Part 3 of 3-part series on It’s a Wonderful Life: Click here for Part 1.
Capra’s Christmas story came into my life just when I needed it most.
by Gary David Stratton • Senior Editor
In the fantasy tale Crow and Weasel, Badger declares: “If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.”[1] It’s a Wonderful Life has been just such a story for me.
George Bailey experiences his personal “triumphal entry” into Bedford Falls
Sue and I were spending Christmas Eve far from family and friends, holed up in a downtown hotel in Kansas City, MO on one of the coldest nights on record. We had just made some of the most momentous decisions of our life. We would not return to China where we had thought we would spend our entire careers. We would not accept a prestigious internship that may have launched my career, but would have kept Sue and I apart for nearly a year. Instead, we would devote our lives to serving God as missionaries, not to a foreign country, but to a generation—young intellectuals, artists, and leaders who would shape the world for good.
To say that it was an idealistic decision is a gross understatement. We were going, “All in” to pursue a dream of cultural transformation that was hard to articulate without sounding crazy. Many friends, family members, bosses, and mentors simply didn’t understand. Frankly, we weren’t we sure we understood. Yet we were certain we were following God’s leading (at least as certain as two doubting idealists living in a physicalist culture can be.) So we talked our idealistic talk over a marvelous dinner in a famous KC steakhouse, prayed our idealistic prayers, and climbed into bed.
Enter It’s a Wonderful Life
Mindlessly, I flipped on the TV. A black and white image of two constellations talking to each other slowly materialized on the screen. Why we didn’t change channels I’ll never know, but slowly the magic of Frank Capra’s film drew us in. Instantly we identified with George and Mary Bailey and their struggle to live out their idealism in a world that seemed determined to beat it out of them. We were transfixed. It was our story. Here was a couple who kept taking punch after punch on the chin, but also kept pursuing their idealistic dream for the benefit of others, all the while wondering they were actually making any difference at all.
It was a holy moment. We wondered aloud if God wasn’t somehow using Capra’s story to communicate something of the kind of life our decisions would lead to. Boy, were we ever right. Since that cold Kansas City night our long and winding journey from Big Ten universities, to Christian schools, to the Ivy League, and now Hollywood has proven to be even more of a challenge than we could have ever imagined. And when things have been their darkest, we have returned to the story of It’s a Wonderful Life again and again.
I know it is a bit melodramatic, but I’m not sure we would have made it this far without George Bailey’s example of self-sacrificing idealism vindicated by God’s direct intervention in the physicalist world. George and Mary Bailey were true two-handed warriors. Watching how their small idealistic decisions added up to the profound cultural influence fills my heart with strength to do the right thing on a day-to-day basis. And in our darkest hours, just knowing that there is a God and his angels and a great cloud of witnesses looking on, helps us pray, “Lord, help me live again.”
So what lessons can modern day two handed warriors draw from Capra’s tale. Let me propose three.
Don’t lose your idealist nerve.
The first lesson is just for filmmakers aspiring to both culture-making and faith-building, and it is this: Don’t lose your idealist nerve. By rooting his film in present-day America (at least it was present-day in 1946), Capra went against the trend of his day to express a theistic worldview only in “Bible films.” By portraying a clear and unmistakable (if comic) divine intervention, Capra went against the trend of his day to limit modern-day religious faith to the private subjective realm.[2] (See, Capra’s Saga of a Depressed Idealist.)
In an era when “magical” intervention in the physical world was established as a Hollywood staple, divine intervention is nearly completely missing. This is not to say that filmmakers of faith should never set their films in a physicalist worldview, or resort to a historical, fantasy, and even horror genres to convey their themes,[3] only that Capra’s courage to root George Bailey’s idealism in the radical repudiation of skeptical physicalism through the supernatural in-breaking of God is what is so desperately lacking in today’s films. If filmmakers of faith won’t make divinely supernatural films, who will?
