What is the meaning of the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”? Why does it move us so deeply? What can it tell us about humanity? My family and I watch this movie during either Advent or Christmastide each year and it always brings tears to our eyes. But why?
I would propose that the meaning of this movie can be found in the human person being created to be a gift, made in the image of the communion of Persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the self-gift that we see reflected in the life of George Bailey. Pope St. John Paul the Great said the following in the document Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women), referencing Gaudium et Spes from the Second Vatican Council:
“(M)an, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for its own sake, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self”.
With these words, the Council text presents a summary of the whole truth about man and woman…The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself as Trinity, as a communion of Persons. To say that man is created in the image and likeness of God means that man is called to exist “for” others, to become a gift.[1]
The Father
A foundational aspect of the film is George Bailey’s relationship with his father, Peter. George wants to get out of Bedford Falls and find fulfillment in the excitement of travelling the world; but in his discussion with his father at the dining room table, George glimpses a different manner of life. As his father Peter describes his work at the Building and Loan, how his wearisome work helps people live in dignified homes, George recognizes his father’s virtues and says, “I think you are a great guy.”
Later, after his father’s death, and repeated sacrifices, George stops in front of the picture of Peter Bailey at the Building and Loan and there is a quotation under it that says, “The only thing that you take with you is that which you have given away.”
George’s Gift of Self
George Bailey gives himself away countless times in the movie. Here are some examples to consider:
1. He saves his brother’s life as a child by pulling him out of the ice.
2. He saves Mr. Gower and the person who would have received the poisonous medication.
3. He sacrifices his trip to Europe to help keep the Building and Loan open when the Board wanted to put him in charge to keep it out of Potter’s hands
4. He stays at the Building and Loan and sacrifices his college plans so his brother Harry can get married and start a new career.
5. He sacrifices a high-paying career opportunity with Sam Wainwright to stay in Bedford Falls and become a husband and father.
6. He sacrifices his honeymoon and his own money to save the Building and Loan from Potter.
Temptations
Along the way George faces major temptations to become selfish (the anti-Trinitarian scenes). The climactic scene is when Potter invites George to work for him and sell the Building and Loan. George rejects the offer and goes home to his wife who tells him that she is pregnant. The director, Frank Capra, a man with deep Catholic sensibilities, juxtaposes the beautiful image of Trinitarian self-gift in marriage and children with Potter’s temptation to selfishness. Ironically, Capra based the screenplay for the movie upon a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern entitled The Greatest Gift.[2]
The climax of George’s temptations is reached later in the movie, in the form of anxiety, despair, and suicidal thoughts. As his anxiety builds, he says to his wife, “Why do we have all these kids?” He shifts from his usual posture of generosity to a panicked selfishness and despair that questions the very foundation of his self-gift, his marital union and children. It is the pinnacle of an anti-Trinitarian mentality.
Remember Who We Are
Clarence, his guardian angel (putting aside inaccurate information about angels in the movie), appeals to that which is deepest in George—to make a gift of himself—by jumping off the bridge. Clarence knew that, even in despair, George will sacrifice himself to save him. Clarence wanted to remind George of who he is, and awaken him from his suicidal, anti-Trinitarian slumber. Clarence goes down into the depths of George’s heart and his childhood, re-creating in some sense, George’s saving of his brother Harry when he fell into the ice. Clarence then leads him, step-by-step, to recognize how much darker the world would have been if George had not existed—in other words, if George had not been alive to make a gift of himself. The experience calls forth George’s deepest identity—that he exists to be a gift—and George cries out, “I want to live again!”
In our current culture, we are losing sight of who God is and who we are. It’s a Wonderful Life reminds us, through the characters of Peter and George Bailey, that “The only thing that you take with you is that which you have given away”; and this echoes the words of Jesus, His Church, and St. John Paul the Great:
Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
—Luke 17:33
Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self.
—Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes 24:3
To say that man is created in the image and likeness of God means that man is called to exist ‘for’ others, to become a gift.
—Pope St. John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem 7
[1] Pope St. John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem 7, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19880815_mulieris-dignitatem.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Gift