Is “It’s a Wonderful Life” about St. Joseph?

[Michie]

Frank Capra described himself as "a Catholic in spirit" - did he set out to write an allegory of the life of St. Joseph?​

No Advent is complete without a viewing of Frank Capra’s masterful film It’s a Wonderful Life. Capra described himself as “a Catholic in spirit; one who firmly believes that the anti-moral, the intellectual bigots, and the Mafias of ill-will may destroy religion, but they will never conquer the cross.” That Catholic spirit comes across in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Watch the film closely and you will discover an uncanny similarity between the hero of the film George Bailey and St. Joseph. I would go so far as to say that the film is meant to be an allegory of the life of St. Joseph.

George and St. Joseph: 12 Similarities​

Continued below.

Is "It's a Wonderful Life" about St. Joseph?

Frank Capra described himself as "a Catholic in spirit" - did he set out to write an allegory of the life of St. Joseph?

aleteia.org

 

[Michie]

Despite its sinking into insignificance upon initial release, the eventual ascendency of It’s a Wonderful Life was always almost inevitable. For one thing, it stars Jimmy Stewart. For another, like all the greatest Christmas literature, it has an undercurrent of darkness to it. Like A Christmas Carol or A Charlie Brown Christmas, it deals with the death of human hopes as much as their renewal. And, most importantly, its emotional punch grows, not diminishes, with rewatching over the years.

An icon with such well-established status is an irresistible target, and the competition to come up with the definitive contrarian takedown of the film is now a Christmas sub-tradition in its own right. Every year people write their little pieces about how Mr. Potter is a new urbanist or Bedford Falls is full of NIMBYs or George is a toxic narcissist or Uncle Billy caused the financial crisis or umm, the movie is actually really depressing?, or high school gyms don’t really have swimming pools underneath them. Every year I read them and laugh, knowing the movie will bury them all.

But there has always been one criticism I found harder to ignore: the Mary problem. When George Bailey, after a lifetime of sacrificially thwarted ambitions and dreams, facing ruin and disgrace at the hands of his venal enemies and incompetent friends, tries to commit suicide, his guardian angel Clarence is dispatched to help him. In order to convince George that he has in fact had “a wonderful life” that it would be a crime to throw away, Clarence shows him what his town would have looked like had George never been born into it. So far, all well and good.

Continued below.

There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.

www.thebulwark.com

 

[archer75]

Good article.

 

[Michie]

Good article.

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[RileyG]

I've never heard this before. Thanks for posting!

 

[Michie]

I've never heard this before. Thanks for posting!

You are very welcome!