"It's a Wonderful Life" - SPOILER ALERT

Most Americans are at least familiar with the story even if they have not seen it yet, but not everyone is. Hence the SPOILER ALERT. 

 

"It's a Wonderful Life" is arguably the most beloved American Christmas movie of all time, but it wasn't always well-received. When it was first released decades ago, it did not do well at the box office. If you see the trailer, you might understand why. It's a bit cheesy and it detracts from the valuable moral of the story. There may have been other reasons it did not do well, but that is one reason, I believe. Thankfully, as time has progressed, it has evolved into what it is today.

 

I saw "It's a Wonderful Life" years ago. I enjoyed it, but since I have so many other films on my must-see Christmas list this year, I had not planned on watching it again. However, my local library has just started something called "Bundle Bags", where I can choose my genre and a librarian will choose the movies and/or books for me. Feeling the spirit of the season, I thought it would be fun to choose a Holiday Fiction theme. "It's a Wonderful Life" was chosen for me, so I took it as a sign that I should watch it again.

 

This time it was different, though. I received both the black and white and color versions. Prior to this year, I had only seen the black and white version. So this year, I started with the color version. It's exactly the same movie, but sometimes black and white vs. color can produce different vibes. I enjoyed the color version, especially the snowy scenes. 

 

Then I watched the black and white version and came to the conclusion that that's how it was meant to be. In black and white. While I still like one snowy scene in particular better in color, the overall movie to me is better in its original form.

 

As far as the story goes, I remembered it being about a man who thought about committing suicide, but was stopped by an angel on a mission to earn his wings. I remembered that they take a look at life as if George Bailey was never born and that eventually leads him to realize it is indeed a wonderful life after all. As a result, the man chooses to live and his guardian angel earns his wings. The sound of the bell signals this achievement.  

The interesting thing that surprised me when I watched the movie this year was that everything I remembered in the movie happened only in the last 30 minutes or so of the two hour film. As I was watching it, I was thinking to myself how much it was dragging on. (Maybe that's also why it didn't do well at the box office when it was first released.)  However, when those last poignant 30+ minutes did unfold, I realized we needed to see everything that came before that in order to fully appreciate the end.

 

Being an individual with a disability, I tend to take note of characters and actors who are disabled. In "It's a Wonderful Life", the character of Potter is a wheelchair user. The fact that he uses a wheelchair is never mentioned in the movie. It didn't need to be. This is huge, especially considering this movie was filmed in the 1940's when there was even less representation from the disabled community back then. 

 

Potter's character was played by Lionel Barrymore, who became disabled prior to "It's a Wonderful Life". He had already established himself as a respectable actor by the time the character of Potter came along. Even with his talent, I have to wonder if he would have had as successful a career if he was disabled before becoming an actor. This is a legitimate question because currently there isn't a lot of representation in Hollywood from the disabled community. Sometimes when a character has a disability, the actor playing that character does not. And then there is often misrepresentation, portraying the disabled character as a grumpy, unhappy person or as an almost saintly person who can do no wrong and deserves pity. There isn't enough in-between. However, this I can forgive in "It's a Wonderful Life" since the disabled character was played by a disabled actor and the fact that the movie was filmed decades ago.

So, "It's a Wonderful Life" is near and dear to my heart for more than the reasons why most Americans cherish it. For me, it's also a model how disabled actors can play roles that have nothing to do with their disability. I'd like to see more of that.