tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post7994355664567883268..comments2023-12-28T06:30:48.808-05:00Comments on The Rule of Reason: Not So Wonderful a LifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-25833986144452750332014-12-21T16:52:38.484-05:002014-12-21T16:52:38.484-05:00(comments continued from prior remarks--this is th...(comments continued from prior remarks--this is the third of three collections of comments by me)<br /><br />Ed Cline writes: "One friend suggested that perhaps George Bailey changed his mind about wanting to build bridges and skyscrapers and so on, and decided he would be happier staying in Bedford Falls running the Savings & Loan."<br /><br />George obviously harbors a longing for his abandoned desires for a career in bridge-building, because in his outbursts about life's cruelties, when he sees a table-sized toy model of a bridge, he smashes it into bits -- an impulse-dominant moment in which his suppressed desires boil over into emotions which betray the forgotten person who lurks beneath the facade of the reluctant loan agent who almost convinced himself he had accepted the life he fell into.<br /><br />Ed Cline writes: "I don't think Frank Capra's motives were so innocent. ... Why it was imperative or necessary for Bedford Falls to become a pit of vice and corruption isn’t explained. It's a pretty dark alternative Bedford Falls, and reveals Capra's estimate of men and the value he placed on living a virtuously altruistic life (which was, according to Capra, necessary to save the town), that without a George Bailey, the townspeople would be naturally miserable and degraded and in thrall to 'evil' capitalists like Henry Potter."<br /><br />Yes, the story resolves into a worse-case scenario for its alternative world, and I submit it works as drama that can be grasped by most anybody. Subtler differences between Bedford Falls and Pottersville would have been missed by younger and less reasoning viewers. The vice and corruption are overwhelming, but they dramatize that some people will suffer worse consequences from some characteristics under one type of society than they will under another. Violet can string along multiple men in a safe environment without affect on third parties, but when permanent businesses trade in flesh, she will become a pawn in debauchery and her fights with flesh-traders will become a matter for police to resolve. Likewise, the smiling cop of Bedford Falls who hasn't a mind capable of conceptualizing a proper government can become the trigger-happy corrupt cop of Pottersville. Frank Capra doesn't tell us that minds which properly use concepts will prevail over any corrupting influence, but makes his story depict an honorable self-sacrificer having unspoken-of influence on a culture such that the machinations of an avaricious sourpuss are thwarted before they can blossom.<br /><br />The conceit and major flaw in the story of <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i> is that it contends that a person's being removed from the fabric of a society will cause horrible consequences to result from that absence. (Clarence the angel specifically says to George that when one piece of the puzzle which makes up a community is removed, his absence is felt.) George Bailey, however, was more than just another townsperson. He was an exceptional person who achieves what others did not and could not. The message is supposed to be that anyone's absence would have brought Bedford Falls to Pottersville, but the logical inference of applying the concept to any of the other residents of Bedford Falls does not support that conclusion.David Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783307783352271393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-86284513052909777442014-12-21T16:51:19.682-05:002014-12-21T16:51:19.682-05:00(comments continued from prior remarks)
Ed Cline ...(comments continued from prior remarks)<br /><br />Ed Cline writes that George's "commitment to Mary makes little sense, because the only previous contact between George and Mary ..." And: Ed Cline write: "As for George Bailey's marriage to Mary, that whole aspect of the film is a reflection of the common notion that love is 'blind' and inexplicable and causeless. I was never able to see any reason why he would want her ... It just happens"<br /><br />The film offers a reason, but it's not a fitting one for a man of self-esteem, a man who wants to choose the path of his own life.<br /><br />Mentioned twice in the film is that George's mom had told him that Mary "can help you out with your problems." George doesn't come to this conclusion himself, and it might have been taken to be just someone's say-so, but George throws back onto Mary his mother's overblown estimate of her, loudly tells her "you're supposed to have all the answers!" as though her not stating insightful comments to him was a betrayal by her rather than an instance of his being unreasonable in her expectations of what would transpire between them. This sets it up that he is compelled to make up to her for his boorish behavior, of his sensing his being unmoored, of his assuming his mother has a good sense of what could fulfill his needs because he has failed to attain them for himself. These aren't good reasons for choosing Mary, but rather substitutes for good reasons which George doesn't know enough to reject.