MovieChat Forums > It's a Wonderful Life (1947) Discussion > Only one thing about the film I have iss...

Only one thing about the film I have issue with.....

posted 8 years ago by JakeHelmer
6 replies | jump to latest

The note from Clarence at the end says "...no man is a failure who has friends".

This is sort of a terrible message; that your self worth is dependent on having friends or not having friends. Plenty of total losers (failures) have had lots of friends. I mean, I'm sure Hitler, Charles Manson and Jim Jones had lots of friends, that doesn't make them successful people. Those men were total failures in every sense of the word.

Conversely, plenty of great people have no true friends. Look at Jesus. At the very end of his life, all his "friends" abandoned him ("Then everyone deserted him and fled." Mark 14:50). Does that mean Jesus is a failure?

It just seems like a bizarre message at the very end of the movie. Up until that point in the movie, the theme of the movie is to be grateful for your life and to be aware of what you can contribute and add to this world; not to determine your value in this world based on having friends or not.

Did Ebenezer Scrooge have friends? No.
Did Phil Conners have friends in the Groundhog Day? No.

Those point of those movies is also about being grateful and cognizant of how you can help others.

Am I reading to much into this? I love the movie. It's one of the greatest movies of all time, but that ending has always bothered me a bit and seems to contradict the overarching theme of the film - which is...you bring value to this world because of what YOU CAN DO, not what YOU HAVE (friends, possessions, money, etc.)

[–] duckyslattery 8 years ago

I found it strange that Clarence's message doesn't really have much to do with him never being born. It has to do with everyone helping him. But people would have helped him even if he didn't have his experience with Clarence. I'm sure people will say the people benefitting from him being born are helping him out and they are probably right too.

[–] Big_AL-96 8 years ago

I found it strange that Clarence's message doesn't really have much to do with him never being born. It has to do with everyone helping him

The message is clear. Let's break down your statement.

George is considering suicide in order to escape the same of prison and obviously there would be the payout from the insurance from his death. He had no idea or expectation that the town would come to his aid. At this point he hadn't even mentioned never being born. Clarence just puts his own life in peril in order to save George's. George s still belligerent in the gatehouse, when he says it would probably be better if he hadn't been born at all.
That is when it becomes clear to him how many lives he touched, and saved (his brother, the little boy who had taken the poison and of course the downfall of old man Gower). Mary is a spinster, the town goes to pot (pun intended) and becomes a den of vice (or so it would seem). His mother is scraping by taking in boarders, and Uncle Billy is in an insane asylum.

These people all had better lives because of George being a friend, therefore he was not a failure. When he realised this he was prepared to go to prison, sacrifice himself, but as you correctly stated, those friends also saved him.

So yes, they probably would have helped him out if Clarence hadn't stepped in, but he would have been long drowned and never realised that fact.

Let's pray the human race never escapes Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere. C.S Lewis

[–] muchmeow 8 years ago

Well, you made a good point but (hopefully) nobody determines their self worth based on movies.

[–] Eric-62-2 8 years ago

I think the point of the message is that George was underestimating the depth of feeling that those he had selflessly helped had for him. Here he was contemplating suicide rather than recognize that he had a depth of people who were his friends who were glad to lend their support to him.

[–] sroy2001 8 years ago

I agree with poster Eric. I think what they meant by "no man is a failure who has friends" is not that being a popular guy makes you successful, it's more to do with relationships where there is true caring and reciprocation. Hitler and Manson had legions and followers, not true friends. Hitler and Manson were exploiters for self gain,not reciprocators. So the real message I think should have been "no man is a failure who is selfless and caring and has others who care about him".

[–] jimprideaux2 8 years ago

In the context of the movie it was Potter who accused George of being a failure. So between the two of them who's the success and who is the failure. The man with wealth or the man with friends. After viewing the movie most folks would say George was the success.