Why, that "It's a Wonderful Life" is just Commie propaganda!

[mr blur]

How come this film is such a traditional American favourite? That scene where George Bailey is asking folks to not take their money out of the Savings & Loan because their money is helping their neighbours have a home is just... why, it's Socialism!

Old Man Potter is the only decent Republican it it - and he's the bad guy!


Commie!

I wonder how many Teabaggers will be sitting around with their kids soaking up its traditional American values this Christmas?

[begin_within]

1. They probably justify it by the fact that Jimmy Stewart was a conservative Republican.

[andym]

2. Actually Frank Capra the director was a conservative Republican

However, he strongly believed in the good of neighbors helping each other (volunteerism), but hated the idea of Government intervention (and FDR). In that way he reflected some of the ideas of Hoover and his successors.

[Raine]

3. Yup

I was shocked when I read that that Capra was taking a totally different point of view than I had. The point of the film is totally oposite from what it would seem. It's more like what Raygun promoted, neighbors helping each other, no need for govenment help.

[andym]

4. Capra's writers tended to be liberals, though

especially Robert Riskin who participated in most of Capra's famous films (not It's A Wonderful Life though). So some of the creative vision clearly has a liberal sensibility.

Somehow the combination of the conservative Capra and his liberal writers resulted in films that really help bolster the idea that people can work together to defeat the large powers that control people's lives (like the corporatist leaders in "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" and "Meet John Doe", or Mr Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life".

[Drunken Irishman]

5. That's true conservativism.

They believe allowing the individual to help out rather than government.

Today's conservatives, however, are all about themselves and no one else. In the Capra Conservative World, government would not need to help aid the poor because individuals would do it themselves.

[andym]

8. That's right

and that's pretty much what Herbert Hoover believed as well. Conservatives still play lip service to people helping each other ("1000 points of light"), but the selfish strain of conservatism (rooted in greed and Ayn Rand) is dominant.

[nxylas]

9. Sounds like Cameron Conservatism

British Conservative Party leader David Cameron talks a lot about voluntarism.

[JVS]

6. No. Fuck Potter AND fuck Bailey too!

Bailey is just as much a parasite as Potter, but he's less competent and less personally vicious. But when push comes to shove, who skims interest off the people? Both of them. And then when Bailey fucks up who but his sorry marks pony up a bailout. But does this provide for the interest of the proletariat? No. A floundering capitalist is no proletarian, even if he might have the poverty symptomatic of the proletariat. The solution? Kill Potter, kill Bailey, and organize both of the banks into a federal model such as Госбанк (Gosbank). Smash the four olds!

[michreject]

10. Try again in English

or at least get a good translator.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. wow...your view of the world is sad... n/t

[gmoney]

13. Well, it looks like Bailey Building and Loan is almost like a credit union...

By not paying lavish salaries to its directors and selling homes that are worth much more than it cost to build them, evidently at prices competitive with renting in Potter's slums, and the people holding share accounts rather than savings/checking, the image of BB&L is very similar to today's better credit unions.

My credit union is paying $4 million in dividends back to customer shareholders in January, up from $3 million last year. The amount depends on how much business you do with the CU, but will be a minimum of $10 per member. My monster megabank would never do that in a million years, except possibly with some cockamamie "rewards" program that charges you 14% interest, but pays you back 1% or 2% in rewards. The CU is able to return money, even though their fees and rates are much more reasonable. Plus, they keep the money in my community.

If Potter had misplaced $3000 (granted, more like $50,000 in today's money), he could easily replace it from petty cash. The "goodness" of Bailey is that he has NOT been gouging his customers over the years, but treating them fairly, and in his hour of need, his customers and friends come forward and offer to help him out.

Of course, I always wondered if, in that situation, would he simply be allowed to replace the "lost" money out of his own pocket or the contributions of friends, or would it still constitute a bookkeeping discrepancy, misappropriation of funds, malfeasance, etc. in the eyes of the bank examiner. After all, it's all over town that he's been giving money to Violet Bicks.

[Lucky Luciano]

14. Pol Pot lives!! I thought he died a few years ago, but apparently not!

I can forgive the horrible English since English is not your first language!

[reggie the dog]

18. where are the faults in English?

perhaps their fault is not seeing that you can run capitalism in such a manner as to not rip people off.

[reggie the dog]

17. whatever dude, Bailiey let people go without paying until they got

another job. He charged low fixed rates. People need to get a loan to buy a home in our system and his character did it in a far more equitable manner than Potter.

[fasttense]

7. It use to be that conservatives didn't want corporations to rule We The People.

Now conservatives, or more aptly put Republicons, are on the side of huge corporations owning the government and owning us.

But an old fashion conservative wanted freedom for the people. They use to favor social freedom, the majority didn't care if you were gay or straight, as well as freedom from totalitarian government AND freedom from Corporate control. Now conservatism is so closely aligned with corporate rule that most of us don't even notice the change. We have moved so far to the wacko right that the middle has moved.

But in the old fashion conservatism demonstrated by Capra's movies, corporations and the uber wealthy (Potter or economic royalists as FDR called them) shouldn't control the people (though you notice they were all in favor of the war). And when Potter did get control of the small town he turned it into a cesspool.

Old fashion conservatism is a lot like well President Obama (without the corporate welfare).

[reggie the dog]

19. no to mention that the Democrats were the party of segregation

at that time.

[comrade snarky]

12. That may be true but I'd still rather live in Pottersville

They had jazz and a swinging nightlife. "Look at me boys! I'm givin' out wings!"


Bedford Falls had Lawrence Welk. Booorrrriiinnggg

[JVS]

16. LOL!

[misanthrope]

21. You got that right!...

...As Gary Kamiya famously wrote, http://archive.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/12/22/pottersville/">"Pottersville rocks!"

[comrade snarky]

22. A Christmas classic!

We should all gather round the tree, with whiskey and porn, to read it aloud every year and give thanks we're not in Bedford Falls.

:evilgrin:

[upi402]

15. We've moved far to the right, in imperceptible steps. n/t

[RufusTFirefly]

20. Capra was definitely a conservative. But he was also a populist

That element is sorely missing from both political parties, which tend to act more like corporations these days. Oh sure, they serve their customers (the voters) just enough to stay in business (get re-elected), but their primary mission is to maximize the return of their investors.