George Bailey Wanted to Be an Urban Planner

I, like billions of other people, watched It’s a Wonderful Life over the holiday season. Unlike many prior watchings, though, this time I sat down and watched the entire movie from beginning to end. I bet a lot of people have seen it mostly like I had, parts picked up here and there until you know the whole thing by heart. However, this time I picked up on a line which either I had not caught before or didn’t really care about before. When George Bailey is discussing his dreams with his father early in the film (scroll down to the third-quote from the bottom for most of the scene, but not this one line), he lists for his dad all the dreams he had, including a desire to “plan modern cities.”

Obviously, things got in the way — so that dream, like so many of George’s, never came true. But, thankfully, it all worked out in the end and Clarence got his wings. I have news for George Bailey: Pottersville was a planned city. Bedford Falls was not. Which one would you rather live in? (I know, I admit I’d rather hang out in Pottersville, too, but I want to live in Bedford Falls.)