It's a Terrible Movie

I'm sorry, but this movie sucks. I used to love this movie and would watch it all the time. However, as I've learned more and more about narrative and characters and their importance to a good movie, It's a Wonderful Life has lost its appeal.

Its a feel good story. The token good guy you root for triumphs over adversity. But this is too simple to be considered one of the greatest movies of all time. The characters are my biggest problem with this film.

George Bailey never develops or changes. He has one good scene when he becomes an asshole and yells at his kids. This is the best scene in the movie. However, nothing builds off of it and its sole function is as a dark moment in relation to the impending bright moment at the film's end. This is screenwriting 101 shit and isn't very impressive.

George Bailey has two very simple motivations: to explore the world, and to do the right thing. Why? We never find out. Although it's interesting to see him struggle with these dual motivations, he always chooses to do the same thing.

What do we know about Mary Bailey? Honestly, what? Why does she even fall in love with George? She seems to be in love with him from the get go when she is introduced as a child in Mr. Gower's shop. Why? Do we ever learn of her motivations? She is a stock character, folks. This is all too common for female characters, particularly in studio era Hollywood (pre 1954). They serve as fetishized objects for male characters to acquire. This movie fails to break from that tradition. Mary Bailey functions as a character subservient to George Bailey, servicing his needs as a wife and mother. She has no depth of her own. She is simply, Mrs. Bailey.

Henry Potter is pure evil in the form of a pure capitalist. He is absolute greed personified with no redeemable characteristics. One can argue that being pure evil makes him the ultimate antagonist. If you ask me, though, he is borderline cartoonish. He just seems like Mumm-ra from ThunderCats or Cobra Commander from GI Joe.



Henry Potter is a purpose character. He only exists to fuck with the protagonist. He has no depth, no explanation of motivation, and is consequently uninteresting.

As far as all-time film villains go, Potter is ranked very high by many critics. AFI ranked him as the 6th best villain of all-time. Only Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Darth Vader, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Nurse Ratched are ranked higher. Okay, Lecter, Bates, and Vader all have depth. Ratched has some mystery about her seeing as she is the nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest but is also apparently evil in her care taking. The Witch is another cartoonish character along with Potter.

Compare Mr. Potter with another wealthy Christmas miser: Ebenezer Scrooge. They both start off as evil, greedy guys concerned only with money. But Scrooge actually develops as a character. We also see Scrooge as a deeper character with a reason behind his motivations.

So those are the three main characters. The other minor characters are similarly shallow, but that's to be expected from minor characters.

The plot is also quite simple. It is full of simple devices and actions that stress the suspension of disbelief to the maximum. As George is about to leave Bedford Falls to go to school, his father dies and the board of trustees at the Bailey Building & Loan decide not to sell out to Potter ONLY if George stays to run it. Coincidental? When George is later supposed to go to college, his brother can't stay to run the Building & Loan because he's been offered a great job by his future father-in-law. Coincidental? This pattern is repeated ad nauseum throughout the film. The culmination of coincidence is when Uncle Billy drops $8,000 into Potter's lap. This silly misplacing of cash is the impetus behind the near ruin of George Bailey. The entire "Worth more dead than alive" sequence and the near suicide attempt and everything are all because of this stupid little mistake. Poor narrative construction. It isn't because a character did something. Uncle Billy just acts like a retard, Potter decides to keep the money, and then everything collapses.

I'm being a bit too harsh. I just get mad at this movie, though. It's too simple. It oversimplifies every problem into right vs. wrong, good vs. evil. Life ain't that simple. And in the end, good wins because everyone pitches in.

This is a Puritanical movie, with morality prevailing. Bedford Falls is your typical dreamworld of middle class Americans. It's a nice place to raise a family. The alternate reality Pottersville is a den of sex, music, and gambling. It's John Ashcroft's nightmare. But it does look like a more entertaining town. The moral lesson of the story is that if you're a good person, things will work out for you.

The movie is fun and simple, and nice. I guess that's why I liked it so much when I was younger. It didn't take too much thought and it was nice seeing things work out for George Bailey. Film A&A, Hollywood and American Cinema, and Fiction Film Theory have given me new perspective on movies, which means I can enjoy them on a deeper level now, but not on the shallow levels anymore.

Great example:

Cav: How do you like the movie [Lord of the Rings] so far?
Me: I like the lighting.