Posted on 12/22/2008 4:47:10 AM PST by 7thson
Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Wow! Did you compose that post/research paper just for me? That was a very good read.” ~ demshateGod
I merely posted something from Gagdad Bob’s blog. If you liked that, you’ll like what I posted just above it here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2152577/posts?page=24#24
I keep a personal archive of a lot of his writings because I like the way he thinks and agree with him on many things.
Name a subject, and I can pretty much provide you with something he has written about it. :)
Fascinating ...
Dang, they all meld together...it had Pacific in the title, and was one of those multi-level shooters. Anybody?
Kipling got there first and did it in rhyme:
Socialism: “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”
Welfare: “An Imperial Rescript”
Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency: “The Grave of Hundred Heads”
Dealing with Muslims after you beaten them: “Kitchener’s School”
It’s a Wonderful Life is my all time favorite movie to watch just before Christmas. We often get so stressed with all the work and commercialism connected with Christmas, we often forget, (or at least I seem to), what is most important in life. Then I pop in the DVD and get myself on track again. Works everytime!
The first time I saw this film as a teenager, I fell in love with Jimmy Stewart and wanted to marry a George Bailey of my own. And I did!
Medal of Honor - Pacific Assault, I believe.
Schuon would agree with Chesterton that the leftist is “really the enemy of the human race because he is so human.” Of all the animals, only a human being can sink beneath himself and even beneath the animals. And he does so primarily by imagining that an animal is all he is, for when human intelligence is in the service of animal instinct, the result is hell on earth and bear in mind that Chesterton was writing before the great atheistic movements of the 20th century the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Communist China, et al, so he clearly grasped the principle before it actually played out in history.
That night George humiliates his future wife, Mary (Donna Reed), by forcing her to hide behind a bush naked
Anybody who can't tell Mary is enjoying herself immensely throughout this sexually charged sequence just isn't paying attention. She's not humiliated in the least.
George again treats Mary cruelly, this time by chewing her out and bringing her to tears before kissing her.
This "long distance" sequence is among the most erotic ever filmed, IMO. George is struggling against the tender trap Mary is clamping down around him. She's perfectly well aware of why he's acting the way he is, and she's perfectly in control. She wants George and she gets him.
I interpret it instead as showing the true characters of these individuals, their venal internal selves stripped bare.
Kinda judgmental, ain't he? More so than George, anyway.
He even noticed that the only entertainment in the real town ... is “The Bells of St. Mary’s.”
It's Christmas Eve. People are home with their families instead of out on the town getting drunk. Sheesh.
“The reason is that it is a resort, and it has built an economy around that,” he said. “Meanwhile the great industrial cities have declined terrifically. Look at Connecticut: where is the growth? It’s in casinos; they are constantly expanding.”
Uhh, the author is several months out of date. So far, the hardest hit city in America is Vegas. When you're hurting financially, discretionary spending goes first. Nothing is more discretionary than a weekend in Vegas.
Fifteen years old and imagining myself an angry young man, I got all choked up.
Despite himself, it appears in the final analysis that he gets at least this much. George Bailey has led a far richer and more fulfilled life than Wendell Jamiesen.
Yes, Pottersville does capture that "excitement" George wanted -- but when he experiences it, it's horrible, not satisfying.
Youthful dreams may be one thing, but George Bailey was the most loved and respected man it town, and that really is a wonderful life.
You are so right! People who have never had to struggle in life cannot comprehend what true happiness and success is. Only time and experience can change that.
Yup. Pretty much. Barring people who have disabilities, and such, who are always going to have a hard time.
Keep in mind, of course, that your definition of "real hardship" and mine might be a little different.
Neither Frank Capra nor Wendell Jamiesen is really talking about small towns. They're talking about visions of Americas, which used to be and still are found in small towns and big cities. Oottersville and Bedford Falls both exist everywhere.
Frank Capra loved and admired Bedford Falls, although he might enjoy an occasional night out in Pottersville. Mr. Jamiesen loathes and despises Bedford Falls and its inhabitants. If he were to have his way, all of us would be forced to live in Pottersville.
That's the way I take the movie. When I first became a Christian, I marveled at the Word of God and the doors that swung open for me and the miracles that I was privileged to witness, but the people around me seemed still to be stuck in some bizarrow funk and couldn't see what I saw. I asked my pastor how he could continue to get in front of the dead mass of humanity every weekend and no one respond to the work he was doing? He didn't even take a breath before saying he didn't do it for them, he did it for Jesus. God would put the message in his heart and God would put the people that needed to hear it in the pews. He just obeyed.
I've always found this to be true. You do and say what you do and say for the sake of goodness, not for some reward. The rewards will come as God wills it. If everyone was rewarded for being "Christian", then everyone would be a Christian and be rich. Obviously, that's not the way it works. We are good to please God, not for money or promotions. God will provide our rewards as needed.
BTW, The pastor and I have moved on to other things and God has opened many doors for both of us. He is now the pastor of what some would consider a mega church and I have also done well spiritually since that day. God is opening and closing doors every day if we just look at what He is doing instead of what we are doing. The NYT writer seems stuck on the natural instead of the supernatural. The blind will never see. The dead just rot from the inside.
The Christian life is paradoxical. It is joy through service (ultimately, service to God).
Liberals will try anything rather than surrender their wills to God. Pride is a terrible thing.
We never hear this line of reasoning when Democrats use illegal foreign contributions to win campaigns and then they promise to "give back" the illegal contributions AFTER THE ELECTION. With no additional penalty.
No home, no car, no money, no food, at least one dependent.
I’ve seen it, and been entirely too close to it.
I’ll certainly grant this: the primary difference between the last 30 years in USA and the Great Depression (or the Third World) is that if you have any sort of useful skill, you’ll probably find paying work. Sooner, rather than later. Most of the time. As opposed to going on that way for years or even a lifetime.
I kind of understand what gridlock is saying. Yeah, there have been people in the last 30 years that have had bad times. But the Great Depression officially ended 1n 1946. From 29 to 46, the United States lived in and through a Great Depression and war time rationing mainly brought to them by their own government. Compare that to what we - and children born in the last 30 years - have grown up with. What has been the challenges for us since the 60’s?
If you have grown up in the last thirty years, you have known nothing but wealth and opportunity at every turn.
And I'm definitely calling BS on that.
How's Atlantic City doing? And not just "financially". Or to bring it closer to home, how was Times Square for 50 years? Nice place to live in the 1970s was it?
Which contributes more to the strength of the community, state, and nation?
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