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Christmas classics still relevant today

Western Morning News

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December 23, 2025

THE avarice!

Christmas classics still relevant today

> The Muppet Christmas Carol, with Michael Caine

The avarice never ends! A quote not from some deeply philosophical tome, but from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas film, starring the inimitable Jim Carrey. It is one of several festive films I have watched in the run up to this Christmas, each of which carries much deeper meaning than they could be given credit for.

While The Grinch may be wrongly considered merely a vehicle for Mr Carrey’s talent, it is in fact an allegorical tale, a fantastical fairytale about how Christmas has become an excuse for materialism and greed.

In the scene where The Grinch drops in on Whoville and does an impression of the greedy Whovillians and their ‘avarice’ the says: “I want golf clubs, I want diamonds, I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored and sell it to make glue!”

He lambasts Whovillians not for any religious reason, but as, in the end, he proves to be a deeply sentimental creature who thinks it should be about spending time with loved ones above all else.

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