Four years ago, I watched It’s A Wonderful Life for the first time. Since then, it has become an annual Christmas staple for my family and I. Beyond its iconic performances, perfect balance of light humor and dark themes, and an earnestness that films today simply don’t have, my favorite part about this film is its message. At its core, It’s A Wonderful Life is all about how the little things you do matter, and how you don’t have to be traditionally successful or important to make a massive impact on the lives of others.
In Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s A Wonderful Life, local banker George Bailey experiences a crisis of faith when he realizes he will never leave his small town like he has dreamed. After his uncle loses their business’ savings on Christmas Eve, he begins to contemplate suicide when he realizes the only way he could come up with the money is through his life insurance policy. God sees this, and sends an Angel named Clarence to show George how much worse off his small town would have been if George had never been born.
In a tear-jerking scene, George realizes he wants to live again and prays to God to let him go back to his family. George’s prayer is answered, and the townsfolk he has been helping out his whole life come together and raise more than enough money to get George out of his predicament, leading George to realize just how special the relationships between them have been all along. The film ends with George receiving a Christmas card from Clarence declaring that “No man is a failure who has friends.”
It’s A Wonderful Life was released at a time when many men were returning from World War II and facing the challenges of readjusting to civilian life. In many ways the theme of George Bailey’s story mirrors that of these veterans returning home – their sacrifices weren’t in vain and ultimately they made the world a much better place. James Stewart, who played George Bailey, was himself a pilot in World War II and It’s A Wonderful Life was the first film he worked on after the war. He actually broke down in tears while filming the scene when George Bailey realizes he wants the chance to live again, and this take remained in the final film.
The film’s message is timeless, and appears to be increasingly applicable to today’s issues. In recent years, a startlingly popular corner of the internet arose called the “Manosphere”. Allegedly, the Manosphere began as a celebration of traditional masculinity; however, it seems to have devolved into an outlet for (mostly young) men to express their hatred of women. It was also a very influential part of the 2024 Presidential election. A key aspect of the Manosphere is nostalgia for the gender roles seen in America in the first half of the twentieth century.
It’s no secret that men are struggling these days. It makes sense that a trend like this would gain traction, as in small doses it seems to make the right diagnosis but also give the wrong prescription. What’s amazing about It’s A Wonderful Life is that it dismantles all of the arguments for the Manosphere’s quest to take America back to the ‘50s. Like many of the disaffected young men of my generation, George Bailey grew up in a world in which there was a pandemic, a massive financial crisis, and the U.S. was going to war overseas. However, when his mental health deteriorates, and he is on the brink of taking his own life, George doesn’t just “man up” and muscle through it. He doesn’t turn to the gym, he doesn’t blame his wife, and he doesn’t decide that getting rich is the answer. He finds his faith, turns to his new friend Clarence for advice and a shoulder to cry on, and learns to appreciate what he already has. George Bailey is proof that the time the Manosphere desperately wants to get back to never really existed.
Life is hard. We can’t all count on our guardian angels coming out of the stars to usher us through our own private emotional breakthroughs. But it doesn’t take divine intervention to replicate It’s A Wonderful Life. All of us can look to George Bailey and see that helping others is part of what makes life worth living. All of us can try to be a force for good in our communities. And all of us can look to the people in our lives for help instead of “manning up” and dealing with our issues alone, because no one is a failure who has friends.
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