But a Christmas GAME comes to mind. Bear with me.

Saint's Row IV parodied the entire concept of Christmas specials by making a Christmas Special... in an over the top violent video game where the "Hero" is a sociopathic gang leader who has been elected president by killing terrorists.

Yes, there is a little modern comedy in there too. So, honestly as it is, I think it's the best possible Christmas special for 2016

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkWMV5Hw81o]

Thanks for dedicating your essay to the story behind the Capra classic's traction in the collective conscience of the nation. It is a conversation worthy of bringing to our friends and family this holiday season. It's a reminder of an opportunity to redirect our familiarity and how much we take for granted, not only its deserved prominence in pop culture (great story!) but how much these themes of empathy, compassion, solidarity, anti-capitalism/consumerism, justice, and egalitarianism are ever present in these beloved films, yet not so much in our everyday lives.

Chris Hedges's "Death of the Liberal Class" has a chapter called "Dismantling the Liberal Class," in which he describes the importance of collectives of artists, poets, playwrights, musicians and authors throughout the decades of the 20th century and those who were important in creating art that was so vital to injecting subversive radical themes into the public's conscience, the lifeblood of fighting back against an anesthetized status quo.

I'm not much of a movie guy per se (many of what are deemed "classics" I've never bothered seeing) but I do have some favorites. I've only ever seen parts of this one (though I know pretty much the whole story it seems) and the other similar one, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, which this year I've told myself I must see in it's entirety. Part of it may be that we always seem to get these films, as one your same generation, on network television, which always turns me off with the constant interruptions of commercials. I've always had a strong negative reaction to being bombarded by ads, and have made a concerted effort to avoid them in all shape and manner, including even averting my eyes when, for instance (in Queens anyway) when they appear on overhead train trestle on a few of our highways) and demanding attention from your vision frame. I also prefer to read or listen to music. Films, I've always told myself, are just too easy and more like eye candy for the masses, than the more explorative and fulfilling interaction with one's inner world of music and literature. That said, I'm coming more around to film.

Christmas means something totally different to me than it did as a kid. In my early 20's I began to really resent that I was obligated as if it were some kind of accepted duty to cram all this shopping in at the last minute. I said never again, and my family followed suit. Without getting further into the subject of crass consumerism being at total odds with those RW hypocrites who claim to be Christians, I'll just state that these days I simply appreciate the quietness of the season and sort of smirk inwardly at the subconscious detente everyone seems to fall, an easing of the usual capitalistic stance of not showing one's hand in business or job-related posture to one of what Christopher Hitchens calls "mandatory gaiety." Thanksgiving too. Used to be my favorite holiday gathering. Now it's been commandeered by the psychotic corporate forces as a predatory Pavlovian signal to get consumer-addled Americans to rush out to the stores to fill shopping carts of cheap disposable goods made by child slaves in SE Asia. Nothing makes me sicker that how much it has become accepted that the American holiday season is now this corporate wet dream of a crass consumer dystopia.

As for holiday films I like the Dickens stuff, especially Oliver! and A Christmas Carol. Heard on Democracy Now a nice background story on the socialist who wrote the lyrics for the Wizard of Oz, named Yip Harburg. It's the kind of educational piece you'd never get in the mainstream media, pointing out the people behind the cultural pieces we love to show that there's more to many of them.

And, if you guys aren't familiar with him, Rev. Billy is a NYC staple, beautiful soul and has kept many of us smiling and in good spirits at all sorts of civil disobedience protests from Occupy to housing rights to Climate Change rallies. "What Would Jesus Buy," a theatrical film made with his "Stop Shopping Choir," is a pretty goo overview about what their troupe is about.

(edited for typos, due to baby responsibilities forcing haste)

point in time, I absorbe Capra's point in my youth, but really never thought about it.

This is a great topic. I would add that along with the economic topics already covered I think that part of the appeal also has to come from the individual psychological implications of the "butterfly effect" aspect, which is that the film celebrates a purer kind of individualism by maintaining that every life matters because the absence of the man that George Bailey became by sacrificing a lot of his personal goals left a pretty big hole in the world. The idea is, of course, that George didn't have to become a great civil architect to have a true impact.

I think a lot of people can identify with making choices out of duty and love that involve sacrifice of the self's personal ambitions and dreams. Most people do this to some degree or other, but some are embittered or broken by it. In George's case, Capra shows us a community that recognizes, even if belatedly, his value and sacrifice and publicly acknowledges and celebrates it.

