Don't take 'It's a Wonderful Life' for granted in this season of turmoil
It's cold, gray and dark. The news is depressing. The conversations we're having about the news are often hateful. I'm tempted to give into fear, which, as Master Yoda taught us, is the path to the Dark Side.
To "escape" real life, I've been playing video games that tend to be a little dark as well. My favorite show on TV right now is set in frozen Minnesota, where the snow is blood-red. That Adele album we all bought is nothing but heartache, beautiful though it may be. And I've gone to see movies about armed teenagers rising up against their government, a British assassin and a creature who sends you to the underworld if you don't have the Christmas spirit. (Sounds like the Krampus should be coming for me, doesn't it?)
But then last Saturday night, after taking an atypical late afternoon nap while reeling from a bout of food poisoning, I got a text from my sister: "'It's A Wonderful Life' is on!"
And suddenly everything didn't seem so bad.
I've seen Frank Capra's classic about the redemption of small-town Savings & Loan owner George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) dozens of times. I own it on DVD, but there's something about watching it on TV, when you know thousands of other people across the country are watching it with you, that just feels right. It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one singing "Buffalo Gals" along with George and Mary (Donna Reed), or crying when Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner) realizes his horrible mistake, or quoting every single line of dialogue. ("Would you kindly point me in the right direction?" "I wish I had a million dollars ... hot dog!" "I've been saving this money for a divorce, if ever I get a husband!")
"It's a Wonderful Life" has probably been taken for granted by generations of Americans. For many years, it was in the public domain and played all December long on nearly every station. (A 1993 Supreme Court ruling put it back in the hands of Republic Pictures, which signed an exclusive broadcast deal with NBC.) As a kid, I only knew it as that movie Billy Peltzer's mom was watching when the "Gremlins" attacked her in the kitchen.
But Capra's film endures and transcends. Believers can find it in an affirmation of their faith. Nonbelievers can take solace in the goodness of our fellow man. (After all, "no man is a failure who has friends.") It does everything you want a movie to do and does it with uncommon humor and humanity.
Even in our darkest hours, our most hopeless of holiday seasons, "It's a Wonderful Life" is there. Don't ignore it. Don't shun it. Let it in.
"It's a Wonderful Life" is available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital purchase from iTunes, Google Play and VUDU.
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor and a tireless consumer of pop culture. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.