It's a Wonderful Life, If You Will Give All For Love

I have sometimes thought it a shame that It’s a Wonderful Life is regarded as a ‘Christmas Movie.’

It is, of course (in more ways than one), but if we think of it as ‘merely’ a Christmas movie we risk undervaluing it.

Frank Capra’s masterpiece, of course, needs no introduction. You’ve seen it at least once, and if you haven’t you know the basic premise: an ambitious, gifted young man named George Bailey wants nothing more than to escape his small, provincial town and do something big and important with his life.

But, one way or another, he gives up every opportunity to make good on that dream in order to help the people around him until one Christmas Eve finds him contemplating suicide, feeling he’s wasted his life. A roly-poly, ‘second class angel’ named Clarence then appears and shows him what the world would be like if he had never been born.

The message of the film is usually given as “every life has value.” Yes, but not quite in the way you might think. It is not George Bailey’s intrinsic value as a person that leads to his vindication, but the choices he made along the way.

At every turning point in his life, George has a choice.

He could have gone to college as planned: his uncle urged him to do so. He could have let his brother take over the family business as he assured him he was willing to do. He could have looked the other way and gone on his honeymoon when the bank failed. He could have done all this and more, and no one would have blamed him.

That’s part of the genius of the film; no one ever asks George to make the sacrifices he does and none of them were ‘necessary’ sacrifices or matters of common decency. Every step he takes to help his friends and neighbors he takes of his own free will, because he sees that it is the right thing to do.

But it was these choices, these sacrifices done in cold blood, that make George’s life ‘wonderful.’ Not because of the satisfaction they bring him (though they do not go unrewarded, as we’ll see), but because, in so doing, he improves the lives of those around him and, consequently, of the community that they all live in.

In other words, It’s a Wonderful Life is not so much about the intrinsic ‘natural’ value of each individual life, but about how it touches every other life around it for good or evil. George Bailey has a wonderful life because his life is spent in service to others.

As you might be able to tell from this, the film’s uplifting ending is perhaps not as comforting as it might seem on first glance.

George only comes to his vindication by giving up everything he thought he wanted most, throwing away one dream after another for the sake of the people around him. He never leaves Bedford Falls as he so desperately wanted to and spends his life in hard, menial, seemingly thankless work, coming home late night after night.

The main point of the film, therefore, is less “your life is infinitely important” than it is “your life is infinitely important if you are willing to give up everything for love.”

You may note that this is one of the main themes of another and greater story. Do you see why I said this is a Christmas film in more ways than one?

What is the main purpose after all of Christmas? To be reminded that we must give of ourselves to others.

In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, we are ever in danger of forgetting that this is the main purpose of the feast; the time of year to give of ourselves, as Christ gave Himself to the world by being born in Bethlehem and so ending the long ages of darkness. For those of us seeking relationships or contemplating marriage, it is also a time to ponder just how much we will give up for love: how many of our dreams, goals, and ambitions will we offer up for others?

This isn’t to say that all our hopes and dreams must ultimately be sacrificed, any more than Christ’s command to hate mother and father and our life is to be taken at face value. Rather, it is to say that we should be prepared to let all these things go in service to God, neighbor, and, of course, our spouse.

This is a hard condition, and we may all pray that we are never asked to meet it, and certainly it needn’t be kept constantly before the mind. But we should be aware of it and prepared, as well as we can be, to follow through on it. It is, after all, no more than what Our Lord commands.

And it must be said that the rewards of love, friendship, and community are far greater than those of achievement or ‘self-actualization.’

The whole film, and especially the climactic ‘Pottersville’ sequence, is about George discovering this.

As I said, his sacrifices do not go unrewarded; intermixed with his wrenching choices, George has the warm affection and devotion of his friends and family, especially his wife, Mary. Indeed, the film explicitly shows that his sacrifices not only strengthen their relationship, but are what allow him to marry her in the first place. And it is their love which, in the end, sends George flying desperately back to the life he was prepared to throw away.

So, as you watch It’s a Wonderful Life this year, put yourself in George’s shoes and ask how much you are willing to sacrifice for love.