It's a Wonderful Film.

Well, it happened. Our first screening. And I think we all had fun, and more importantly, I think we all enjoyed the film. I, for one, thought it was pretty incredible for a number of reasons, and certainly not for the reasons I thought I'd be writing about in my post of this film.

What I did know (from common knowledge/what I'd heard) about It's a Wonderful Life:
- It received five Academy Award nominations in 1946, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. The film The Best Years of Our Lives "stole" the awards after doing better at the box office that year, and perhaps by dealing with post-WWII times less subversively.
- It's a Wonderful Life comes in at #11 on the AFI's 100 Years, 100 Films List.
- Besides having a less-than-optimistic view of post-WWII America, It's a Wonderful Life is further credited as having Communist Sympathies, with it's over-the-top portrayal of the Evil Bourgeois Potter character, and later, of Pottersfield - the would-be town that would exist if it weren't for the socialist successes of Bailey & Co.

These elements were significant in this film, no doubt, but what really caught my attention were maybe a bit subtler.

• Water - How many times did we see someone falling/jumping into water? It starts with George's younger brother, Harry, and his trip into the pond. We are urged to remember this incident by the films narrators, because it's the start of George's sacrificial streak (he loses half his hearing here), but also, I think, because we're supposed to key in on the (many) water-related events that transpire in the retelling of George's life story.

The watery scenes I can remember...
- The swimming pool - meant to embarrass, almost leads to "unique situation" with George and Mary, but George cannot capitalize, and has to run off to be by his father after a stoke.
- When it rains it pours - most noticeably on their wedding day. Marks another "Almost Day" for George. Instead of going on his honeymoon, George has to liquidate his assets to keep his business alive, and the town out of the clutches of Potter. Also noteworthy - Mary is able to ignore, and even thrive (look at that rotisserie!) in their honeymoon suite, in spite of the drippy conditions. Her life isn't as directly tied to water? (Or, she's more in tune with her sub-conscience?)
- Snow - when George ceases to exist (gets his wish) it stops snowing. George's life is tied to precipitation!
- I jumped in to save YOU! - Clarence and George save each other from watery demise.

And these next two are stretching it...
- Harry is in combat over water - shoots down enemy planes to save ships full of men.
- The Big Drink - How many times do we here "I need a drink" in this film. These characters couldn't live without their fire water.

The water theme, and being under water is often used in films to suggest the sub-conscience (under the surface), so it could be said that George is repeatedly diving into not only his past (his youth, a time before he has to sacrifice) when he encounters water, but also his desires, and his fears. Furthermore, the water theme is often put to use when George has to make a decision between what would benefit him most (Mary, to marry) versus what would benefit the town. The water element might be reminding us, therefore, that George's usual decision to do what is best for the greater good (instead of going to Mary/to marry) might be born partially of his fears of commitment and settling down (further hampering his wanderlust).

Thoughts?


• Crows and Squirrels - I'm a little lost here. It was an obvious intention of the filmmakers to include the crow in the office in several scenes. The addition of the squirrel made it seem like we were definitely supposed to catch something here. Could it be that we were supposed to tie in Bailey Building & Loan with nature? Or, that there's was the more natural, positive, wholesome business? The squirrel, at least, gave the impression of the-pure-and-innocent-Disney-princess-in-the-forest sort of vibe, but crows are generally associative of intelligence, if not clever, trickster-type intelligence.

Needless to say, I'm having a hard time piecing this one together.


I really appreciated It's a Wonderful Life's use of symbolism, but equally impressive was the film's cinematography. The beginning of the film, for example, blew me away. To start, I did not realize that the blinking, speaking galaxies, that I've seen countless times (see Wikipedia's "Appearances and References in Pop Culture" for It's a Wonderful Life), originated here. It was pretty cutting-edge of Capra to include multiple minutes of a nearly blank screen with voices as a pivotal, foundational scene in his film.

To follow up that scene, and to transition into "the real world," Capra uses an out-of-focus shot that slowly becomes clearer to simulate Clarence's improving vision. On the surface, and with 60 years of hindsight, this may not seem revolutionary, but I thought it pretty unique of this film to so bluntly draw attention to the film-making process at a time where movies were supposed to project an absolutely consistent reality. By including a shot like this (and to a lesser extent, the previous scene), Capra is yelling at us "Hey, you're watching a movie!" So the risk of including this shot is that the audience might automatically lose focus (attention, haha), if not respect, for the actions, words and messages said in the film if the reality they've bought into suddenly suspends.
I considered this a daring move.

Excellent. That's the end of my thoughts on It's a Wonderful Life (for now, so I guess it's also the beginning). I'd love to hear what others thought of the film, including those of you that couldn't make it to last night's screening.

I'm really looking forward to what comes next. Again, if people need to switch months for whatever reason, that's cool. Also, the "First Tuesday of Every Month" is a good guideline, but it's only that. If the screening day needs to be bumped around a little bit, just let us know far enough in advance that we can plan around it. Also, I'd like to know whether or not Anna and I will be hosting a bit in advance, if possible.

Lastly, I liked that I got to see another of the AFI's 100 Years, 100 Films.
We can always keep that list in mind when thinking of films to watch. So besides that list, and the seasonal theme that I adopted, this blog seems like the perfect place for brainstorming other ways to pick films. I'm sure there'll be more of that to come.

Happy Holidays.