It’s a Wonderful Life

To wrap up December and 2023 I bring you the final entry in my series of posts on Christmas movies. The only way to end this series right is with a bang, bringing us to the all time greatest Christmas movie (in my book, anyway): It’s a Wonderful Life.

If you haven’t seen this 1946 classic, you still probably know the basic plot. Man thinks he is better off dead than alive and wishes he had never been born. Guardian angel grants his wish and the man can see just how different the world (or his town, at least) would be had he never existed. The experience is so upsetting to him that he prays to live again. Once again, his prayer is answered and he gets to return to life as he knows it, grateful for everything and everyone in it.

This storyline of getting to see what life would be like without a specific character has been parodied countless times on television shows. It would probably count as a Christmas episode trope on television if I had to guess. That is how ubiquitous this story has been for decades.

Growing up, this movie was the one we absolutely watched every year, no matter what. Every other movie could be skipped or forgotten, but not this one. As a kid I was simply enthralled by the story. I loved that the movie opens with angels, in the form of stars, talking to each other. I loved that an angel came down to Earth and helped a man in desperate need. I loved George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) and I loved Mary Bailey (Donna Reed) and how quirky and sweet they are together, how they just fit. I also loved to tease my mom when she cried at the end of the movie, which was every time we watched it.

As an adult I think I love this movie even more than I did when I was a child. That is certainly in part because I know it so well, can practically recite the dialogue, and enjoy laughing at all my favorite bits. But more than that, watching this through the eyes of an adult is even more meaningful and absolutely brings me and my cold, dead, medicated heart to tears.

It has been over 75 years since It’s a Wonderful Life premiered so, are there things that didn’t age well? Well, duh. Of course there are.

There is the almost complete lack of people of color; the one black character is Annie (Lillian Randolph), the Bailey’s maid/cook and she is pretty much a caricature. (That being said she also has one of the greatest lines in the whole movie: “I’ve been saving this money for a divorce, if ever I get a husband.” Classic Annie.) Also at one point Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) refers to the poor people of Bedford Falls as “garlic eaters” which is clearly a slur that, according to Google, refers to Italians and sometimes Jews. Very rude indeed and obviously unacceptable in modern times.

There is the scene where George and Mary are walking home from the dance where they fall in the pool. Mary is wearing only a robe and when George accidentally steps on it, the robe falls off and Mary takes refuge in a hydrangea bush. George initially picks up the robe to toss it to her, but then changes his mind and for a few moments deeply considers taking advantage of the situation. When Mary threatens to tell the police George says, “They’re way downtown, they’d be on my side, too.” Now, I never believe for a second that George was doing anything but teasing her and he would have given her the robe back, which he does when he is called away because his father is ill. But the teasing about taking advantage of a naked woman rather than helping her…that just stinks to high heaven in the 21st century. It is even more gross to think that the police wouldn’t help her and would laugh at her expense. Not cool, 1946. Not cool.

Also not cool: in the portion of the movie where George has never been born, he asks Clarence (Henry Travers), his guardian angel, where he can find Mary. Clarence says, “You’re not going to like it. She’s an old maid, she never married.” We then see a rather frumpy Mary walking out of the library where she works. This is the worst fate for a woman that they could come up with: an unmarried “old maid” who has a job. I mean, I get it. At the time that was a real fear for innumerable women. It’s just that as a woman who is unmarried and has a job I am rather exhausted by the idea that I need a man to make my life meaningful. I grow weary of this; I have been weary of it for many a year. But I do understand that wasn’t the way of things in 1946.

To be honest, while I understand how all of the above can turn people off on this movie, I can ignore these things. They do not frustrate me in this particular movie like they would and do in other movies. I think that is because I’ve been attached to this story since I was quite young. I mean, for crying out loud, we named one of our dogs Bailey after George Bailey; we were quite obsessed.

The main thing that gets me now, as an adult, are still the characters of George and Mary Bailey. George sacrifices just about everything he wants in life to do what is right, what is needed, and he isn’t a martyr about it. He lives a life of service and works for things he believes in even though he’d much rather be off exploring the world and building things. Mary works tirelessly as a wife and mother, volunteers for the war effort while having four children, redoes their entire home herself, and on top of it all supports George in his work. She sacrifices their honeymoon money in order to save the Bailey Building and Loan when there is a run on the bank. And, my favorite thing about her, is she stands up for herself. She doesn’t cower when George is angry and smashing things, she defends her children. She tells him what she thinks. She fights for what she wants. I love that about her. On top of all of this, neither of these people acts holier than thou. They are humble, helpful, and loving members of their family and community.

Plus, Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart are just such good actors. They both have moments in the movie of incredible reality where they completely convince the viewer of what they are feeling. This is true especially at the end when they are incandescently happy and in love with each other and their children. It is beautiful to watch.

I hope that I do not come off as a wholly selfish and stuck up person when I admit that for many, many years, I believed in my soul that I was destined for fame and glory. I believed myself to be unique and special, having something that no one else had. I imagined myself on the late night shows being interviewed about my awesomeness, bringing joy to crowds of people all around me. A fairly lofty daydream, but I admit I had these daydreams well into my twenties and probably even my early thirties. And I truly wanted to achieve something great; I thought that to be great I had to be famous and wealthy and adored.

It is in part this movie (along with healthy doses of reality) that brought be back to Earth. It’s not that I think I am not special or unique…I think we can agree I definitely at least qualify as quirky. But I realized, much like George Bailey, that I don’t have to achieve lofty goals to make a mark on the world, to do something great. To be great does not require fame and fortune. One can be broke as a church mouse and still be great. One can be unknown to the world, but still loved by their family and community. It is possible to touch lots of people’s lives in little ways that make a big difference. George Bailey does this largely by being kind and by doing what he can to help. And while he doesn’t ultimately get the life he dreamed about, he gets a life that is so very wonderful and well worth living.

As a little kid watching this movie I didn’t cry at the end. I was too young to understand. But now, watching that family rejoice in each other, watching the town give whatever they have without a second thought to help George out of a tough spot - I weep just like my mother does. And those are tears that have to claw their way out through 125 milligrams of Zoloft a day, so you know they are real.

And so, on this New Year’s Eve, I leave you with the most perfect closing thought which I am lovingly ripping off from this movie: “Remember no man is a failure who has friends.”

Do I wish it said, "no person”? Yes, I do. But I will let it slide.

Happy New Year!