Certainly this kind of two-handed filmmaking will require remarkable wisdom and audacity. Wisdom, because physicalist Hollywood will automatically categorize any film with a supernatural element as “Fantasy.” (In fact, AFI now lists It’s a Wonderful Life as a “Fantasy Film.”) Physicalist (especially nihilist) films are held in such high honor in this town that nearly everything else is often viewed as “sentimental hogwash” (except when it is time to balance the budget.) Making films that are both excellent and idealist and even theistic will be an incredible challenge, but I believe it can be done, because it has been done. Gladiator is a recent idealist example, even if it was a period piece.[4]
The truly audacious thing will be if someone follows Capra’s lead and manages to make a critically-acclaimed and commercially-viable theistic idealist film set it in present-day America. It will have to be a spectacular, genre-bending effort, but as Flannery O’Conner put so eloquently:
“When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock—to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.”[5]
It will take the kind of courage Capra demonstrated in making Wonderful Life, and like Capra, it might take years for such courage to be vindicated on the earth, or in heaven. But is that any reason not to try?
In my life journey, I NEEDED a story like Capra’s “more than food to stay alive.” I don’t think I’m alone. But who will make the films that will sustain the next generation of two-handed warriors? Only filmmakers like Capra with the courage to live idealistically. Is that you?
Don’t rely on Idealism alone
The second lesson I’d like to draw from Capra’s classic is for those of us–like Ricky Gervais–who are stuck between idealism we intuit to be “true” and physicalism we face with our senses everyday. (See, Ricky Gervais and Sentimental Hogwash.) Let’s be honest, some of us are way too idealistic. We ground our faith in the unseen realm in such a way that our faith is little more than an existential and/or postmodern personal preference. Then, when someone criticizes or critiques our faith with data from the world of sense perceptions we defensively label them an “enemy of the faith.” Perhaps they are. But isn’t it more likely that they are simply a skeptical physicalist waiting for us to provide a demonstration of the in-breaking of the idealist world into this “present evil age.” Maybe they aren’t rejecting our faith so much as the shallow level of experience we’re basing it on.
Jesus never asked his followers to judge the truth-claims of his message based upon “pie-in-the-sky bye-and-bye” idealism. He asked them to base it upon the ideals of the kingdom of God breaking into the physical world through the “miracles” of supernatural answers to prayer (John 14:12).
Until Christ followers live lives marked by supernatural power and sacrificial love, I’m afraid that the Ricky Gervais’s of the world are going to have a very hard time taking our truth claims very seriously. Roman Emperor Julian despised the Christ followers of his day, yet he could no escape the reality of their faith in their lives when he confided in a friend:
“…the kindness of Christians to strangers, their care for the burial of their dead, and the sobriety of their lifestyle has done the most to advance their cause… these impious Galileans support our poor in addition to their own… outdoing us in good deeds while we ourselves are disgraced by laziness.”[6]
Sounds like a perfect description of George and Mary Bailey to me. Yet, I mean no disrespect when I say that many of the “media leader Christians” I encounter today remind me more of Mr. Potter than George Bailey. In their preoccupation with wealth and political power, their lives and their careers seem just as dominated by “me, me, me” as any other (nihilistic) physicalist. Is it any wonder that the Ricky Gervais’s of the world have a hard time believing the message we preach?
Co-labor with God
The third lesson I’d like to draw from It’s a Wonderful Life is for all two-handed warriors—whether you labor in the Ivy League, Hollywood, Wall Street, or Main Street—Don’t allow the story of skeptical physicalism to deter you from seeking to co-labor with God in the in-breaking of his kingdom in the world. Follow George Bailey’s lead and grow a pair. We might just live to see our work transform our own culture every bit as much George and Mary’s self-sacrificing idealism transformed Bedford Falls. But even if we never see the full result of our idealistic actions on earth, we must live our lives the way we will wish we had lived them on that day when we finally will see our life from God’s perspective—because someday we will.
