Mary an old maid librarian?
Ya right! So off base for what would've happened if George wasn't born. She was far too attractive and had far too many guys after her (Sam Wainwright,and Alfalfa to name a few) for this to be believed.
shareYa right! So off base for what would've happened if George wasn't born. She was far too attractive and had far too many guys after her (Sam Wainwright,and Alfalfa to name a few) for this to be believed.
shareBut Mary had a chance to be with those guys even in the real universe and was holding out for her true love so its a good chance she might have ending up alone in the other universe. She even mentioned in the real world that if she didnt meet him she might have ended up an old maid.
shareand was holding out for her true love
The Lady is a Tramp! 👍
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xafBWOxqssg
No, the problem with that is it's a world without George who she showed she liked when she was about 5. In a George less world she would have probably married Sam.
shareHottest old maid ever.
sharefar too many guys after her
Yes, there have been other threads about this subject.
You are right that the premise that Mary would become and old maid librarian is inherently ludicrous.
They try to ugly up Donna Reed, which is really difficult to do.
But my main bone to pick, is the implication that the worst fate that can befall a woman is for her to become a librarian. It's such a tired, worn out cliche. Her career choices were limited, true. But librarians today are professionals who are important to the community. Less so in the 1940's, but with a certain amount of truth.
But librarians today are professionals who are important to the community.
The plain - Jane librarian cliché runs counter to my experience! I remember at least two librarians who, though they were from my parents' generation, were attractive enough--and yes, they wore glasses--to turn my head. And, as befits librarians they also measured 120" around the brain. They would have been a distraction to George Bailey in more ways than one! :D
shareHow did this stereotype even start? It's absurd. Being a librarian is just a job, like any other job, with attractive and unattractive women. There's nothing about being a librarian that would lure unattractive women, or cause women to become unattractive.
shareYES!
Let's complete that time machine and go back in time and rewrite that movie to fit us better.
While we're at it, let's fix every movie on that planet that has anything bad or wrong in it. I guess that is every movie.
ahhhh... life is so good being "progressive" and fixing everything and everyone
I agree with your sarcasm. Also in his effort to manufacture an offense to librarians above, I don’t think the poster considered that librarian would be a terrible and meaningless job in alternative-universe Pottersville where people were more interested in getting drunk with prostitutes and gambling. There was every reason for Mary as librarian to be presented in a dead end job; not as a commentary on the profession but as a commentary on Pottersville.
shareWorst of all, she wore GLASSES! I'm not sure how George not existing affected her eyes, but no matter.
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
Well to be fair this was a callback to an earlier scene where Mary tells George that she married him to keep from becoming an old maid because she didn't want to marry anyone else in town. I guess the idea is that she was never in love with Sam or Alfalfa and wouldn't have pursued a serious relationship with them. George was her soulmate and if he didn't exist than she wouldn't have fallen in love. Did they have to make her an old maid? No, they could have instead had her be in an unhappy marriage with Sam, but old maid librarian was probably just simpler and quicker to do.
shareJust like 1951's "Scrooge", the writers didn't have Mary marry because they wanted her to remain "pure" if you can believe that (and I posed that question many years ago to a well known director). Seems like the audience and men in particular would almost consider Mary to be cheating if she married someone else, despite the fact that George didn't exist. Better to have her unmarried and lonely than sleeping in someone else's bed I guess.
1951's Scrooge is more egregious, because it shows "Belle" as not married and living her life out as an old maid who is doing charity work for the poor. In Dicken's novella A Christmas Carol, The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge that his ex-fiance marries a great guy and raises a family and has a wonderful happy life. To change Dicken's story to fit 1950s mores is wrong IMO.
Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.share
It wasn't to make it fit 1950s mores. It was just to make it more poignant.
share