<br /><br />The idea that it worked best for the most people that George gave Mary a stable marriage is more clearly expressed in the story. Perhaps the screenwriters figured that any doubts any audiences had about the George-Mary marriage would evaporate when they saw the nightmarish alternative-reality scenario near the end of the film. Mary is revealed as a spinster made debilitatingly afraid by the stranger who approaches her when she closes the library. The inference I believe was intended to be drawn was that Mary was left single and feeling betrayed when she waited for Sam Wainwright or his equivalent. Sam Wainwright was shown calling her by phone, quipping to George that he was "trying to steal my girl," all the while another woman is pawing him. This connotes that he toys with women and would likely have had no more of a relationship with Mary than attempts to seduce her on his infrequent visits to town.<br /><br />Frank Capra's attitude may have been: Never mind George's throttled ambitions, look at the fate he saved Mary from.<br /><br />(comments to be continued)David Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783307783352271393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-17542003541993652392014-12-21T16:48:10.195-05:002014-12-21T16:48:10.195-05:00Like Ed Cline, I'd like to think that readers ...Like Ed Cline, I'd like to think that readers of his 2008 post had understood its points well enough that they would not have to write him with objections that would be apparent to the readers from considering events in the film in context with the points made in Cline's post.<br /><br />Having said that, I noticed a few instances where passing content in the film substantiates a point made in this 2011 post without Mr. Cline having mentioned them. For the benefit of readers who might not have recalled the same scenes I did, I offer my observations here.<br /><br />Cline write: "George is about to leave town to spend time on a tramp steamer to 'see the world' when his father dies. He stays to save his father’s business, Bailey Savings & Loan, which otherwise will fall into the hands of his father’s nemesis, Henry Potter, the town banker. His brother Harry has just graduated from high school and has won a football scholarship and is leaving town. George agrees, reluctantly, to run the business to keep it out of Potter’s hands."<br /><br />There is great relevance here to brother Harry not taking over for George at the Building & Loan, as had been planned while the boys' father was alive. The Board insists that George take over, declaring that any substitute will lead to a decision of dissolving the Building & Loan, leaving Potter the town's only lender. (No one ever talks about looking for a replacement from outside the town or making announcements in the financial profession that an opportunity exists in Bedford Falls.) This is George's punishment for what his father had called his having been "born older" than his brother, i.e., being more mature at the same age.<br /><br />George had saved money during his employment under his father for George to go to college after his travels. One of the angels states that George gives this money to Harry for Harry to go to college. What more evidence need there be that this film depicts altruism in its protagonist? If audiences get a warm feeling from watching a film, it's from dreaming of someone else caring for them this way, not from picturing themselves doing as the lead character does.<br /><br />Ed Cline writes: "Harry assures George that he’ll run Bailey Savings & Loan while George goes to college. This is doubtful, because Harry’s wife doesn’t look like she would be willing to settle down in Bedford Falls and allow her husband to pass up a chance to work for her father. This conundrum is not depicted or resolved, except by implication."<br /><br />Irritation in George's tone of voice tells us what decides him not to steer his brother away from the career his in-law opens to him. George speaks to Harry's wife about the research job and hears that Harry is "a whiz at research" and will be taking the first step on a lucrative path. George's tone of voice betrays that he is looking for a weakness in her plans for Harry, but that when one is not admitted, George capitulates.<br /><br />(comments to be continued)David Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783307783352271393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-60351994401027578812011-10-20T10:53:57.913-04:002011-10-20T10:53:57.913-04:00Hello there. I’m so glad I found your blog, I actu...Hello there. I’m so glad I found your blog, I actually discovered this by accident, when I’d been browsing Google for something else entirely, Just the same I’m here now and would certainly wish to express gratitude for a excellent blog posting and a over-all intriguing blog (I furthermore love the theme/design).christmas payday loanhttps://instantchristmascash.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-36444092651552209892011-10-19T15:16:45.914-04:002011-10-19T15:16:45.914-04:00Ed,
