It's A Wonderful Socialist Life

[BeckyDem]

An “All-American” story actually shows the virtue of collectivism and solidarity…
by Greg Belvedere

I have a confession to make: I love It’s A Wonderful Life. You might like the movie, or you might find it cheesy. But I’m one of those people who tears up at the end of the film. Having seen it many times, I even get a bit choked up during the first half, watching the set up for those end moments. I would wager most people don’t have this reaction. Probably even fewer people are like me and get emotional at the points when the socialist message of the movie comes through the clearest. Because at its core It’s A Wonderful Life is a movie about socialism and how socialist values can triumph over capital. It makes a more thorough—though at times subtle—case for socialism than any piece of American popular culture I can think of and it contains as many lessons about solidarity and collective action as it does about the kind of holiday morality we usually associate with it.

I’m not the first person to point this out. When the holidays come around, you sometimes see an article that briefly mentions the movie’s economic or even socialist message. But I want to take a deeper dive. People have called it communist propaganda since it came out. It caught the attention of both the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee. They did not like the fact that the movie portrayed the capitalist Henry F. Potter so negatively. Indeed, Potter is one of the classic villains of American cinema. He is also, I would argue, an accurate portrayal of what is wrong with capitalism. Despite his considerable wealth, he seems to have no other interest than accumulating even more money at the expense of Bedford Falls’ poorest citizens. He has no friends or family. He owns slums, department stores, the bus line and eventually the bank which he uses to squeeze people even more, so he can own even more. Yet he never seems happy.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/04/its-a-wonderful-socialist-life