The Idyllic of the Small Town as Portrayed in Capras Film - Article Example

Name Tutor Course Institution Date Introduction The origin of town, suburbs and city can be traced back in the 19th Century and a number of films have tried to depict some of their common social and physical characteristics. This article will show some of the arguments for and against each of these as portrayed in the Frank Capra’s Film, ‘’It’s A Wonderful Life’’. It will look into the idyllic of the small town as portrayed in Capra’s Film at the emergence of the suburban boom. It’s a Wonderful Life is the best film in history which thoroughly describe the life in small town. Thesmall town in this film is the Bedford Falls while PottersVille is the alternate urban version of the town. It’s a Wonderful Life generally depict life in small town as being good and attractive. George Bailey, the main character in the film, is depicted working in the drugstore. The drugstore is portrayed as a place for socialization where people gather to enjoy sodas, milkshakes as well as sundaes as they chat. It is also a place where romances blossom as it is here where George Bailey meets his wife Mary. In the Film, the drugstore is notable as a social place which brings adult and children together. It is secure, publicly acceptable place for girls and boys to meet and hence be introduced into the community rituals of dating and courtship. In the film, this drugstore is depicted as lively, wildly popular place for old and young while Gower, the druggist is portrayed as well-recognized by the townspeople. Moreover, Gower knowns his customers very well to a point that he can give them drinks on credit. This type of a personal relationship in small town is featured throughout this film and is contrast with what we see in suburbs and city experience of retailing. Shops are depicted as being locally owned and run by well-known storekeepers, in contrast to the chain branding and multi-national we see in suburbs and city retailing nowadays. In cities, retailers are only known by their established brand, which is expected to communicate the function to people. However, in the urbanized version, PotterVille, the drugstore is depicted as a busy and well-patronised place (MacKinnon, 1984). There is social integration in small town as opposed to suburbs and city as portrayed in this film. In the Film, George Bailey is shown as having a personal relationship with the luggage store’s owner, Gower the druggist and Martini the bar owner. Moreover, he has a one-on-one relationship with his clients at the Bailey Building and Loan. For example, when the business runs short of deposit, he pleads with his clients not to worry and make the business to go down. It is important to note that George knows his customers by name as he refer to them as ‘Joe’, ‘Randall’, ‘Charlie’, ‘Ed’, ‘Tom’, ‘Mrs. Davis’ and ‘Mrs. Thompson (not forgetting the houses of ‘’The Kennedys’ and ‘Mrs. Maitland’) and can even mention details of their fiscal circumstances. Moreover, he does not ask for form-filling as he offers loans from his personal money. ‘’You don’t have to sign anything; I know you, you pay it when you can, that’s Okay’’ (Maland, 1980, p. 48). As a result of this close relationship with people, we find that at the end of the film many of his clients come to his rescue. On the other hand, Potter is depicted as being radical and uncaring businessman who is not interested in knowing his customers. In this film, social integration is also shown whereby many people’s business place is the street and the home. Good examples of the on-street community are Ernie the taxi driver and Bert the policeman. These two known George very well and they cooperate in arranging his passionate wedding night. This depicts a residential population meticulously intertwined socially with the businesses of the community and where socialization takes place in business places and business takes place in social spaces. Social life in Suburbs is expected to take place primarily at home and not in the business sphere. Suburbs depict a structuring of the city founded on the principle that family is community (Beuka, 2004). Furthermore, It’s a Wonderful Life depict the small town as being characterized by social compactness whereby there is social interconnectivity and familiarity. In this town, retailers tend to know their customers intimately and this kind of personal connectivity tends to unite the community closely together. This is in contrast to suburbs and cities whereby people are seen as being part of a bigger undifferentiated mass of inhabitant. Community interconnectivity stresses on communal celebrations as these events are seen to unite the community. Great examples of such events are the school dance and the homecoming party for Harry Bailey in the film. However, it is important to note that such community interconnectedness is prone to dangerous gossips that can have adverse effect on the person concerned. For example, in the film, the good-time girl Violent is forced to free the town after being involved in several personal scandals (Willian, 2006, p. 95). The small town of Bedford Fall is characterized by a prominent civic precinct, including church, library, utility buildings, courthouse and police station. This raises the significance of religious and civic institutions in framing the town. Religious institutions play a significance role in the community in strengthening the emphasis on conservative and traditional values. Moreover, institutions play a great role in promoting community participation and engagement. Capra portrays the small town as having strong social order and close-knit community. In the film, George and Mary meet at a party organised in a local high school and it here their romance blossoms. On the other hand, suburban areas have few religious institutions and are hence characterized by decreased participation in community activities. Life in suburbs is dispersed and privatised. Church attendance in Suburbs is very low. The However, it