It’s highly unlikely we’ll ever get a George Bailey-esque ‘advance screening’ of our life’s work. Yet Paul of Tarsus assures us that we will “all appear before the viewing seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). To be a true two handed warrior is to live for that heavenly red carpet affair, more than for its pale imitation at the Kodak theatre each year.
That day is the one when we want the Lord himself (and not some mere angel) to declare, “Well done, you good and faithful servant! You’ve really had a wonderful life.”
Merry Christmas!
Gary & Sue Stratton
Next: Bungee-Jumping to Eternity: The Existential Angst of Dead Poets Society
See also:
Hollywood and Higher Education: Teaching Worldview Through Academy Award-winning Films
Casablanca and the Four Levels of Worldview: Why Everyone Meets at Rick’s
Fiddler on the Roof: Worldview Change and the Journey to Life-Interpreting Story
Crash goes the Worldview: Why Worldview Transformation Requires Changing Scripts
It’s a Wonderful Worldview: Frank Capra’s Theistic Masterpiece
Notes
[1] Barry Holstun Lopez, Crow and Weasel (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990).
[2] Look for a future post on the fascinating relationship between worldview and film genre.
[3] Such as Academy Award nominees, The Robe (1953), and The Ten Commandments (1956), and Oscar-winner Ben-Hur (1959).
[4] Look for a future post on Gladiator.
[5] Flannery O’Connor, Robert Fitzgerald, and Sally Fitzgerald, Mystery and Manners (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1961). Italics mine.
[6] Julian Caesar, “Letter to Arsacius,” Based in part on the translation of Edward J. Chinnock, A Few Notes on Julian and a Translation of His Public Letters (London: David Nutt, 1901) pp. 75-78 as quoted in D. Brendan Nagle and Stanley M. Burstein, The Ancient World: Readings in Social and Cultural History (Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Prentice Hall, 1995) pp. 314-315. Introduction and e-text copyright 2005 by David W. Koeller timemaster@thenagain.info. All rights reserved.
It’s a Wonderful Life has long been one of my favorite movies. As I watched the movie again, I realized that that George, like many of us, ends up being guided down a path that is not his own path or plan. Because George so desperately wants to experience a new life, outside of his hometown, we see his frustration as he is pulled back to Bedford Falls because God has another path or plan for him. We may believe that he stays because of fate or because ethically he just can’t say “no” to the townspeople. And, maybe this is true. However, I believe it is true because it is God’s calling for George. You might say it is in the “wiring” for George. There have been times in my own life that things just seem to fall into place, even when I have not really worked for them. Other times, there have been situations when I may push and push for a certain something and things work out differently than I had hoped, but end up even better. When it comes to Potter, even though it seems that he is almost acting as the devil by causing so much pain for George, maybe this too is part of God’s plan for George. When Potter feels no remorse even though he caused the crisis in George’s life (the $8000 missing) and then takes things even farther when he calls the authorities, it pushes George to the limit. The last nail in the coffin happens when Potter tells George that he is worth more dead than alive it is absolutely appalling. This sends George off the deep end and straight to the bridge. I wonder how many people experience something similar to this. When we see people do crazy and horrible things it makes me wonder what happened previously. I know that there are times when I do some crazy things that I may not have done if it were not for something happening earlier. Luckily, as in George’s case, God steps in and corrects my path.
The movie made me realize I need to stop worrying about life and that my life rests in Gods hands. God has a plan for my life and I need to seek Him in order to better understand and recognize that plan.
I think God tries to step in to direct our paths so often, but a lot of times we (as humans) do not allow Him to. We think we know best and that we have a better life plan for ourselves than He does. It's when we are silent and seek His will that He is faithful in showing us and guiding us. I'm so thankful he does.
It's so interesting to think about all the times that I've had a certain path in mind, but God has other plans and hard as I try he always wins. It always ends up being a good path he leads me down, but I don't always go easily. It's so hard to just trust that he knows best and let him lead the way. I wonder why that is.
