Last Christmas, my uncle was telling me (and anybody who’d listen :rolleyes:) that there are all kinds of parallels between the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and the Biblical account of the crucifixion of Christ.
Has anybody else heard about this? And could you enumerate the juxtapositions or point to a worthy source? Thanks!
I would’ve thought the Book of Job would be a closer match.
The Charleston sequence at the school dance represents that transfiguration in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the scene where his girlfriend is nude in the bushes and George won’t give her her clothes back signifies the Last Supper.
Had your uncle been drinking before talking about this?
Maybe your uncle was noticing parallels between It’s a Wonderful Life and The Last Temptation of Christ.
Angellic messagers? Check.
Angelic messanger saves hero from death? Check.
Angellic messanger not what s/he seems? Check.
Hero finds redemption by rejecting alternate life? Check.
Movie ends with hero laughing, surrounded by people? Check.
“Where are those thirty pieces of silver, you stupid old fool? Where’s that silver? Do you realize what this means? It means flaying and piercing and crucifixion – That’s what it means. One of us is going to get nailed to a cross! Well, it’s not gonna be me!”
And here, I always thought it was A Christmas Carol. “I want to live again! I want to live again!” versus “Spirit, show me no more!” Tell me which one is which.
I don’t want any wood crosses and I don’t want any ground floors… and I don;t want to be married to anyone ever!
There’re more parallels between It’s A Wonderful Life and The Last Temptation of Christ than I thought.
Hero is self-sacrificing… doesn’t lead the life he wants? Check.
Hero resents Doing His Father’s Will? Check.
Hero leads extremely loyal band of subordinates? Check.
Hero is betrayed by one closest to him? Check.
Love interest named Mary? Check.
Hero sees love interest naked? Check.
Hero falls in water? Check.
Hero prays to God in his hour of despair? Check.
Hero is rescued by Divine Intervention? Check.
Spooky.
Thank you so much, Larry Mudd. The combination of your post mixed with the voice of Jimmy Stewart screaming it in my head nearly made me choke on my dinner.
I saw the thread title "Hidden Meanings in It’s a Wonderful Life, and I assumed the thread would be about gay themes in the movie, open and closeted characters (Bert the Cabbie and Ernie the Cop, right?), etc.
Perhaps I’ve been hanging around these boards too long…
Is it wrong for me to think that when Clarence makes it so he was never born they should hear a splash in the water of his younger brother killing himself over killing the family business?
There would be no splash, because with no George Bailey born, his little brother Clarence (is that his name? I thought it was Harry.) died in the ice he was sledding on. Every man on that transport died, remember?
No the film is wrong. It was George’s idea to go sledding. He was the leader in the whole sledding fiasco. Therefore Harry would not have fallen into the ice. At the very least Uncle Billy would be throwing himself off the bridge.
And of course I wouldn’t have the song Buffalo Moon stuck in my head.