Images of another time?

Over the holidays, while I was sick, I watched a lot of movies when I wasn't sleeping. On Christmas Eve, I managed to catch the last hour of a movie I had not seen in a long time and had forgotten about, Frank Capra's Meet John Doe. I was knocked on my back side and immediately got online to find and buy it. It is the story of Ann (Barbara Stanwyck) who loses her newspaper writing job in a ownership change. She is a single woman who is the sole support of her widowed mother and younger sisters, so in a desperate bid to keep her job, as her last story for the paper she makes up an anonymous "John Doe" letter by a man who claims to be so disgusted with society and how men treat each other that he is going to throw himself off the roof of City Hall at midnight on Christmas Eve in protest. The letter creates huge buzz and the paper decides to keep her on and hire a man to pretend to be "John Doe". They choose an ex- baseball pitcher hobo named John (Gary Cooper) and pay him to go along with it, promising him a one way ticket out of town on Christmas Eve. Soon the corrupt and wealthy new owner of the paper, DB Horton, realizes the power John could have, after he has Anne write a radio speech to capitalize on John's popularity. She crafts a speech promoting the values of understanding, kindness and generosity toward your neighbors and the message gets a huge positive reception.



John tours the country, giving more of these speeches and begins to believe he is "John Doe", inspiring common folk to start clubs and movements aimed at acting on those values in his speeches. What began as a publicity stunt to sell newspapers has become a full fledged movement. DB starts manipulating the movement to jockey for the formation of a third party, which he would head and be the presidential candidate for. He and his friends have intentions that are decidedly not on par with John's and the movement's ideals, so DB squelches the movement and tries to silence John after he discovers DB's plans and tries to reveal them publicly. DB's success at turning the public against him leads John to flee, and on Christmas Eve he climbs to the top of City Hall to martyr himself and fan the flames of the movement to resuscitate it. Ann, who has fallen in love with him, as well as some other "John Doe" supporters, come to City Hall to stop him. They convince him not to jump because, in the words of Ann, "If an idea is worth dying for, it's worth living for."



I was very affected by this film because those values resonate with me too. Did John singlehandedly change the world? No, but he encouraged others to join together and make a difference; to make their world a better place. I was so moved that I bought a collection of Capra films, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, You Can't Take It With You, and It's a Wonderful Life. All of these films are appeals to the goodness that lies within men's hearts and aspires to move us to live lives that reflect that goodness. Yes, in today's cynical eye, they may look simplistic, but that is only because we have chosen to make everything so complicated and "sophisticated". However, that doesn't change the fact that when you choose to suspend the jaded notions we hold as true, the ideas in these films are just as powerful today as they were then. They are also just as relevant. If I didn't recognize it myself, seeing the reaction of my 10 year old son to these films would confirm it.



Capra made these films during the Depression, when 25% of the population was unemployed and countless others were under employed or struggling. Everyone was primarily concerned with covering the basics and addressing the simple needs of life. Luxuries were just that and not part of the definition of what constitutes basic survival. That said, you know what the strange thing is? Talk to anyone who lived during that time and they'll tell you, while it was tough, they managed to be happy. They may have daydreamed about the life they saw in movies and magazines, but in reality, they were all in the same boat with their neighbors and found contentment with the overall quality of their lives. The average American toady live a life that only the wealthiest could achieve back then, yet all we do is complain about how tough things are.



Is it that the ideals in Capra's films are quaint, naive notions, or that we have such a skewed sense of what life is about that we can't appreciate them? I believe it is the latter. I highly doubt that a Capra film would ever see the light of day today, much less be a critical and commercial success. But that doesn't mean that we don't need to see these kind of films, hear these kinds of stories, and be affected by them. I will make a point of watching them, and my son with me, when I need to be reminded of what is real and what truly matters in this world.



Do yourself a huge favor. Go to the video store or online and pick up a copy of one of these Frank Capra films. Forget the fact that they are in black and white, are dialogue heavy, and contain no special effects or CGI. I think that, after watching them, you might end up a little sadder and a little wiser, but a lot more hopeful.