Good post and interesting point of view on George actually following his plan or path all along, even though he didn't think so or like it. I agree, sometimes things are not working out the way we want and we ask for His help, only to think our prayer goes unaswered. However, down the road you often realize things worked out just they way they needed to.
I found it very powerful in the end of the movie when the town came to show him how much they wanted to support him and all of his good will toward man had come to help him in the end. The book that Clarence had with him on their journey was signed and given to George this shows the correlation between physicalism and idealism. I believe that we all have a certain view of both worlds, and try to find symbols of idealism throughout our lives. Although I am unable to see God, I do feel his presence throughout certain situations, and it helps us get through tough times. Especially once you have made it through a difficult time in your life.
The ending was powerful, I don't think George understood how many peoples lives he impacted until he was in need and they came to the rescue. My mother was like George in the sense that she always put others before herself. She was always giving away money and even took in homeless people at times. It wasn't until my mothers funeral that I could actually see the true picture of how many lives she impacted. The church was so full at her funeral that people had to stand. I could not believe all the people, where did they come from? My mother not only made a difference but left a legacy.
This is the first time I have watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and it was such a learning experience for me. It really gives a good example of physicalism and idealism and how your world view can change your life. It is difficult at times to take that step and see beyond what you can see and touch. Throughout the movie George is faced with several different decisions, and each of those decisions are based on helping other people in the town and “doing the right thing.” I truly believe what is being said in the part two discussion of Two Handed Warriors. The fact that George is not only doing the right thing, but it is also “world changing.” His intention was to help other people, and was willing to give up money and his personal opportunities for others. My belief is that because of the wonderful things he did from others, Clarence was brought out the idealism in his life and he was able to realize what he needed to do.
Shawna,
You made some very good points about the good man that George was. I found it interesting that even at the young age working for Mr. Gower, George's character showed. I noticed that even though he was hit by Mr. Gower until his ear bled, he never told a soul about the poisonous pills that Mr. Gower would of accidentally prescribed. Retaliation or revenge was not in his mindset. After all of the many different curve balls that life threw his way, he was still a good man. These "life moments" never changed his world view of who he really was in his core character.
I am so glad you saw that world changing connection!
part 2… If only we could all start and end our stories with an idealistic worldview. When we face trials, our perspective tends to change as well. We tend to allow our worldviews to be molded and shaped by our new experiences. This movie taught me that while our experiences are always going to change our life journeys, that they do not have to change our worldviews if our worldviews are based on the proper foundation – God.
Well said, I believe that my foundation is with God and no matter how complicated life gets, it gives me the strength to do the right thing. In the movie, George does not realize how his life and his actions changed and improved so many lives. In the end the entire community came together to show George their support. It made me tear up, I have to admit.
I had the same reaction. It totally made me tear up because through the entire movie George struggles, gives and self-sacrifices. It's nice to see that all worked out for him in the end. It would have been a completely different movie had he let the unfortunate incident with Billy bring him down and force him to give up.
When you say that our perspective tends to change when we face trials I could not agree more. We identify with what is closest to our heart….just human nature I guess.
You are so right Tricia! We too often want that proof to make us believe something. We can't just trust God to do the right thing and work our lives out in the way he sees best. We also tend to follow the leader rather than the better choice at times. This movie is a great reminder that what we think we see isn't always the case. We need to step back and examine things from all angles, because even though things may not look perfect to us, they could be a whole lot worse.
Good post. It is hard to truly quantify the value of the combination of experience and faith…it's hard to beat! I agree with your comment on Clarence…I wish we all had a Clarence to visit us and reveal the size of our footprint in life, either good or bad.
Tricia, I love the way your put that, "when God shows up to transform someone's life." That is the exact point Capra was trying to make. Well done?
