The Amazing History of Gender-Flipped Versions of "A Christmas Carol"

We are all familiar with the classic story, A Christmas Carol, the novel written by Charles Dickens back in 1843. The central character, of course, was Ebenezer Scrooge, the noted miser whose feelings about Christmas could be summed up in two words and ten characters: Bah Humbug! We know how that story goes; his old deceased partner, Jacob Marley, visits him and warns Scrooge that he'll be visited by three spirits, all with the same goal: to teach him the error of his ways. In true cookie cutter fashion, it works, and Scrooge does change for the better.

Ever since TV and films have been around, we have seen so many adaptations of the noted novel. We've seen classic films, and several TV shows homage A Christmas Carol, shows like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and so many others. However, one day, I did have a thought. I have been writing quite a few "Gender-Flipped Villain Pitches" (and I do have some others in mind), and I remembered, there were some homages that actually featured a female version of the Scrooge character. That led me to this piece: a look at the history of gender-flipped versions of A Christmas Carol.

The first instance is where the pic above takes place. It took 152 years, but we finally received a female Scrooge, in the form of the iconic Susan Lucci. On December 4, 1995, Lifetime premiered the film, Ebbie, which starred Lucci as Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge, a hardened businesswoman who is not fond of the Christmas holiday; going as far as to actually expect her employees to actually work on December 25. I've yet to see this film, but I imagine it's a good one; a lot of Susan Lucci projects usually are. The cast also included Wendy Crewson as Roberta Cratchett (a gender-flipped version of Scrooge's main employee, Bob Cratchit), Taran Noah Smith (aka Mark Taylor from Home Improvement) as Tiny Tim, and actually featured Lucci's daughter, Liza Huber (later of Passions fame) in an uncredited role.

Two years later, we were treated to another gender-flipped homage with Ms. Scrooge, which premiered on USA Network (back when they aired original movies at times) on December 10, 1997. The representation was wonderfully increased with the casting of Cicely Tyson as the miserly and irascible Ebenita Scrooge, and she nailed this; I watched this film when USA premiered it. While Marley wasn't gender-flipped in Ebbie, she was in this, as Katherine Helmond taking on the role of the ghostly Maude Marley, who delivered a frighteningly beautiful impression on the titular Ms. Scrooge.

Who here remembers A Diva's Christmas Carol? Hard to believe that VH1 premiered this film 25 years ago on December 13, 2000. In this jazzy, vamped up version, Vanessa L. Williams--pop diva/actress extraordinaire--played Ebony Scrooge, who puts all of the letters in "diva."Arrogant, ruthless, cold-blooded, and those are her good points! I haven't seen this in its entirety, but from I have seen of this film, it has some wild moments. The cast also includes Rozonda Thomas (Chilli from TLC) as Marli Jacob, Ebony's deceased bandmate, and Kathy Griffin appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Just over 22 years later, VH1 gave us A New Diva's Christmas Carol, which is a remake of sorts to the 2000 film. The film starred Ashanti in the Scrooge role as pop diva Aphrodite, and the spirts were played by Vivica A. Fox, Eva Marcille, and Robin Givens, and that casting, alone, was why I tuned in to this film on December 14, 2022.

I remember this one. Another example in this category included A Carol Christmas, the 2003 telefilm that starred Tori Spelling as Carol Cartman, a conceited and ruthless talk show host who mistreats her employees and despises Christmas. I finally saw this recently, and this was a perfect role for Spelling, she tends to play these, well, cold-blooded roles quite a bit--she was basically a villainess in another holiday film, The Mistle-Tones. The cast also included Dinah Manoff ("Aunt Maggie" to us Chucky fans) as Marla Jacob, Carol's aunt who was even more ruthless and immoral than Carol, and basically raised her in her image, though she returned as a restless spirit to warn Carol and advise her to change her ways before it's too late.

A few other examples of gender-flipped Scrooges include the 2012 telefilm, It's Christmas, Carol!, which starred Emmanuelle Vaugier as Carol Huffler, a cold-hearted publishing executive whose sole focus is the almighty dollar. In a twist, the Jacob Marley role represented by Carol's boss, Eve, who is played by the late, great Carrie Fisher, but unlike past incarnations where they were once unscrupulous, Eve is established as being genial in life. Also, Eve pulls multiple duties, as she fills the voids left by the three spirits. A few years back, I saw A Nashville Christmas Carol, which featured Jessy Schram (from Chicago Med) in the Scrooge role, and also featured Wynonna Judd being fabulous in the Marley role, and her character was ruthless in life. Recently, I watched A Christmas Karen, which is a homage that fits today's climate, as the gender-flipped Scrooge is Karen, a bitter, hateful, and yes, bigoted woman who plagues everyone and hates Christmas.

I also remember seeing a gender-flipped homage on the short-lived series, Popular, with Tammy Lynn Michaels' mean girl Nicole Julian taking on the Scrooge role in the Season One episode, "Fall on Your Knees." It was the only episode of the show I watched, mainly because of the homage, and because of the fact that Nicole was so deliciously bitchy.

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It's amazing that the character of Ebenezer Scrooge was first gender-flipped 30 years ago, and I'm elated that we are still seeing that feminine touch when it comes to the Scrooge role, mainly because it's the closest to an actual villainess in holiday films. So many other different actresses could play that exact role in future holiday films. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Roselyn Sanchez, Elizabeth Berkley, Tiffani Thiessen, Mariska Hargitay; you name it! I now want to see a third version of A Diva's Christmas Carol eventually, I think it'll be amazing! I hope that production companies keep up the good work in gender-flipping A Christmas Carol, because from what I've seen over the years, the results have been very spectacular!