super-computer to find out what to do for their mom after being so kind to them.
Povenmire and Marsh intended for Ferb's creative drive to stem primarily from a desire to have fun, and in one episode, "Thaddeus and Thor", Phineas openly confirms this as his and his brother's only goal in their daily schemes – though Ferb adds that they also do it "for the ladies."
In the original pitch to overseas The Walt Disney Company executives, Povenmire and Marsh constructed storyboards and recorded them with dialogue and sound effects. As a prototype, Ferb did not speak at all. However, after considering comedy's "big duos" including Wallace and Gromit and Jay and Silent Bob, the creators chose to have Ferb speak at least once in most episodes (but in "Summer Belongs To You" he spoke nine times and in "The Lizard Whisperer" gives an entire short speech that lasts about 45 seconds), but to have him remain silent and allow Phineas to speak for him the majority of the time. Although Ferb's taciturnity is generally not commented on in the series, Phineas mentions it while he and his brother were in England on the episode "A Hard Day's Knight": "I'll be the top half since I tend to do more of the talking and you will be on the bottom part because of your long spindely legs". Despite being quiet, Ferb is a polyglot, being able to speak in human, animal, and alien tongues.
Ferb also seems to possess good insight, which is probably the main character trait, other than his silence, distinguishing his character from Phineas. Jean Yoo, an official press member for Disney Channel, notes that when Ferb does speak, "it always shows a greater understanding of the situation than his countenance would indicate." He usually says one or two sentences per episode, such as "They [platypuses] are the only mammals to lay eggs," "Sharks have to keep moving forward, or they'll drown," and shortly after, "Well, he [Buford] was all up in my face," or "Candace, we [Phineas and Ferb] are just kids." He also has a crush on Vanessa Doofenshmirtz.
Reception.
Critical reception for the character has been generally positive. Emily Ashby of "Common Sense Media" describes him as a "go-to engineering guru" and considers him and Phineas to be "partner[s] in crime." Susan Stewart, reviewing the show in "The New York Times", notes that Phineas and Ferb "work on a heroic scale and are apparently not limited by the laws of nature." Josh Jackson, editor of "Paste" magazine, listed Ferb's "dry wit" as the third of five reasons as to why the series is the "Best Kids Show on TV," writing that "Ferb gets about one line per episode, but it's always a doozy."
Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes, author's the book "Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them," wrote that Ferb and Phineas, along with the cast of "High School Musical," are examples of creating a "whole new culture" in households. Stetzer, Stanley, and Hayes continued to write that "[O]ur culture has connected with media that shows not only the Cinderella and Prince Charming life we all wish for, but also the life in which we all live with real trials, real joys, and real fears."
"Backyard Beach," a song Danny Jacob performs as Ferb in the episode "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror," became very popular among viewers and was voted as the second best song in the series by viewers in the special 2009 event, "Phineas and Ferb's Musical Cliptastic Countdown". The best, according to viewers, was "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" from "Flop Starz," which Jacob performs in as Ferb. Ferb is also credited as the singer in the music video version of "My Ride from Outer Space" from the episode "The Chronicles of Meap" (actually performed again by Danny Jacob).
In other media.
Besides the series "Phineas and Ferb," Ferb has been featured in several other pieces of merchandise from the series. To date, he has appeared in all "Phineas and Ferb" novelizations, published by Disney Press. Ferb appears in the Nintendo DS video game based on the series, simply titled "Phineas and Ferb." Dan Povenmire has said that he saw nothing of the game until its release date, on which he was given a copy for free. Phineas and Ferb made a cameo in the "MAD" sketch "The Straight A-Team" where they decided to beat the Straight A-Team. They appear again in the sketch "DolPhineas and Ferb Tale" where they are spoofed alongside the film "Dolphin Tale". Their design in "MAD" was unrealistic to their regular design.
Plush toys of the character, along with toys representing Phineas and Perry, have been manufactured. Ferb also appears on most of the "Phineas and Ferb" T-shirts. Ferb is set to appear in the forthcoming comic book series based on the series, though details are unconfirmed. Costumed versions of Ferb and Phineas have appeared in Disneyland, for the pre-taping of the annual Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.
References.
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Phineas and Ferb season 5
The fifth season revival of "Phineas and Ferb" is set to air on Disney Channel on June 5, 2025, with the Disney+ premiere being on June 6, 2025. Created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, the series stars Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher (Vincent Martella and David Errigo Jr.), two step-brothers on another summer vacation, while their older sister Candace (Ashley Tisdale) continues her attempts to bust them as the boys' pet Perry the Platypus (Dee Bradley Baker)—who lives a double life as a secret agent—thwarts the evil scientist Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Povenmire). Confirmed returning supporting cast includes Caroline Rhea as Linda Flynn-Fletcher, Alyson Stoner as Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, and Marsh as Major Monogram.