It's a Wonderful Life – it's a classic for a good reason. The movie is a wonderful portrayal of what can happen when God shows up to transform someone's life. This movie was a great reminder that no matter who you are, that you matter to others and to God. God showed up in this movie in a very unexpected way at a very unexpected time for George Bailey. The movie portrays a battle between idealism and physicalism. George struggled to see more than what was right in front of him – what he could see, taste, touch and smell until the angel Clarence came into the picture to show George his true significance. If only all of us could have a Clarence to show us how we are making an impact in this world. God revealed himself to George and that revelation produced a renewed joy and determination for what truly matters in life.
I feel like I do have a few Clarences in my life. I have a great circle of friends and family who remind me when I am down what a good person, mother, wife,friend and student I am. Our last class burnt me out and I would say that Hillary and Noelle were my Clarence and encouraged me to stick out the school thing. My children even told me they loved and supported my decision to try and finish school even though that meant less time spent with them.
The movie was a great eye opener as I watched George look at a life where he didn't exist. It made me realize that one day I will stand before God and have to look in at my own life. What would I see? From a physical perspective, I would see the good deeds I did for others but I would also see the times when I was selfish and put my needs before others. I would also see a heart that loved God and a heart that at one point in life doubted God. This movie helped remind me that even though I can't physically see God He still sees me and knows my heart. When faced with challenges in life and when we feel at our lowest point, that is when we really need to shift from physicalism to idealism and trust in God to help us through life's challenges.
Kelly great point. As we should shift from physicalism to idealism when we are at our lowest, often times that is when we find ourselves questioning or doubting god. As hard as it is to accept that things happen for a reason, its funny how they always seem to work out in the end.
Kelly what an inspirational way to connect to this movie. Helping others and leaving legacies is a gracious way to live.
Wow! I was hoping someone would see the connection that "one day I will stand before God and have to look in at my own life." George just got to do it early! Great work!
So often people are caught up in the idea that good works (physicalism) will get you into heaven. As a Christian I believe in putting others first and doing good thing but that isn't what gets you into heaven. John 3:16 instructs that whoever believes (idealism) in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. This concept for physicalist is hard to grasp because you can't see belief. This concept makes sense for the idealist who has put their faith and trust in God. Just as George Bailey doubted his idealistic worldview when life through him a curve ball, many Christians experience doubt at pressing times in their life journey.
Agreed, it is easy to get caught up in what we want and it can conflict in our lives with doing the right thing. George felt like a failure but when he was given a glimpse of what life would have been like had he not been born, his impact was unquestionable. His brother would have died young and not gone on to save many lives during the war and the pharmacist would have gone to prison for his mistake to name a few. People have a hard time realizes that their actions affect and can possibly change lives.
Kelly, John 3:16 says it all. I love that verse and it is SO true! We are not perfect and never will be, but thankfully we were given a second chance by grace. I agree we all need to focus more on the idealism of life and not worry so much about the physicalism.
Kelly, As a Christian, I too still get caught up in the works and the doubt. This journey isn't a easy one. Good post and reminder that our faith will take us all the way.
It was amazing to see the different worldviews in the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey started out with a physicalism worldview and then later combined that worldview with idealism. Ultimately, George turned to God and his worldview changed to a theistic masterpiece. Many times in life we are on a journey and not sure where our journey will take us. There have been times when I have cried out to God and I wondered “is He really hearing my prayers?” I know He does hear and I can look back at a hard time in my life and it was the best experience because I grew closer to God through the trial. I really liked the phrase in Part III, “But even if we never see the full result of our idealist actions on earth, we must live our lives the way we will wish we had lived them on that day when we finally will see our life from God’s perspective – because someday we will”. I enjoyed the movie and observing the different worldviews.
The movie did put my belief in God into perspective. I believe I have turned to God as well, and asked for his help. It has not always gone the way I prayed for, but it usually seems to turn out in the best interest of myself and others. That is a great quote Linda! I am glad you pointed that out as it is very true.
Your comment that "Many times in life we are on a journey and not sure where our journey will take us" is very similar to something I just posted. I called it a path or a plan, or even our "wiring" but I think we are all getting at the same thing….God's Plan.
