How This IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Character is the Unsung Hero
By Movieguide® Contributor
George Bailey is the main chararcter in the hit Christmas film IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
READ MORE: MOVIEGUIDE®’S FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Played by James “Jimmy” Stewart many people believe Bailey “helped save his family and community throughout economic hardship. However, a close reading depicts many of his responses to hardship as less than admirable. Instead, his wife, Mary (Donna Reed), is the one who really holds the family together and makes it possible for George to succeed,” Mickey Randle writes for Collider.
According to the Movieguide® review:
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is the Christmas movie classic, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It’s about the struggling owner of a small-town savings and loan company who discovers, with the help of a quirky angel named Clarence, that he’s the richest man in the world. After years of struggling to make ends meet, George Bailey contemplates suicide when his forgetful uncle accidentally misplaces $8,000. George’s family and friends are praying to God for him, however. As a result, God sends a bumbling but lovable angel who happens upon the one thing that will remind George he’s really led a wonderful life.
So, why is Mary considered the unsung hero of the film?
Soon after George and Mary get married and are about to take off for their honeymoon, the company George works for falls into financial hardship.
This ultimately leads to the company’s collapse which sparks the beginning of the Great Depression.
As George makes an attempt to save the company, Randle recalls, “Mary holds up the stack of cash the couple intended to use for a honeymoon and a house. She publicly offers up the money. George catches on and begins to distribute the money, saving the loan company and the community.”
Ultimately, Randle writes, “The film is a subtle portrayal of the way that women were (and often still are) treated in relation to the patriarchal structures of modern society. George is repeatedly allowed grievances because of a situation that would trouble anyone regardless of gender, but Mary is expected to bear George’s burdens with a smile on her face. The fact that it is Mary’s ingenuity that saves the day suggests that IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is at least slightly aware of the kinds of gender roles it means to portray, thus reading IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE as social commentary is not far-fetched by any means.”
The Anchorage Daily New’s Monica Hesse agrees:
“It’s a Wonderful Life is the story of Mary Bailey, who twice saves her husband’s floundering business, pulls him back from the brink of suicide/jail, and raises four children while successfully gut-rehabbing a historic home,” observes another member of Team Mary.
“Mary Bailey is the true hero of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ” says Caleb Norris, a film buff with whom I chatted about our shared Mary devotion. “And some mopey man gets all the glory.”
Mary deals with the same leaky roof and small-town limitations as her husband with one major difference: She never complains. She doesn’t need an angel named Clarence to descend from heaven and inform her that she’s actually led a wonderful life. She knows intuitively that wonderful lives are not made by collecting passport stamps or military honors; they are made by investing in the community around you and wallpapering the bejesus out of an old Victorian.
Movieguide® considers IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE to be one of the best movies ever made.
Per the review: “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is arguably the most beloved movie of all time. It’s certainly the most uplifting, rewarding and redemptive movie. It’s also funny, emotionally powerful, psychologically enriching, and beautifully made. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a pro-life masterpiece by Director Frank Capra, with brilliant performances by Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, and a cast of terrific character actors. Slight caution is advised for some false angelology, but the movie honors God in a whimsical, profound, powerful way.”
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