Premise.
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />"The new season of "Phineas and Ferb" will follow the inventive stepbrothers as they tackle another 104 days of summer. Candace is more determined than ever to finally bust her little brothers while their pet platypus, Perry, continues to lead a double life as the suave Agent P, whose sole mission is to thwart Dr. Doofenshmirtz from taking over the Tri-State area."
Background.
"Phineas and Ferb" was renewed for a fourth season in August 2011. The-then series finale was announced in May 2015; the hour-long episode, "Last Day of Summer", aired on June 12, 2015. Povenmire and Marsh remained with the network and together created the series "Milo Murphy's Law" (2016–2019).
Production.
Writing.
Development on the fifth season of "Phineas and Ferb" began in May 2023, at which point Povenmire confirmed the then-ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. Povenmire and Marsh admitted their concerns that they would have trouble coming up with new ideas for the revival, but explained those concerns were alleviated due to their confidence in the writers' room, which contained both returning and new writers. They cited seven episodes in particular as standouts which they felt would appeal most to the returning audience.
Voice recording.
Voice recording began by September 2023, and was not affected by the then-ongoing 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Candace Flynn actress Ashley Tisdale was concurrently pregnant during voice recording and refused to record new screams, feeling it would "scare the baby"; she suggested the producers use any of her "17 years" worth of archive audio instead.
David Errigo Jr. voices Ferb Fletcher full-time from this season onward, replacing original actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and reprising his role from the "Milo Murphy's Law" episode "The Phineas and Ferb Effect", and the 2020 Disney+ film "".
Announcement and promotion.
On January 13, 2023, during the winter press tour for the Television Critics Association, Disney Branded Television announced that 40 new episodes of "Phineas and Ferb" were ordered, to be split across two seasons, with Povenmire returning as executive producer. The deal also included a second-season renewal for Povenmire's series "Hamster & Gretel". In March 2023, it was revealed that Marsh would also return as executive producer and voice director for the revival. In April 2023, a press release commemorating the 40th anniversary of Disney Channel confirmed that the revival will air on the network. The revival was originally scheduled to be released in 2024.
At Disney Television Animation's presentation during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024, Povenmire and Marsh made an appearance to promote the series and give details on the production. They specified the revival was being treated as ""Phineas and Ferb" season 5", and that it would take place in the following year after the events of the first four seasons during a new summer vacation. The duo also previewed a musical animatic which introduces the first episode.
Premiere.
The fifth season of "Phineas and Ferb" has been given a premiere window on Disney Channel and Disney+ during summer 2025.
References.
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Phineas Flynn
Fictional character from Phineas and Ferb
Phineas Flynn is a fictional character and one of the two title characters from the animated television series "Phineas and Ferb". He is voiced by Vincent Martella. Phineas, along with his quiet but intelligent stepbrother Ferb Fletcher, stars in the A-Plot of most episodes.
The series concerns Phineas and Ferb's attempts to avoid boredom by finding something new to do for each day of their summer vacation, often with many other neighborhood children. The activities they devise usually involve outlandish contraptions, including roller coasters, haunted houses, roller rinks, and a backyard beach etc. which Phineas and Ferb design and build cooperatively. Phineas's sister is Candace Flynn, who tries to reveal their outrageous creations to their mother, but to no avail.
Phineas comes from a blended family. The creators chose this arrangement because they considered it underused in children's programming as well as from creator Jeff "Swampy" Marsh's past experiences in one. As a character, Phineas has received positive critical response, with one reviewer describing him and his stepbrother as a "comical pairing." Phineas appears in "Phineas and Ferb" merchandise, including plush toys, t-shirts, and a video game.
Role in "Phineas and Ferb".
Phineas comes from a blended family, a decision co-creator Marsh made to reflect his own experiences growing up. Phineas's birth father is never present or discussed in the series, something Marsh and Povenmire have stated that they fully intend to keep that way. It is established that his mother, Linda Flynn-Fletcher married Ferb's father, Lawrence Fletcher, after dating him for a while in the 1990s. They fell in love at a concert of the fictitious band "Love Händel" after they were put on the kiss cam.
Phineas is portrayed as an intelligent, creative, innovative, and good-natured child. As a means to defeat boredom, he and Ferb devise outrageous activities throughout their summer vacation, often participating in activities such as toy design (in "Toy to the World"); piracy (in "The Ballad of Badbeard"); time travel (in "It's About Time!"); restaurant management (in "Chez Platypus"); all usually inaccessible to children. Phineas lives in the fictional town of Danville (part of the Tri-State Area), in a large, suburban neighborhood; he comes up with most of his ideas while sitting with Ferb in their backyard.
Concept and creation.
Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh had conceived the idea of the "Phineas and Ferb" series while working as layout artists on "The Simpsons." After planning the basics of the show, the two began laying out characters. Povenmire, eating dinner with his family at a Wild Thyme restaurant in South Pasadena, California, drew a quick sketch of a "triangle kid." Povenmire named the triangle doodle "Phineas," saying he "look[ed] like [one]", and with reference to the character Phileas Fogg (often misreferenced as "Phineas Fogg") from "Around the World in 80 Days" (1873). Povenmire tore the paper out and called Marsh that night, telling him "Hey, I think we have our show."
After designing the show, the two had significant difficulties getting the series green lit. It was not picked up for fifteen years. In their final pitch to the Walt Disney Company, the creators designed a recorded storyboard, featuring a very rough outline of characters. The prototype Phineas was ruder to others than the version in the eventual show, where the creators decided to make him more good-natured. Citing comedy's "big duos" including Wallace and Gromit and Jay and Silent Bob, the creators chose to give Phineas most of the dialogue while Ferb remains almost silent.
Design.
All characters in "Phineas and Ferb" were drawn in a design borrowed from Tex Avery's style, with geometric shapes being included in their structure; Phineas in particular is that of a triangle. The triangle face has been stated in the series as being just his nose that covers the entire head. The goal while drawing characters was to make them simple enough to be drawn by child viewers and be recognized by silhouette. Phineas's eyes lie on the top of his head and are of oval shape. For his hair, three "tufts" are put in the back and front, while three freckles lie underneath. For the ear, a small 3 is used to represent the ear lobe. Povenmire uses thin, spindly arms for every character as a simple reason to add fun.
Voice.
Young actor Vincent Martella, previously known for The CW series "Everybody Hates Chris", was cast for the role of Phineas. Martella originally auditioned for the role five months before his initial pickup, but was left without feedback for the time. When Dan Povenmire was given a tape of Martella in "Everybody Hates Chris," he called him to do Phineas for the pilot. He designed a different voice than his own which he describes as "wacky [and] crazy." The creators were afraid of him losing it when his voice changed, though he was still able to retain it for the most part even afterward, though the tone is now slightly different from the original sound.
While in recording sessions, Martella has a large amount of enthusiasm and describes it as humorous to watch himself doing a take. In interviews Martella has said that he enjoys working on the series and voicing Phineas, and appreciates the opportunity to work alongside guest stars, especially Malcolm McDowell.
Martella once wrote as an article for "Popstar! Magazine" his thoughts on the role and of the show itself:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />The greatest thing about being on "Phineas" so far is that I can get my parents to laugh! We all sat down to see the beach episode on New Years Eve! Once I saw all the adults laughing along with me and my 10-year-old brother, that was the greatest thing in the world to me!
Hallmarks.
"Phineas and Ferb" makes liberal use of running gags, and Phineas has several recurrent lines that are featured in most episodes. When he comes up with an idea of what adventure he and his brother are going to have that day, he says "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!" During the course of an adventure, Phineas is generally asked by a disbelieving adult "Aren't you a little bit young to be..." doing whatever he's doing in that episode. For example, while constructing a shrine of his sister on the face of Mount Rushmore, a park ranger asks him "Aren't you boys a little young to be restoring a national monument?" Phineas generally answers "Yes, yes we are," though on a few occasions has responded "No" or "Well, I don't think so."
In every episode, Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus, Perry, disappears to carry out his job as a secret agent. The kids almost always notice this, asking "Hey, where's Perry?" Then, when Perry comes home, they say, "Oh, there you are, Perry." Discussing Perry, co-creator Povenmire cited the example of his own pet cat, Sprocket, which he claimed led a "secret life" with his neighbors in order to get extra food.
Characterization.
Personality and traits.
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />His [Phineas'] confidence makes people think, "He must be a prodigy." People rarely ask him if he's too young. He'd never lie to an adult or try to get away with anything. He's just motivated by fun. If he thought mom would actually dislike the things they're doing, he would probably stop, but since he's never gotten in trouble for it, he doesn't think of it as getting into trouble.
Phineas is portrayed as being a highly intelligent, imaginative, optimistic, and adventurous boy. The Disney Channel promos for "Phineas and Ferb" describe him as someone who "thinks big", refusing to let any day be ordinary. Povenmire also characterizes him as assertive, someone so secure in his abilities that others assume he is a prodigy. Povenmire and Marsh wanted the series to reflect their own childhood memories of going out during the summer and have fun, digging trenches and building tunnels, forts, and tree houses.
