It's A Wonderful Life

Buffalo Gals

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
Come out tonight, come out tonight
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight
And we'll dance by the light of the moon 

The film "It’s a Wonderful Life" speaks to conditions today. 

At the Republican National Convention, President Trump was compared to George Bailey as played by Jimmy Stewart in the film It’s a Wonderful Life.  That comparison was soundly denounced by Kelly Stewart Harcourt, the daughter of the late Jimmy Stewart.  I too am reminded of the film today, but if I were Frank Capra, President Trump would be my inspiration for Mr. Potter.  ( As an aside this would not be President Trump's most famous connection to the movies.  According to Bob Gale, the screenwriter of Back to the Future, Donald Trump served as the inspiration for the bully Biff Tannen.)  In the famous bank run scene, Mr. Potter tries to take advantage of the bank panic by buying shares of the Bailey Building and Loan at 50 cents on the dollar.  Mr. Potter's housing is described as slums and broken-down shacks, while the Bailey houses are decent. 

One of my favorite characters in the film is Bert the cop. (Bert and his sidekick Ernie, the taxi driver, may have been the inspiration for Jim Henson’s Sesame Street characters)  When the system is good, Bert is good.  When the system is bad, as in the Potterville scenes, he still enforces the system but he is less sympathetic.  The police are the enforcers of the system.  The way to support good police is to have a good system.

Another reason that It’s a Wonderful Life is timely today is that its theme song, “Buffalo Gals", is not just an innocent American folk song. It came from minstrel shows.  The only person of color in the film is Annie, the Bailey’s cook.  While it is clear from the dialog that Annie is considered to be part of the Bailey family, we thankfully are not shown her fate in the Potterville scenes.  It’s a Wonderful Life is a testament to Black Lives Matter.  It is clear from the film that All Lives Matter, but left unsaid is that black lives are in danger.  That even the film did not recognize its systematic casteism, with blacks as the lowest caste, demonstrates that even if it is a wonderful life, it can be better by making it a wonderful life for everyone, including the lowliest of us.