is critical to mention that institutions also play a major role in propagating ideological frameworks (Maland, 1980). The Church plays an important role in the town. For example, the wedding of George Bailey and Mary took place in a church, meaning the church as a foundation for community cohesion where couples formalize their unions. Moreover, the church is a place of socialising and a source of moral guidance. It acts as a foundation of community cohesion. However, in suburbs and cities, socializing is increasingly being centred in the workplace. In the film, banks are figured prominently and it is here where the family patriarch works but it is in the same bank where his career is destroyed by a back scandal making him turn to property development. It is important to note that this does not undermine the significance of the bank in the community’s welfare (Willian, 2006, p. 9). The design of the portrayed small town stresses stability and conservative values. The town is built using Victorian architectural design that has several advantages. For instance, the Victorian shop front has a sensible advantage as the design is centred on a prevailing façade which hides the rooftop from behind as well as built boundary-to-boundary, making it a perfect pattern for set construction as just one face of a shop normally needs to be constructed. In town, families are seen as playing a vital role in the forming of societies and this is emphasized in their traditional house constructions designs while in cities and suburbs, the family is not seen as the key social structure as they embrace multi-bedroom separate houses on large estates as their basic component of construction. Suburbs are composed of little instead of family housing and this has served to isolate the very families it’s supposed to unite. In fact Lewis Mumford says, ‘’Instead of centering attention on the child in the garden, we now have the image of “Families in Space.” For the wider the scattering of the population, the greater the isolation of the individual household, and the more effort it takes to do privately, even with the aid of many machines and automatic devices, what used to be done in company often with conversation, song, and the enjoyment of the physical presence of others’’ (Mumford, 1961, p. 215). It’s a Wonderful Life portrays the street in the small town as being an active and appealing space in residential and commercial areas. This is shown by the way in which domestic spaces relate with public spaces. This movie constantly shows a fluid boundary between the private realm and public realm. For example, in the residential precinct, transitional spaces, including the verandas and front yards, are widely used as a background for action. These spaces, especially the verandas are well-known as being secluded, domestic spaces, however, ones that are actively favourable to participation in public life as well as enjoyment of the goings-on taking place on the street. In the film, George Bailey realizes the dangers of the private scrutiny of the public sphere when he is booed by a veranda-bound tenant for his gawky courtship of Mary. Moreover, characters are depicted talking with other characters outside their homes through their windows. The same trend is observed when it comes to commercial buildings. The Victorian shop front is fitted with a large window to talk to people outside, though the major goal of having such a large window is to display the goods properly. However, it also serves the purpose of linking the inside of the offices and shops to the public life taking place in the street. In this film, the Genesee Street is characterized by three shop sets built next to the Backlot Street, the drugstore, the bank and the luggage shop (MacKinnon, 1984). As depicted in the film, small towns are characterized by physical compactness whereby residents can comfortably walk to the homes of their friends as well as institutions, including schools and churches. For example, we see George and Mary walking home as they come from the school dance. On the other hand, suburbs and cities are characterized by insecurities and walking on the street is seen as risking one life a getting mugged and kidnapped is the order of the day. As a result, there are few people seen walking down the street in these areas and hence suburbs and cities are characterized by automobile dominance. Capra sees the city life as being immoral and corrupting. Young women become prostitutes immediately they get into the city. In the film, the city is depicted as having bad characters as such drunkards, old maid, bullies, poisoners, madmen as well as embittered old women. The city represents sin, anonymity, and unbridled capitalism. This film precisely sums up the candid worries of suburbs and cities by using Potter to highpoint the poor quality of life in these areas. Potter is portrayed as a landlord in the slum area who keeps resident renting in poor quality houses, making them live like pigs. Houses in suburbs and cities are not affordable while in small towns they are reasonably priced so as everyone can afford to rent one. In short, in small towns community comes first while the need to makes profit comes second and this is in contrast to what we see in cities (AlSayyad, 2006, p. 81). References AlSayyad, N. (2006). Cinematic Urbanism: A History of the Modern from Reel to Real. New York & London: Routledge. Beuka, R. A. (2004). SuburbiaNation: Reading Suburban Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Film. Palgrave Macmillan. Willian, M. (2006). The Essential It’s a Wonderful Life: A Scene-by-Scene Guide to the Classic Film. Second edition. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. MacKinnon, K. (1984). Hollywood’s Small Towns: An Introduction to the American Small- Town Movie. Metuchen, N.J. & London: Scarecrow Press. Maland, C. J. (1980). Frank Capra. Boston: Twayne. Mumford, L. (1961). The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects. 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