- comment
Doogman - body
- Well, it *is* a FOREIGN myth after all - we need something NEW - something ALL-AMERICAN! Like, like... Madonna.
:-\
Hm. Then again...
- comment Rick Sincere
- body
- Frank Capra was a well-known and unabashed leftist, though I don't think he was ever actually a Communist. (He did, as part of the "Why We Fight" series, direct a pro-Soviet propaganda film explaining why we were allied with Stalin's ruthless dictatorship during WWII.)
Most people don't remember, now, that "It's a Wonderful Life" failed at the box office when it was released. Audiences in 1946 wanted to forget the sort of Depression-era message the film contained. The war was over, the economy was booming, and Americans wanted to move forward.
Only years later, when the film fell into the public domain for a time, did audiences warm up to it, and that mainly due to saturation exposure to it, since TV stations could run it for free anytime they wanted. (And they did -- over and over and over again.)
This is not to say that "It's a Wonderful Life" lacks merit. Anyone who watches it without choking up and brushing back a tear is as heartless as Mr. Potter himself. But beneath the surface is a strong anti-urban, anti-progress, anti-free enterprise message that Capra would have candidly admitted was meant to be inferred.
- comment Kevin
- body
- "It's a c-o-n-spiracy after all...."
Was that an "In Living Color" reference?
- comment Roci
- body
- Hollywood leftist in the 50's? C'mon. follow the breadcrumbs. He was a communist.
But I disagree that the movie was commie propaganda. It was his friend the industrialist who finally bailed him out with manufacturing profits (exploited from the workers, no doubt). THe pennies and dollars from all the cookie jars in town didn't amount to a hill of beans.
T'was capitalism that saved george.
But that thing with the bunnies is anti-american on so many levels.
Via 
4 Comments:
:-\
Hm. Then again...
Most people don't remember, now, that "It's a Wonderful Life" failed at the box office when it was released. Audiences in 1946 wanted to forget the sort of Depression-era message the film contained. The war was over, the economy was booming, and Americans wanted to move forward.
Only years later, when the film fell into the public domain for a time, did audiences warm up to it, and that mainly due to saturation exposure to it, since TV stations could run it for free anytime they wanted. (And they did -- over and over and over again.)
This is not to say that "It's a Wonderful Life" lacks merit. Anyone who watches it without choking up and brushing back a tear is as heartless as Mr. Potter himself. But beneath the surface is a strong anti-urban, anti-progress, anti-free enterprise message that Capra would have candidly admitted was meant to be inferred.
Was that an "In Living Color" reference?
But I disagree that the movie was commie propaganda. It was his friend the industrialist who finally bailed him out with manufacturing profits (exploited from the workers, no doubt). THe pennies and dollars from all the cookie jars in town didn't amount to a hill of beans.
T'was capitalism that saved george.
But that thing with the bunnies is anti-american on so many levels.
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