Welcome to Historical Friction, Festive Edition! In today's episode, Alice, Helen, and Abigail discuss the 2017 Charles Dickens biopic The Man Who Invented Christmas, directed by Bharat Nalluri, based on a non-fiction book of the same title by Les Standiford. The film follows Charles Dickens during the roughly six weeks in the autumn and winter of 1843 as he composed the now classic novella "A Christmas Carol."

It stars Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens, with Christopher Plummer as the Scrooge in Dickens' mind, Jonathan Pryce as Dickens' father, Morfydd Clark as Catherine Dickens, Simon Callow as the artist John Leech, Miriam Margoyles as Dickens' housekeeper, Anna Murphy as the housemaid Tara, and a whole host of other fun cameos!

But how does this film hold up in terms of Victorian material, visual, and print cultures, and as a depiction of the actual Charles Dickens? And what does it mean to invent Christmas? WHAT ACTUALLY IS CHRISTMAS?

Historical Friction is a podcast about storytelling, pop culture, the past, and why we reenact it.

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