Deconstructing "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE"

[brooklynite]

Mr. Potter never engaged in nepotism by hiring his Uncle, and giving him the responsibility of caring for other people’s money.

The Bedford Falls Government hires incompetent public officials, like the tollkeeper who doesn’t notice someone fall over the side of the bridge he's responsible for.

Clearly, Mr. Potter doesn't evict everyone who has a mortgage with the Building & Loan; otherwise they wouldn't have the money to patronize the music halls and clubs in Pottersville.

Do you remember a bar in Bedford Falls? Didn’t they learn the lessons of Prohibition?

At the end of the movie, George Bailey’s daughter says: “Teacher says: ‘when a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings’”. A clear Church-State violation.

[calendargirl]

1. Too much egg nog tonite? Nt

[brooklynite]

2. Red wine; but I've always HATED that movie...

[yeoman6987]

4. You are in the minority I would imagine

You are the only one who has ever said they hate that movie. Most love it. I like it but my favorite is the Christmas carol with George c Scott 1984. Always watch it Christmas Eve. Which I did tonight.

[brooklynite]

6. Now THAT is a classic...

...although, my favorite Christmas movie is the 1947 version of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET.

[yeoman6987]

27. You know what? You are right. I love the orig miracle on 346th street.

[shadowrider]

28. That was a good version

but I prefer the 1951 version with Alistair Sim

[yeoman6987]

29. I don't think I watched that version but will give it a try.

[Warpy]

10. The main problem I had with it is that

Potterstown looked like a lot more fun than boring Bedford Falls. It's a product of its time, the end of WWII and the fading of Depression traumas when people just wanted to get "normal" and have a clutch of kids and a house in the burbs. Capra's glurge fed directly into the propaganda push that got women fired from the best jobs they'd ever had and told to get married and back into the kitchen.

By the time I was ten, I realized I preferred the music and lights of Potterstown. His overpriced shacks weren't any worse than some of the dumps we'd lived in and I was sick of the stifling suburban life that seemed to suck the joy and energy out of everybody.

[oberliner]

11. Do you mean Pottersville?

Pawn brokers, strip clubs, and bars replacing the Building and Loan, movie theatre, and retail store?

[Warpy]

12. You can bet those businesses were still thriving off camera

since old man Potter would never turn down any way to make a buck. The Bailey S&L would have been a convenient branch of his own bank. There is nothing like a few honky tonks to liven up a dull small town and break up the stultifying monotony dictated by local Puritans.

To each his own, I guess.

[oberliner]

14. Seemed like people were generally rude and angry in Pottersville

Doesn't seem like a friendly place at all.

Whereas in Bedford Falls, the people seem to genuinely care about one another, for the most part.

[Warpy]

15. A couple of pixilated strangers with no money go into a dive bar

and try ordering a frou frou drink and people got upset?

Don't forget that Bailey sassed his kid's teacher and got punched in the nose by her husband in Bedford Falls. Otherwise, the people there seemed like cult members, they were all so squeaky clean.

[oberliner]

16. OK

It just seemed like people were generally angry and hostile in the Pottersville sequence and people were generally kind and friendly in Bedford Falls. I didn't notice anyone who seemed like cult members.

[madaboutharry]

3. Does anyone really believe

that Mary (Donna Reed) would have ended up a mousy "old maid" if George Bailey didn't marry her?

That was just ridiculous.

[calendargirl]

5. Nope...

She would've been riding Sam Wainwright- hee haw!!

[CBHagman]

7. Naah, she has too much poetry for that.

I've heard this issue discussed before, and the general agreement is that Mary Hatch would have been just fine, but it's stretching things a bit to say she'd have gone for Sam Wainwright. She wouldn't want a show-off.

[First Speaker]

8. Wasn't there a bar run by Sheldon Leonard...?

...where George gets beaten up by the husband of one of his kids' teacher...?

[brooklynite]

9. "Beaten Up" is an ugly word...

George and Francis got kicked out for taking up space and not paying for drinks.

[Chellee]

17. Not exactly.

He gets punched by the teacher'e husband in Martini's, where Nick (Sheldon Leonard) works.

He gets thrown out of Nick's because they didn't need any "characters giving the joint atmosphere," where Sheldon Leonard's character owns the bar.

[jberryhill]

13. It's a movie

If your uncle drinks in the daytime, don't send him to the bank with your money.

[betsuni]

18. The timeline has always confused me.

Harry Bailey graduates high school in 1929, then we're told George waits four years for his brother to come back and replace him at the building & loan. So that would be 1933. But it seems strange, more like the autumn of 1929, that George and Mary have a big wad of cash to go on their honeymoon, and the panic at the bank.

And no way Mary was an old maid. She would've been pushed into marrying Sam by her mother and ended up miserable with a secret drinking problem, but a hell of a jewelry and clothes collection.

My favorite line is the Bailey's maid who says she's been saving up money for a divorce if ever she got a husband. After I got married I told everyone that now I'd have to start saving money for a divorce, but nobody thought that was amusing. They looked away, disgusted.

[Warren DeMontague]

19. What the fuck is Mr. Gower even doing with all that rat poison in the first place?

How many rats does he have?

Something's not right with this "Pharmacy"

[pinboy3niner]

20. The movie has an angel in it and you think it's the rat poison that isn't realistic?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[meaculpa2016]

21. Why would anyone in his right mind...

give up his dreams of adventure out of a misplaced sense of responsibility to people who were ready to throw him into prison because his aforementioned idiot uncle lost $8,000?

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Truly; it were an Ayn Rand work, he would have delivered a 40 page monologue on the value of

selfishness, then raped someone and blown some shit up.

[mindfulNJ]

23. I love the movie but

One of the things that has always bothered me about it is the depiction of Mary in the alternate life as a sad, dried up spinster without George. She was the "prettiest girl in town" and would have married Sam Wainright. i also get a kick out the scene where Mary makes a wish and throws a rock at the old house. She wished for George to never leave Bedford Falls, effectively denying everything he'd ever wanted out of life. Mary is a selfish bitch. 😄

Merry Christmas!

[mucifer]

26. Are there really only 2 single men in that town? Couldn't she just find someone else?

[sl8]

24. Adam Ruins Everything - It's a Wonderful Life

"Ever wonder why 'It's a Wonderful Life' plays on TV every Christmastime?"

[ProfessorGAC]

25. What A Bah Humbug Thread

Shhesh!