Thursday, December 11, 2008

It's a Wonderful Life Actually a Dark, Melancholy Tale...Who Knew??

We get a video podcast on the Tivo from a film critic at the New York Times whose name now escapes me but, since I'm a journalist, I can just refer to him from here on out as "the critic," since we all know that no one reads by-lines anyway. Anyhow, this film critic in a recent video podcast lays out a pretty convincing case that "It's a Wonderful Life" is actually a dark and depressing look at modern American life. I mean, you've got George Bailey who is abused as a child despite any heroic actions he might have taken as an even younger youngster. Then he falls in love and gets married to the woman of his dreams. However, he gives away all of his honeymoon money to put a drop in the depression bucket. He has too many kids, a delapidated house and the general angst that follows the average married American father who, some times, would much rather be off in Europe living some other life. Then there's a snafu and he's sure his already doomed life is about to get worse. So he stands on a bridge in the cold at night and thinks about ending his life. Who does God send? A bumbling angel named Clarence who has to resort to some mighty creative storytelling in order to convince George Bailey that life isn't worthless after all. In the end, George Bailey realizes that his life really doesn't suck. He's got cute kids and neighbors who will bail him out. And who could ask for more than that?

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