I just watched the Muppet Christmas Carol for the first time since I was a kid and I realized that Ebeneezer Scrooge is a much more realistic character than I remembered. Everything he says, does, and believes, I've seen it in a real person before. He's literally just a twitter chud, and the universe around him reacts to that fact with the appropriate amount of horror.
I’ve always felt that Ebenezeer Scrooge was the typical jaded old man who gave up on finding the food in life.
Most childrens stories often do this anyway. That’s why they give them a redemption arc