Timothy Birdnow

John M. Grondelski pens an interesting piece about why the movie It's a Wonderful Life is so popular and why the death of the values of George Bailey represent such a tragic loss for our culture.

Grondelski argues it's not the sappy feel-goodism of the movie that captures America's imagination but the representation of the old America, the small town values, the local presence, the call of duty and service to our fellow man and our community, etc. that makes this movie so beloved. It is an America we did not so much lose as purposely threw away, and it was a better America. Even the worst of the characters had their good points, points forced on them by the social atmosphere at large.

For example, Potter, the villain, is still forced to argue his case from the standpoint of what is best fo rthe community. At one point Potter argues that easy credit turns a thrifty working class into a rabble and that the need for financial discipline among the public is the key to everyone having a good life. Interestingly enough George Bailey disagrees "why should they wait? Why can't they have good things now" WEll, if we look at our modern world, has that philosophy worked out so well? Americans are now exactly what Potter predicted, a rabble, spoiled and entitled and caring about nothing but their own pleasure and ease and comfort. Easy cred played no small part in that. People no longer have to wait until they save up the money to buy things; they just borrow endlessly and hope to die before they pay the loans off. That is at odds with Christian thinking, which always involved a moral component to borrowing; it was thought to be largely immoral to borrow or to lend in a usurious fashion. The Bible rightly observed that debt made one a slave. But it's equally true the lender is a kind of slave too, being forced to keep lending and find new ways to entrap poor souls lest he be ruined when others take advantage (like Potter did to the Building and Loan and even the bank). It's a treadmill for everyone; the real winner is money itself. And government, which profits from every single transaction, since money is a creation of government in the first place (not wealth but MONEY). Paper money is no longer backed by anything and thus is only worth what government can convince people it is worth. Then government pays all of it's own debt with money it simply creates out of thin air, money worth less than when government spent it. In the end the consumer or smal financial institution gets soaked.

So Potter was not wrong in what he said, even though it was clear in the movie that money was his god more than the public welfare. In our modern cities a guy like Potter would not have even bothered to craft such arguments; he would simply say "greed is good" like in the movie Wall Street. Moral behavior was forced on Potter by the society in place, and he was only free to create a Pottersville because of the Depression, which was itself a creation of government and the changing of America from small town communities to the massive power blocks of the large cities.

As the author points out George Bailey is constrained by his small-town virtues even though he wants to be famous and a success. Well, who is a success in the movie (other than Potter)? His friend Sam Wainwright, that's who. This friend who left Bedford Falls behind and moved to New York. This friend (who Mary's mother was eager to have her marry rather than "mossback George") made a fortune as a war pofiteer selling plastics. He even suggests buying a factory in another town because it would be cheaper, but George talks him into reopening a factory in town and restoring jobs to his neighbors. Sam epitomized the changing nature of America; he was a thoroughly modern man. George was defending an America that was dying but should not have been. Sam was midwifing an America that never should have been.

In the final analysis who is bappier? Yes, small towns can be boring, especially to the young. Yes, everyone is in everyone's business. Yes, there is limited opportunity. But the allure of the cities did nobody any favors. The America we now suffer with is the direct descendant of the one George Bailey resisted, and deep down most people understand that, which is why the movie is so popular.

It's an archetype, just as Leave it to Beaver or Andy Griffith is an archetype of an America now gone, murdered by the drives of modernity and the rise of Leftism and anger and class hatred. In the old days there wasn't much class hatred; most people wanted to BE in the upper class and hoped their children would be there. Now many hope their children will be the ones to destroy the wealthy and those who play by the rules, to destroy the rules, for that matter.

The author of this piece blames the automobile for much of this and while he has a point he misses it too; the automobile certainly made wanderlust easier to satiate but in the end a car is a tool, like so many other things, and the allure of the cities came not, as Shakespeare would have put it, as a fault in our cars but in ourselves. Americans were restive under the morality of Christianity and wanted the excitement and pleasures of the big cities, cities which absorbed so many immigrants with European ideas and loosey-goosey morality. The cities were FUN and this was very attractive, especially in the pre-television days when there was little to do with your time. Once in the cities there were structures forming and are now in place to make the new urbanites dissatisfied and angry and to roil their lives in ways great and small. The beauty of this is that the more unhappy these immigrants to the cities became the more they loathed their small town upbringing and the values htat went with that. It was a moral perpetual motion machine.

And such alienated and disaffected people were ripe for the rising Lefitism that has poisoned our cities. How many cities are predominantly conservative? How many big cities are NOT controlled by Democrats?

As for George and his sacrificing ways, yes he was a man for others. But much of it was driven by his hatred of Potter, who may well have mellowed had George actually taken that job with his organization. Potter would have seen that George's ways made him money and perhaps the old grump would have been less contentious if he had someone to rein him in? But George would never do that because he blamed Potter for his father's death. (His father probably died from eating too much cholesterol, but that's another topic entirely.) But all good stories need a protagonist and an antagonist, a hero and a villain, and Potter served as villain in that story. Bailey had to have someone to fight and Americans understand that; it's the crusader mentality that has always existed in the American psyche, from the first days of our settlement where Pilgrims and other religious folk sought to settle and tame the land for Christ and had to fight - Native Americans and outlaws and encroaching foreign powers - to do so. Without a Potter there could be no George Bailey. But Bailey's motives are another matter.

At any rae I think the number one reason the movie got so huge is that it was never played until Ted Turner got the rights and began running it day and night around Christmas. Oh, and it fell into the public domain, meaning it was free to run anytime.

But there are plenty of other old movies that are free and the public is not so enamoured of them as It's a Wonderful Life.

BTW George Bailey's life never does improve; just his attitude changes. Oh, and the ending is ridiculous; no matter if George paid the money back or not he was STILL going to trial for malfeasance and embezzlement. Restitution does not make one immune from prosecution and eventually some prosecutor would bring charges against him. The big party at George's house wouldn't be the end of the matter.

Also, I always was bothered by the notion that George's brother's death would have happened at all; the fact is he was only on the ice as a kid because his brother George was there. Otherwise the older boys wouldn't have wanted him there at all, so he would have lived - and saved the men on that transport.

At any rate do read the entire essay at American Thinker!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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