The creators wanted Phineas, like Ferb, to be a character who would never "[do] anything with any animosity," or to agitate his sister or outsmart his mother purposely. Instead, the character was supposed to be motivated only by enjoyment and free from mean spiritedness. He is very friendly, caring, well-mannered, and several of his plots involve helping someone out. He tries to please his sister Candace, carving her face into Mount Rushmore for her birthday in one episode and helping her retrieve a tape detailing his summer adventures even though she intended on using the footage as evidence to "bust" him and Ferb. Another episode has him throwing an extravaganza for his mother's birthday, and yet another has him (along with Ferb and Candace) recreating their parents' most romantic moment for their wedding anniversary. He has also been shown helping his grandparents, reenacting his step-grandfather Reginald's daredevil stunt from his youth and setting up a roller derby for a rematch race with his grandmother Betty Jo's old rival. In the episodes "One Good Scare Ought to Do It!" and "Hail Doofania!", Phineas goes to great lengths to help his friend Isabella. Other episodes, like "Unfair Science Fair," "Oil on Candace," "The Bully Code," and "Voyage To The Bottom of Buford," further explore Phineas's generosity toward all of his friends. He even has plans at the beginning of "The Bully Code" for a jellybean currency system for emerging nations.
Occasionally, Phineas's ideas, plots, and schemes have upset others, intentionally or otherwise. Most notably Candace is constantly frustrated in her efforts to "bust" her brothers throughout the series, and in rare cases, Phineas has unwittingly caused misfortune to others. For example, in the episode "Get That Bigfoot Outta My Face," Phineas gives all the kids at camp a fright when he tricks them into thinking Bigfoot is attacking, though this is mostly getting into the spirit of spooky story telling.
Nonetheless, Povenmire and Marsh intended for Phineas and Ferb to be motivated only by fun. In one episode, "Thaddeus and Thor", Phineas says that fun is his only goal in his daily schemes – though Ferb adds that they also do it "for the ladies." Phineas also says that he wants his adventures to give him something interesting to say when he gets back to school, a setting the creators have confirmed they will never put him in.
Phineas is also very modest. He tends to put Ferb's name on inventions. However, he never seems angry or resentful of giving his stepbrother the credit.
Phineas appears to be addicted to inventing. In "Bully Bromance Break Up" he goes into withdrawal when the other kids insist on climbing a mountain without using any crazy gadgets.
In a few episodes, Phineas shows an angrier side of himself, first seen in the ' film, where Phineas gets angry at Perry after finding out his secret identity because Perry "never trusted him" by telling him the truth, but later realizes that Perry kept his identity hidden because if Phineas and his family found out, Perry would be forced to relocate to another family. Another episode, ', again demonstrates Phineas' angry side, when he got angry at Candace when she accidentally caused Baljeet to turn into a Hulk-type version of himself, but they later made amends at the end of the episode. Later, on "Phineas and Ferb Save Summer", when Candace tries to power-up the machine, Phineas starts raising his voice at her in order for her to stop, to which Buford breaks the fourth wall by saying: "Must be a special episode, he's yelling at his sister again!".
Reception.
Phineas has received mostly positive reviews. Emily Ashby of "Common Sense Media" describes Phineas as "boisterous," and he and Ferb as "partner[s] in crime." Susan Stewart, reviewing the show in "The New York Times", notes that Phineas and Ferb "work on a heroic scale and are apparently not limited by the laws of nature." Jean Yoo, an official press member for Disney Channel, describes him as "a precocious bundle of energy whose tolerance for sitting still is just a little thinner than his patience for the social echelon in which he finds himself." She as well notes that he is "endearing and smart."
"Variety" calls Phineas's adventures "spectacular." "Animation Insider" reporter Aaron Bynum described him as a "wiz kid idea machine." "The Seattle Times" wrote that both Phineas and Ferb were "young heroes." The song "Ain't Got Rhythm," which Vincent Martella performed in the voice of Phineas alongside Steve Zahn and Thomas Sangster in the episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together," was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008 for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics."
Legacy.
Besides the series "Phineas and Ferb," Phineas has been featured in several other pieces of merchandise from the series. To date, he has appeared in all "Phineas and Ferb" novelizations, published by Disney Press. Phineas appears in the Nintendo DS video game based on the series, simply titled "Phineas and Ferb." Dan Povenmire has said that he saw nothing of the game until its release, on which he was given a copy for free. "Paste" claimed that Phineas, alongside Ferb are 33rd best cartoon characters of all time.
Plush toys of the character, along with toys representing Ferb and Perry, have been manufactured. Phineas also appears on most of the "Phineas and Ferb" t-shirts. Phineas is set to appear in the forthcoming comic book series based on the series, though details are unconfirmed. Phineas and his brother Ferb have as well both been referenced in the book "Lost and Found: How Churches Are Connecting to Young Adults" as examples of how media and television characters can be influential in people's lives.
References.
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List of Phineas and Ferb characters
The following is a character list of main and secondary characters on the Disney Channel series "Ph