Ayn Rand denounced It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Christmas film that was a box office flop when it was first released, but whose popularity has slowly grown since then until it has become one of the most popular festive films of all time. It is one of the best movies I've ever seen. The setting is the fictional town of Bedford Falls in New York USA and the central character is one of its residents, a man called George Bailey, played by James Stewart. The plot follows his life from childhood to when he reaches maturity, in the contemporary late 1940's. By then he is married to the woman he loves and has four children. Despite this, he feels very dissatisfied with his life and bitterly regrets opportunities lost in the past, to travel the world and become wealthy. When a professional crisis strikes he decides to commit suicide, but the film ends happily of course. It is a very absorbing film and I find it very uplifting, as do many other people. It also includes the fascinating concept of parallel universes and alternate realities. This is the earliest story of that kind that I'm aware of. It predates by many decades other works with that conception such as Never Let Me Go, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2017/11/never-let-me-go-film-review.html, and my own books, the Roswell Trilogy, see: http://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2018/12/roswell-redeemed-is-here.html. Therefore I was shocked to discover that It's a Wonderful Life had been accused of spreading communist propaganda during the Red Scare. What's more, the person who is believed to have denounced the film was none other than Ayn Rand. During the 1940's and 50's the United States of America was struck down by an hysterical fear of "communists!". That word had a very different colloquial use to that of today. It didn't necessarily mean an orthodox Marxist; it could be applied to anybody who was not a table-thumping redneck. With retrospect, it turns out that there was some justification for that fear. The Venona project was a counterintelligence operation by the Signal Intelligence Service, later the NSA, that exposed the Cambridge spies; Blunt, Burgess, MacLean and Philby along with the espionage ring within the Manhattan project to develop the nuclear bomb. Yet that was just the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority of Venona intercepts were never deciphered. The agents who sent and received them were never caught. Some may still be alive today and walking free. Even the man whose very name was coined for institutional paranoid suspicion, Senator Joseph McCarthy, has been absolved somewhat, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wljpYZ8wejA. Yet none of these facts legitimize the depths and extremes of the "anti-communist" obsession of that era. It was even suggested that Superman's red cape was actually a red flag in disguise. A number of films emerged at the time which capture that terrified mania. They are almost funny when viewed through modern eyes, for instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KWHDNPdoCg, and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3QIf0VZLEQ, and: https://www.facebook.com/olgrizzoutdoors/videos/128233345139293. The only excuse I can think of was that this was the early Cold War and the threat of nuclear holocaust had just emerged; something so horrific that it caused mass insanity among the population in a way that those born under the shadow of the bomb could never comprehend. A number of cinema actors, writers and directors were subpoenaed by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Most refused to testify and were found in contempt. The "Hollywood Ten" as they were called were blacklisted from America's famous movie industry. These included some household names such as Arthur Miller, Humphrey Bogart and Lionel Stander. This film is a good history of the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ-dKru9RWM.

I have taken an interest in Ayn Rand during the last few years, see background links below. According to her biographer Barbara Branden, Rand agreed to assist the HUAC because she was concerned about the threat from "communists!", but she was pro-free speech and so opposed the blacklist. As part of her testimony she attacked the film It's a Wonderful Life. Her suspicions were first raised because of two of its screenwriters, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Neither were politically active "communists!", but they were acquainted with people who were "communists!". Even though that statement could apply to a good proportion of the American population, it didn't put Rand off. She claims that the principle antagonist in It's a Wonderful Life Henry Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, was an obvious caricature of a greedy capitalist. Potter is indeed an off-the-shelf portrayal of a selfish and avaricious man. He is also a thief who does not return some money he finds that was lost by George Bailey's uncle; which causes the crisis that leads to George's attempted suicide. However, George's resistance to Potter's reign of terror is not one of organized socialism. In fact he runs a credit union that encourages people to become homeowners. He creates an entire housing estate of self-built leasehold properties for the people of Bedford Falls. This is not a story of the left triumphing over capitalism, but rather individual or small-scale capitalism triumphing over corporate feudalism. The film stresses the importance of family values, patriotism and community tradition; ones considered the core of mid-twentieth century American identity. It also has a distinct spiritual theme. The message of the movie is that people suffering from low self-esteem should think twice. You might be more valuable than you believe you are. Source: http://www.openculture.com/2014/12/ayn-rand-helped-the-fbi-identify-its-a-wonderful-life-as-communist-propaganda.html. Frank Capra was never accused of "communism!" and was not even a liberal. He co-wrote the screenplay as well as directing the film and he said himself about his masterpiece that he wanted "to strengthen the individual's belief in himself and... combat the modern trend toward atheism." That could be Lenin talking I'm sure you'll agree!... In his quest, Capra agreed to collaborate with Goodrich and Hackett, and indeed Goodrich and Hackett agreed to collaborate with him. They did so very successfully. That doesn't sound like a conspiracy of reds-under-the-bed to me. It's a Wonderful Life has been harshly criticized by leftwing pundits for its religious themes and Christmas culture as well as its promotion of private property and individualism. It is generally regarded as a very conservative movie. A dislike of inequity and structural violence is not exclusive to the left. This article by Theodore Dalrymple makes that very clear. It is an analysis of the Russian author Ivan Turgenev's story Mumu, see: https://www.city-journal.org/html/how%E2%80%94and-how-not%E2%80%94-love-mankind-12177.html. I think this strange negative fixation on It's a Wonderful Life supports what I've said about Ayn Rand in the background links below. She was highly intelligent and capable of fascinating insights, but she also sometimes suffered from very warped perceptions. Maybe this was a result of her self-imposed isolation. Her social life revolved entirely around her family and close-knit circle of ideological supporters. She refused to appear on television and radio interviews with any of her opponents and could dissolve into a fit of rage when she encountered anybody who disagreed with her. Her behaviour is reminiscent of the modern SJW. She spent her whole adult life living within her own safe space. She once even castigated Barbara Branden for admiring the view outside her home. I think in some ways Ayn Rand was an emotionally immature person. It's odd that the same individual was also capable of producing truly great pieces of literature, with skilful style, gripping plots and astonishingly thought provoking concepts.

See here for background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-living-by-ayn-rand.html.

And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-fountainhead-by-ayn-rand_29.html.

And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2012/02/atlas-shrugged-by-ayn-rand.html.

And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/03/news-from-nowhere-by-william-morris.html.