Living in Pottersville
It's a Wonderful Life is number two on my all time list of movies. Over the past few years it has started to mean more and more to me. At first I thought it was because it's really solid script in terms of reincorporation and character growth. Many people think it's hokey, or it doesn't hold up in the modern, cynical world. I can't speak to that, it's Capra, and like people breaking in to song in the middle of a musical, you either accept certain aspects of the movie or you don't. I do. But I don't think that is the real reason I love this movie so much.
At it's core It's a Wonderful Life is about a struggle between good and evil. But it's not the good and evil of fantasy with it's elves and demons, and it's not the good and evil of a gritty serial killer and hard-boiled cop. It's the good and evil of men and women in the world of the ordinary. George Bailey is your neighbor, Mr Potter is your boss and landlord. The playing field they face off on is pretty boring, but all of us can understand the impact of owning your own home which George Bailey, at his own detriment tries to aid anyone in town to accomplish, even those who might seem to be not worth the risk. Potter on the other hand is the classic robber baron (without the late-life heaven-grasping philanthropy), focused on one thing - money. Potter uses the have-nots, through rent and exploitative practices to make himself more money than he already has. Bailey, on the other hand, embraces the immigrants (Mr. Martini), the poor (Ernie), the fallen (Violet), and even those who have wronged him (Mr. Gowers) and give up his dreams of traveling the world, and building massive cities, to give each one of them a part of the better life which he has worked hard to produce for himself. The vision of what happens to the town when Pottersville becomes reality is all too familiar. Potter, by ostensibly supporting the bars, night clubs, and casinos that keep the masses entertained with distractions from the mind numbing hopelessness in which they live, is further making money on the squalid conditions that he has created. When viewed through that filter, he ceases to be a mean old man, and becomes the true demon that he is. In that same filter, Bailey becomes an epic hero, giving up his life (without dying) to save the people around him.
How is this a political entry? Because more and more, I feel we're living in Pottersville today.
Today in the news:
- Mad Cow case reported
- FDA failed to protect public from Vioxx
- Verizon Backs Bill to Block Wireless Access in Philadelphia
What do all of these stories have to do with one another and It's a Wonderful Life. All of them are examples runaway capitalism trying to profit at the expense of the masses.
Mad Cow? The current administration backs off from regulating the Beef Industry. Why? Because the large corporate farms don't like to be regulated. They like to do thing their way, like feeding the diseased carcasses of cattle to other cattle, why let disease cause you to waste cow when you can save money at the risk of creating Mad Cow disease.
Vioxx? Vioxx poses a risk to heart patients. Merck knew it in 2000. But somehow, it's the FDA's fault. Maybe if instead of packing the FDA with doctors with Bibles, the current administration focused on doctors with resumes, the FDA would be more competent.
Philly Wi-Fi? Verizon seeks to derail what it sees as unfair public competition to it's business(Cached Google link, so I don't know if it will still be good). I find it interesting when corporations who promote the free market as the be all and end all of the technology business don't believe in competing with a publicly run wireless service. As if they, as a private company, can't out perform the City of Philadelphia? I'm sorry if you can't outperform an inexperienced at data service city, what business do you have competing against Comcast? (Comcast, for the record, seems to think that their service will remain competitive and doesn't seem to be worried.)
These cases, I got in my daily rss feeds from CNet, FARK, and CNN, none of which are known for being bastions of tinfoil hatted liberalism. I didn't have to dig too deep to find three cases which underscore my point: in this country today, we are letting Potter win. Greed, hiding behind capitalism like a B-movie villain, is running the show.
Sorry for the long post, but I seem to have finger-rambled.
