In this article, Toles explains that through being unborn, George comes to the realization of all the accomplishments of his life’s journey. This highlights the concept known as the butterfly effect, the massive effect that one action can have on every subsequent action. Through this journey, George renews his desire to live. The most interesting point to which Toles calls attention is that the place where one best fits is where one is most needed. Through fulfilling needs of others, we find hidden fulfillment of our own needs. George’s proper place was Bedford Falls because he is most needed to stop the town from becoming Pottersville. In viewing the butterfly effect his life has had on the entire community around him, George comes to the realization that he did indeed fulfill his own needs. Toles puts a great emphasis on a few scenes within the movie, one being the final scene. He notes that we see the revitalization of nearly every character that we had previously seen in Pottersville: Bert, Ernie, Uncle Billy, Mary, Harry, Violet, Mr. Martini, Mr. Gower, and obviously George. In addition, George sees his problems become blessings. His bleeding lip and his crashed car thrill him. He is delighted to see the police officer and the bank examiner in his house. He kisses the broken banister knob. In this final scene, we see the culmination of the community as a family. Toles highlights that in the post-war era, Capra was hoping to celebrate the country as an undivided family. This final scene is Capra’s way by which he depicts this idea.
    This article is noteworthy for its looking at individual scenes. It delves in depth into the scene at Mr. Gower’s drugstore and into the final twenty minutes in Pottersville and George’s reincarnation. In describing these scenes, Toles expresses how Capra was able to convey certain feelings within us. For example, since we are already familiar with the town of Bedford Falls, Pottersville is an eerie apparition of Bedford Falls. We recognize the similar layout of Bailey Park and the cemetery. We see the contrast of George’s house in the two worlds. Toles notes that through film noir techniques, Capra is able to capture Pottersville as a creepy and dark version of Bedford Falls. As Toles describes these individual scenes, it makes it easier for the reader to understand George’s realization.

Toles, George E. "'No Bigger than Zuzu's Petals': Dream-Messages, Epiphanies, and the Undoing of Conventions in It's a Wonderful Life" The North Dakota quarterly [0029-277X] 52.3 (1984). 43-.

Note: Link available on Google books. (pp 51-75)

    In this article, Patrick Deneen introduces the concept of the natural American Dream. Jefferson and de Toqueville expressed that the American pursuit of happiness was a desire to infinitely improve oneself and to find something new. George Bailey obviously has this longing within him, as his adventurous self wants nothing more than to leave Bedford Falls. Deneen contends that this desire reflects George’s actual dark side, the side that wishes to destroy Bedford Falls’ communal atmosphere. While this is not his intended action, it is a byproduct of his actions. Bedford Falls is the portrayal of the idyllic small town where everyone knows your name. George’s dream is to escape this small town for the exotic where he is a complete stranger. When he cannot leave Bedford Falls to build big skyscrapers or bridges, he instead builds Bailey Park, a lower income residence community. Inadvertently, Deneen articulates, this is not a community at all. Unlike Bedford Falls, these homes do not have front porches; instead they have back patios. Deneen stresses that the front porch is the true embodiment of community living, where one can be in one’s home while still interacting with the community around. Life in Bailey Park is led in private, absent of human interaction. When George visits his unborn life and returns to see Bailey Park, he finds it is an old cemetery. Ironically, in building these isolated suburban residences, he built over a cemetery linking the community with Bedford Falls’ founders. While his actions were charitable and community-driven, he had unintentionally helped to destroy the communal basis of Bedford Falls.
    Deneen’s article is noteworthy because while it commends George’s charitable actions, it notes their negative consequences as well. In creating the affordable homes for all, he has inadvertently led to the destruction of community within Bedford Falls. Deneen ends his article with a thoughtful question. He wonders if the people who live in Bailey Park be willing to help future neighbors and friends in the way they were willing to help George. Since he has created a new isolated community of Bailey Park, one must wonder if his charitable message will be able to go beyond his own personal life. While the community is there for George at the end of the film, the key question is whether the Bailey Park residents will still treat each other like neighbors in the way George treated them. This article emphasizes that George’s relationships made his life wonderful, but is skeptical that the future generations will be able to form such strong relationships.

Deneen,PJ . "Awakening from the American Dream: The End of Escape in American Cinema?" Perspectives on political science [1045-7097] 31.2 (2002). 96-.

Note: In Penntext link, click Alt Presswatch

    This article takes a somewhat negative view at the outcome of George’s life.  It explains that George lives in the clutch of society’s grasp.  Family is the prison of George Bailey.  George has two attempts to escape the family.  Before marriage, he had professed his opposition to marriage.  He desired freedom, women, success, and glory abroad.  He did not want a girl from Bedford Falls getting in his way.  However, he could not escape this family because of his father’s death, Harry’s job offer, falling in love with Mary, and the bank run.  Therefore, he settles into his own family of Mary, 5 children, and the Building and Loan.  He has a second opportunity to escape his family when Uncle Billy loses the $8,000.  He could go to prison and forget his familial obligations or he could commit suicide.  However, George does not do it.  There is the underlying belief that society calls for family with a nuclear father figure.  The dreamlike sequence of Pottersville demonstrates that if a man is not there for his family, society can collapse.  Therefore, George continues to sacrifice his own potential to fill his role for his family and society.
    This article is unique in its interpretation of the end of the movie.  It does not see George as happy with his seemingly wonderful life.  Instead, it still views him as a sacrificing his dreams for the good of his family.  I would have to disagree with this interpretation.  I think that George Bailey recognizes all the good he has done in his life and his value within society.  He had not previously understood all the good he had done.  After his walk through Pottersville he has a higher appreciation for the life that he led and for the communal family he had fostered.  While I may disagree with her, Redman’s negative view is certainly worth noting and significant.

Redman,JHE . "The American happy family that never was: ambivalence in the Hollywood Family Melodrama" European Journal of American Culture [1466-0407] 22.1 (2003). 49-.

Von der Lippe, George B.  “Death in Venice in Literature and Film: Six 20th-Century Versions.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 32(1) (1999): 35-54.

Von der Lippe places Don’t Look Now into a genre specific to Venice.  He compares Don’t Look Now to Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, Ian McEwan’s Comfort of Strangers, etc. and finds common threads in them which he weaves into a genre.  Much in the same way that film critics found similar styles in American crime films and called them “film noir,” Von der Lippe sees these works as Venice-specific works (a term which he does not actually use).  In these works, Venice is defined by its labyrinthine design.  Venice is also described as a place of escape; as Von der Lippe writes, “All of the travelers have left their northern homes in search of that which has been lost.”  Venice is where their search takes them, but, unfortunately, they will never find what they are looking for in Venice.  Von der Lippe sets up Venice as the only logical place where Don’t Look Now could be set.  Venice is a disorienting place and a place of escape, and Don’t Look Now is about a couple escaping their troubles, searching for answers, and getting lost in their search (although it is only John who gets lost).  Von der Lippe shows that it is not just Laura who is impervious to the trappings of Venice, but all of the women in these Venice-specific works.  He writes, “Most often it is the women of these tales who are strong - who traverse the labyrinth with relative ease and confidence.”  He does not go into detail as to why it is the women who are able to “traverse the labyrinth,” but he describes in depth how the women do this in each work.
Von der Lippe focuses most of his essay on the recurring theme of the labyrinth in the various works.  He argues that, “central to the continuing fascination with Venice and the dominant metaphor in this archetypal tale is the “labyrinth.””  As we have seen in other essays concerning Don’t Look Now, the twisting, confusing geography of Venice is central to Roeg’s film...