I grew up watching and liking IAWL but as my ...Ed,<br /><br />I grew up watching and liking IAWL but as my philosophical premises changed, I found that I liked it less and less. Now I don't bother watching it. <br /><br />Your article concretized in every particular my dislike of the movie and why, over time, my emotional response to it has changed. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Take_It_With_You_(film)" rel="nofollow">"<i>You Can't Take it With You</i>"</a> is another Capra film where the altruist mask is much bolder. Add egalitarianism and nihilism to that. <br /><br />Of particular interest is the straw-man demolishing of free speech oriented around Voltaire's famous mistakenly attributed aphorism, <i>“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” </i><br /><br />It takes the form of one character quoting an absurdity from his neighbor and then asking, "Why should I die to defend that?"<br /><br />I would put "Meet John Doe" in the same category as "You Can't Take it With You." <br /><br />I still enjoy "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," although if the Silver Knight were as much a bastard as his "businessman" sponsor, the end of the film would have been quite different. There is a great deal of (unintentional?) irony in requiring the remnant virtues of your villain to save your hero. <br /><br />And I still like "The Farmer's Daughter," (Starring Loretta Young and Joseph Cotton) although it was not directed by Capra, it does, like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" imbibe the spirit of its times and is shot through with package dealing. <br /><br />One priceless moment in "The Farmer's Daughter" is when, during a political rally that pre-figures Ted Kennedy's nonsense rambling, the butler (Charles Bickford) assures Loretta Young's character that he could get the audience to cheer by shouting "Fish for Sale." She doesn't believe him. So he stands, shouts "Fish for Sale" and gets a roar of applause in return. <br /><br />c. andrewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-63650928263093239452011-10-17T14:40:36.257-04:002011-10-17T14:40:36.257-04:00Interesting analysis - but despite that interpreta...Interesting analysis - but despite that interpretation, I do very much enjoy IAWL. <br /><br />Some of my enjoyment of the film is pure nostalgia - appreciation for old films, movie stars, etc. The acting in the film - the dialogue - the decor - is wonderful, each time I watch it.<br /><br />Another aspect that I appreciate is the benevolence and integrity of many of the characters, notably George - he is a man to be trusted, who does the right thing, etc, and (mostly) a happy person. Yes, he has foregone his dreams (in some ways), but he is still fulfilled by being an integral part of his community.<br /><br />As noted - your criticisms are very much on-target - but there is still plenty to like about IAWL.davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102807342521013650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-50776472605531431952011-10-14T20:46:04.287-04:002011-10-14T20:46:04.287-04:00Prashant: Thanks for your remarks. I will soon co...Prashant: Thanks for your remarks. I will soon complete the second and final part of The Daedalus Conspiracy. I happen to be taking a break from it this very moment. The Hanrahan novels are published by Perfect Crime and are available on Amazon. The last in that series will be published in February or March 2012. <br /><br />EdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-8709089862689345132011-10-14T17:56:13.364-04:002011-10-14T17:56:13.364-04:00Hi Ed,
Always great to read your articles.
The i...Hi Ed,<br /><br />Always great to read your articles.<br /><br />The idea of giving reminded me of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables where Father Bienvenu protects Jean Valjean from the law for stealing his silverware and even giving him more, while urging him to transfrom from being evil to being good. <br />However, Victor Hugo's Jean Valjean was a powerful character and Bienvenu thought him to have some value. The difference between that kind of charity and what George Bailey did is that while Bienvenu probably placed more value on helping Jean Valjean achieve his potential than on his silverware(for some people there might be selfish satifaction in charity), George Bailey as you have critiqued in the film IAWL gives up his own values in favor of lesser(alleged)values like father's business, family, etc.<br /><br />By the way, I just got my Kindle copy of The Daedalus Conpiracy. Is the novel going to be three seperate books? Also eagerly awaiting the first Chess Hanrahan novel.<br /><br />Prashant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-49400876566456556142011-10-14T10:24:10.669-04:002011-10-14T10:24:10.669-04:00Thank you for writing this, Mr. Cline. It was so &...Thank you for writing this, Mr. Cline. It was so "right on" that it made me laugh. I have always thought this movie to be repugnant, but, perhaps for that reason, lacked the will to analyze why.Slade Calhounnoreply@blogger.com