I would also argue that there are other points in the movie that at least somewhat under-cut the label of overly-saccharine or corny or what-have-you. In the scene where the members of the Building and Loan come to George in a panic on his wedding day when the run on the bank happens, most of the people are convinced by George to only take out enough money (George’s own personal money previously intended for his honeymoon at that) to get by until the bank re-opens, but there is one man who insists on taking the full amount of the money in his account. George tells him that his account isn't closed as the man says but that the money is to be considered a loan. This man represents a selfishness that the others are able to overcome, but he's there to point out that the "poors" aren't to be considered flawless saints.

As you astutely pointed out, the life trajectory of Violet Bick is another example. In Bedford Falls she feels she has to flee the town in shame, but in the end she decides to stay and try to rebuild her life. In Potterville she is swept up in the raid of a bar / dance hall with implications of arrest for prostitution or stealing from customers. Her actual crime isn't stated, but even in Bedford Falls her life going forward won't be easy, and some will still look down on her.

George himself has a temper and resents the sacrifices he has had to make even while loving his wife and family very much. He is just doing the best he can and yet comes very close to giving up and committing suicide. Clarence the angel shows him that he can instead try to live with his problems and pain with the understanding that he has the most valuable things, friends and love, in abundance.

As for myself, I have gotten into trouble more than once by verbally rejecting one of the great platitudes that people use when they are trying to comfort someone in a time of loss or suffering or both. I actually loathe the sentiment, which is that "God" doesn't give us more than we can handle. I can't remember what film I saw it in, but the answer that "So, you're saying that if I'd just been a little weaker, God wouldn't have taken my loved one from me in death", or words to that effect, rang very true to me. I also always feel compelled to point out that the sentiment can't be true because sorrow and despair do break people, and some of them do commit suicide. So clearly, they were given more than they could bear. (I try to be careful not to express these views where they will do harm and no good, but I haven't always succeeded.)

So, to get back to the movie, I see Capra saying that most people have disappointments and sacrifices in life, and even the best of us don't always bear them with a saintly disposition, but shared humanity and standing up for what's right for the many is a valuable achievement that gives life meaning even when despair threatens and makes us want to give up. Sharing the sacrifices and the love and goodwill of family and community can compensate us for some of our sorrows, and the smallest kindness we bestow on others can have a value well beyond our knowledge and understanding. As George tells Mr. Potter when he sees through Potter's manipulation of trying to buy him off by fulfilling his thwarted dreams: people aren't cattle or commodities to be bartered and sold at the whim of the Potters of the world. The message is that the individual life does matter, that human dignity matters. Few people may get the public acknowledgement that George Bailey did at the end of the movie, but as an "Everyman" figure, the audience can see themselves in him and take hope.

I can look past the historical-era-consistent sexism (focus on marriage and children as vital to women's fulfillment) and note the slur the wealthy Potter uses against Italian-Americans, i.e. "garlic-eaters", such as Mr. Martini (owner of the bar / restaurant in Bedford Falls that George visits more than once) and his family that are shown as an example of the independence and increased financial security that comes from buying one of the Building and Loan-financed homes as they exit the slumlord Potter's rental dwelling, as a stand-in for every immigrant group that has come here to the U.S. and been scapegoated, denigrated, and dehumanized by xenophobia and prejudice, is countered by George Bailey and his wife and family and others in the town standing against this WASPish bigotry (possibly also anti-Catholic sentiment as well).

I end up in the same place every time I watch the movie: my heart is warmed by the idea that we are all flawed and often suffer indignities, but we can retain our personal dignity individually by choosing to treat others with kindness and respect, and if we have friends we can count ourselves very wealthy indeed.

Thanks again for the very interesting topic!

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

What I'm calling the "faces in the crowd" are in the scene at the very end where the house is full and thus "crowded" with people singing Auld Lang Syne, which I think is the scene you're referring to. I was saying that I didn't see the shots of the friends and family in that crowd's faces the same way that you do, but I do think that the scene I referenced supports your point that people need good examples and guidance to do the right thing, especially in a group and especially when their livelihood is threatened as that scene showed. One of the scariest topics I ever studied in school was in a sociology class that talked about crowd (or "mob") psychology. People do things in groups that they wouldn't do on their own (sometimes good things, but also bad things), but I also agree with you that Capra didn't shy away from showing that people have a dark side that circumstances can accentuate or catalyze, and that's as individuals rather than just in groups. I thought the actors did a fine job of showing the different sides to their characters between regular Bedford Falls and Pottersville. ( I just realized I've been leaving out the "s" in "Pottersville". Sorry about that!)

Thanks for making the conversation more interesting and thoughtful even though you weren't talking to me specifically.