The Dark Secret Of 'It's A Wonderful Life' You've Been Missing This Whole Time

Most people think the message of It’s A Wonderful Life is that an individual’s life is inherently important. After all, one of the more memorable lines is, “No man is a failure who has friends.” However, George Bailey’s life isn’t exactly relatable to the average person. 

George Bailey saved several lives before hitting puberty. He saved his brother Harry from drowning and stopped an unspecified number of children from being poisoned. As an adult, he becomes entirely responsible for preventing Mr. Potter’s bank from forming a monopoly in Bedford Falls that will trigger mass poverty and chaos. He also apparently has a mystical effect on the happiness of others as, in his absence, Nick the bartender becomes a terrible person and Ernie the cab driver's marriage fails.  

It’s depressing to acknowledge, but the average person simply doesn't make as much of an impact as George. Most people’s absences will likely trigger fairly subtle changes to the world. If you’re going to make the point that all lives are worth living, don’t illustrate it via a larger-than-life epic hero. 

Annie, the Bailey family's maid, is only one of two non-white characters in the film. Her most notable appearance comes when she sacrifices her life savings to George to help him pay off the $8,000 debt. While the moment may have been touching at the time, modern critics and audiences have pointed out Annie's character actually fulfills the racial stereotype of African Americans only existing to serve their white counterparts. The only other non-white character is an African American piano player shown in a bar scene, further illustrating the lack of diversity in Bedford Falls. And both of these characters could be easily removed without affecting the plot, which may have been done when the film was distributed in the south. 

George and Mary’s first romantic night together wasn't actually romantic. When Mary’s clothes fall off and she’s forced to hide in the bushes, George does nothing but taunt her. When Mary becomes so frightened she threatens to call the police, George only laughs and informs her the police will be on his side.

Still, this somehow made such a positive impression on Mary she develops an obsession with George. Despite the fact she’s dating Sam Wainwright, she builds a virtual shrine to him in her home, which she proudly shows off when George visits her years after their terrifying first night of romance. During this visit, George is once again incredibly rude.

George is dismissive of Mary, rebuffs her attempts to make conversation, and storms out before returning to get his hat. The scene ends with him violently shaking Mary and declaring he’ll never get married before the two passionately kiss. We then cut to their wedding, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic about their nuptials when the relationship was built on violence and obsession.

Not only does God send George a subpar angel, where has he been up until this point in George's life? George Bailey consistently sacrifices his own happiness and dreams for the sake of those around him, and yet God seems relatively absent pre-Clarence. It is only when George is moments away from flinging himself off a bridge that God bothers to step in. 

George has had some personal success, a wife and children, but he's been hit with an absolutely unreasonable amount of childhood trauma, suffering, and financial struggles. The guy can't seem to catch a break and God seems mostly unconcerned. Where was God when George was being slapped around by his drunken pharmacist boss or after Peter Bailey's stroke? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, it seems like he would have done something a lot sooner. 

The treatment of women in this classic has not aged well, and no character suffers more from sexist double standards than Violet Bick. The fact she dates around rather than settling down and marrying makes her the town pariah, and not just in the nightmarish version of Bedford Falls without George Bailey. Even in a world with George, Violet is so scorned for her promiscuity she's driven out of town penniless and alone. Her dramatic exit makes one wonder just how wholesome this small town community really is. 

At the end of the film, George’s friends and neighbors pool their money to replace the $8,000 Mr. Potter stole. This leads a police officer to rip up George’s arrest warrant before joining the party for a round of Christmas carols. However, would this really eliminate George’s legal troubles?

While paying off a debt can void an arrest warrant, it’s a complicated legal process that usually must be done at a courthouse with the assistance of a criminal defense attorney. The police also know where George’s $8,000 came from, and the original money remains missing. If anything, the ending could worsen George’s legal situation. Prosecutors could argue he pocketed the original $8,000, then conned the town into paying off his debt, adding charges of fraud to the existing charges of theft.