Glenn Beck Misses the Point of "It's A Wonderful Life."
Glenn Beck is dead wrong about the lessons to be learned from Frank Capra's classic 1946 movie, "It's A Wonderful Life."
On his Fox News TV show Beck portrays himself as a sentimental kind of guy with a deeply rooted belief in the greatness of America's past, even if the past that he honors is often celluloid.
Beck's sometimes tearful nostalgic references have included Norman Rockwell, "Father Knows Best," "Lawrence Welk," and the "Coca Cola" commercial starring Pittsburgh Steelers legend Joe Greene.
Beck's latest fantasy solution to the nation's problems comes in the form of George Bailey, the iconic character brought to life by Jimmy Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life."
Unless you've lived on a desert island for the last sixty-four years you are well aware of this timeless story of a man at the helm of a failing savings and loan, despondent and driven to the brink of suicide, who is given the opportunity, through divine intervention, to see what the world would have been like had he never been born.
He learns that the world without George Bailey was a miserable place to live. Even his beloved wife Mary (Donna Reed) ends up as a lonely spinster. George begs Clarence the angel to return him to his world, with his family, friends, his broken down drafty house, and the struggling Bailey Savings & Loan.
The following clip of Glenn Beck discussing George Bailey and "It's A Wonderful Life" lasts for only 1:26 (I promise).
This is the classic scene at the end of "It's A Wonderful Life" when George Bailey finds out that the Bailey Savings and Loan has been rescued.
George Bailey is as American as they come. Hard working, devoted, caring, loving, a bit quirky, and disappointed that he never went out and slayed a dragon... or lassoed the moon.
When his savings and loan started to go sideways he did everything he could do to save it. He cared deeply for everyone in Bedford Falls and they all felt the same about him (except for Mr. Potter). He knew that his lending institution was a critical and intricate part of the town's good fortunes.
In the end, George did everything he could do to save his failing business but he couldn't pull it off. He was out of ideas. He didn't know what to do.
What George Bailey learned during his nightmare trip to Potterville was that his family and friends were what mattered to him the most. He did not return to Bedford Falls with newly found business skills.
So, in the end, what saved the Bailey Savings & Loan?
(Plug your ears Glenn Beck). It was bailed out. That's right, bailed out. And the bailout was the result of Mary Bailey's frantic community organizing efforts.
Granted, this was not a government bailout, but the net effect was the same. The Bailey Savings & Loan was going to go out of business and for the greater good of the community, the people pitched in and saved it.
Glenn Beck wants us to reach inside and find our own George Bailey but he doesn't want us to notice that pesky bailout part, because that doesn't fit into his sink or swim world.
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Comments
I always say, "People that do not have a clue are not looking for one."
Snake oil sells well to the ignorant.....
Love you, as always.
What a vomitous individual, he is. He don't know nothing and he's got THAT all mixed up.
rated.
As for our current situation, to borrow again from the movie: "Oh Joseph! Joseph, help!" We may need divine intervention.
Good post, even without watching the Beck clip. Please don't ask me to do that.
~rated
Kooky as I think Glenn Beck is at times, his naysayer's views are more often than not just a simplistic, and sometimes just as nutty.
The small difference lo0ms large because it isn't a small difference. Again, the comparison suggested here is one of apples and oranges.
There will only ever be, can only be, Potters so long as centralized power and a cult of coercion hold sway. But a community coming together voluntarily to help a man they know and love, and/or his business, is the very opposite of this.
I hate to sound wimpy here, but contemptible as Beck is -- and he's very contemptible -- we on the other side really have to keep from feeling too much contempt for those who buy what he's selling.
The fact is, Beck knows how to appeal to those who think mostly with their lizard brain. Ever since Reagan, the right wing in this country has made hay off the idea that places like Bedford Falls not only existed, but were the real America. They not only built a straw man, they made him king, and the country went along because it's such a comfortable fantasy.
That's why the GOP has been so successful in getting people to vote against their own best interests. It is the Party of What Never Was, but has managed to sell itself as the Party of What We Lost, even if we never really had it in the first place.
The yearning for a Bedford Falls America is a strong one; we had better deal with why people want that, rather than slamming them for wanting it. Otherwise, we're just whispering into the wind.
GB is a lot like his predecessor - Joseph Smith. (Kinda reminds me of that guy behind the curtain in Wizard of Oz.) And don't forget, Smith created his own militia and ran for president. He also thought he could marry anyone he pleased, which Displeased his associates, who had wives they were quite fond of, and didn't want them to go to the Prophet Smith.
p.s. You're a screenwriter. Should I have used "that" makes me glad instead "which" makes me glad?
Lezlie
Token. my point wasn't private vs government bailouts. It was that the heroic George Bailey couldn't do it on his own and needed a bailout.
Thank you all very much for the reads and comments. Much appreciated!
I could care less about what Glen Beck spins or not. But I actually like the fact that you pointed out the way it happened.
As a conservative the ending is exactly as it should be (or should not be) as determined by the people NOT the government.
While you are correcting Beck you are spinning yourself. A private "bailout" as you call it not NOT close to the same as a gov bailout. It is just exactly the the opposite.
Citizens can decide to bail out anyone they want with their resources. Communities come to together to help out people all the time from some sort of personal tragedy or another.
Those are private decisions that do not impose that everyone must be "taxed" and participate.
What is it you missed about that?
Its called marginal tax brackets. The top bracket now is 35%.
If someone makes $100M they pay essentially 35% on all of it.
So just a few dollars short of $35M.
Some who makes around $50K does not pay anywhere close to 35% or 17.5K in taxes.
And please don't tell me the guy making 100M can hide like 99M of it from income. Not buying that line. And he he can hide it , blame the tax law. If it wasn't so damn complicated there would not be loopholes.
rated
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This is the biggest contrivance I've witnessed all week. Beck raised (or lowered) the bar on stupidity. Bravo.
In the film, the community comes together to save the bank, yes. However, they do so of their own volition as individuals exercising their individual liberty. That is charity, not a bailout.
A bailout is when government procures funds of the people, regardless of their will, and uses it to save failing businesses, regardless of the peoples will.
This simply isn't what happened in A Wonderful Life. For you to suggest it is is either clumsy or dishonest, and you have been at this game far too long and received far too much acclaim for it, including my personal admiration, for it to be clumsy.
I'd frankly rather believe its you who has missed the point. My bet though is you just really dislike Glenn Beck.