Linda,
I absolutely agree. Most people I know already is living the life of their own idealism. Conflict or adversity arises when those idealism are challenged. My hope is that everyone's idealism is a morally positive one and not the latter. It is too bad that not everyone's idealism runs parallel with God's vision. In a perfect world, everyone would live by God's vision.
Linda, Great analysis. I think the better way to put it is that George was always an idealist, but almost gave in to physicalism.
Hard to believe, but this was the first time I actually watched It’s a Wonderful Life in its entirety. I know this is on television every Christmas eve, however I’ve only seen the last 15-20 minutes when George is seeing the world without him. Seeing the entire movie, I really enjoyed the movie and the message. I thought the worldviews expressed in the film were much easier to identify following the discussion on the levels of worldview last week. I tended to categorize the characters into two buckets of either idealists or physicalists. However, I realized that was overly simplistic and many people are partially in both camps. You could certainly see that behavior in George at times during the movie. One trait I realized I share with George is getting caught up or lost in what I don’t have or give up, not appreciating what’s right in front of me. It’s amazing how easy it is to identify that when it’s happening to someone else, but much harder when looking at yourself. The discussions and movies the past couple of weeks have given me a new perspective on this.
Great post! It is so easy to get lost in what you don't have, and almost makes you take for granted what you do have. It is much easier to see from the outside in, because it is definitely more difficult to see what is happening right in front of you. Both movies have also helped to give me a different perspective on my worldviews. It helps when you can relate to the characters.
There have been several times that I have watched the movie and ended up falling asleep….what a shame. This time I paid very close attention and enjoyed it more than ever. I think I enjoyed the movie more this time because I have some new information about world views and how the film can be looked at in a new, more real way.
Earnie,
It's hard not to look at the thinks I don't have. We have so much in this country, so many options. The more physical stuff we have the more problems. Technology is great, but I'm not sure it has made my life less busy. I keep telling myself to slow down and take in the moment.
Excellent point Earnie! In the beginning of the film, I was immediately reminded of all the travel that I had wanted to do before I reached my current age and yet I realize that God has blessed me with people and experiences I could never have thought to ask for. Stories like 'It's a Wonderful Life' certainly are life affirming and give us a new perspective on what is right in front of us. I literally cried a couple of tears of joy at the end of the film and went upstairs to hug my husband.
Earnie, your post about how it is easy to see the arc in others but not personally is a great point. It is hard to think big picture all the time and see how everything is intertwined.
Wow! What a beautiful and inspiring movie. The world we live in today cares less about a true and caring heart. The world looks at life from a physicalism prospective. George Bailey was a man not only caught up between two prospectives (physicalism & Idealism), but a man who maintains his Idealistic view. In a greater sense, he realizes that there is something more than what physicalism expects one to believe and live by. We know for the fact that there is a God. He steps into our lives sometimes when we have nowhere else to turn. He shows up in a way that is much more beyond the imagination of humankind. Yet others have not been driven to experience His power or presence. This movie gives me the insight to continue to do what is right in the sight of God even if the world thinks that it is meaningless.
I love it! To "continue to do what is right in the sight of God even if the world thinks that it is meaningless" is exactly what Capra would want you to have gained from the movie.
I also found the movie to be inspiring and beautiful. It taught us many things about life. George did find out for himself that God can and will intervene. George turned to suicide but that was not the answer, only trusting in God is the answer in his idealistic view.
Ronelle,
I believe everyone has in their simple ways experience the many miracles that God has worked. The reason they have not acknowledge these happenings is that they have not opened their eyes. They see and experience it on a daily basis with the rising of the sun to the air in their lungs but their world view regard those miracles as something else. One can not see what they will not acknowledge. Once they are able to comprehend, seeing is second nature.
I agree. A great movie. It does make a person reflect on their own life. Movies like this can give us strength to continue, and do the right things.