Watching It’s a Wonderful Life in 2017
George Bailey,
everyman shibboleth,—
conceived as
Capra’s sword against
the rising tide of atheism,
identified by Ayn Rand
as communist propaganda
in an FBI report,
protagonist of a Trumper’s favorite
mawkish holiday melodrama—
shouts from a bridge
that became a pulpit
of all the closing doors
of all middle class frustrations.
Watching the film
feels different
now that we’re all stuck
in our own little Pottersvilles
dreaming of the kind of
warm and cozy Bedford
Falls
that only exists
in uncritical nostalgia.
Mr. Potter wasn’t supposed to win
wasn’t supposed to become President,
as if Ol’ George and the American idea
was just too strong
to be defeated,
as if all we needed
was friendship,
as if angels
could redeem
all the little capitalists,
could redeem
us all.
--Matthew Ussia
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