Blog: It's A Wonderful Life

As we wrap up America's festival of social capital, Thanksgiving, we also follow the annual tradition of watching America's greatest cultural celebration of social capital, It's a Wonderful Life.

The villain Potter lives by the jungle rules of business where financial capital trumps all, and tells George he is worthless because he has no stocks or bonds; while George devotes his life to helping others and receives kindness, loyalty, and even money in return. The town without George's forging of ties is a hostile place where Bert arrests Violet and people don't talk to one another; with it, every man and woman comes over to sing Auld Lang Syne to the Baileys.

"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends." - Clarence Oddbody, AS1

This film is also one of the best examples of the value of the public domain; a relative flop at the box office, it languished in obscurity for decades before being reintroduced by PBS stations in the 1970s precisely because its copyright had expired and was therefore free to show (Ebert). Had today's laws been in effect in 1946 when Capra made the film, it would have stayed unknown until at least 2061 (70 years after Capra's death in 1991). How many other films like It's a Wonderful Life may never be shown and even be lost forever?

(P.S.: sadly, It's a Wonderful Life is probably still under copyright, after all.)