Henry Potter + Biff Bannon = Donald Trump
December 17, 2023 10:13 AM Subscribe
George Bailey Was Never Born [podcast website with all episodes] is a 10 episode podcast which deep dives into the 1946 film It's A Wonderful Life [Wikipedia] through the lens of economic justice and populism, and how Mr. Potter seems to be winning in all aspects of THIS universe in which George Bailey was never born. The playlist on YouTube is in the wrong order but here is Episode 1: The Public’s Movie (1974-’92), and the rest can be found from there. Episodes average about 1 hour.
Yeah, probably meant that. The guy from Back To The Future. It's always the small things I don't search to check that bite me in the ass.
posted by hippybear at 10:31 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 10:31 AM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Saame :) I'm great with fictional characters but I'm a horror with real people's names.
I've always thought Trump is like Eric Cartman come to life. But that is less seasonal than a comparison to Mr. Potter!
posted by MiraK at 10:34 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
I've always thought Trump is like Eric Cartman come to life. But that is less seasonal than a comparison to Mr. Potter!
posted by MiraK at 10:34 AM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
I've never really envisioned Trump singing Hungry Eyes or All By Myself, but maybe. [Typo maybe?]
Anyway, enough of that derail.
posted by hippybear at 10:37 AM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Anyway, enough of that derail.
posted by hippybear at 10:37 AM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
which Hogwart's House was Biff Bannon in?? (jk I did read that as Harry at first...)
posted by supermedusa at 10:42 AM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:42 AM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
Shit, I was amaaazed at the breadth of the crossover when I mis-read that as Harry Potter and Mr. Potter and the guy from BttF!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:00 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 12:00 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ooo, I wonder if I can listen in time for my annual Christmas Eve watching of the movie. There’s too much to do with Yuletide fic and presents and life shit in general, but I do have the week off from chemotherapy…
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:01 PM on December 17, 2023
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:01 PM on December 17, 2023
Shit, I was amaaazed at the breadth of the crossover when I mis-read that
By the time you're halfway into the third episode, you'll be pretty surprised where all this is going, even if the first and second episodes weren't already a bit sideways enough of an approach to the topic.
posted by hippybear at 12:05 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
By the time you're halfway into the third episode, you'll be pretty surprised where all this is going, even if the first and second episodes weren't already a bit sideways enough of an approach to the topic.
posted by hippybear at 12:05 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
In The Mask, the bad guy, night club owner is Dorian Tyrell. Same initials as Trump. Same ego. Back in Trump's casino days.
In The Omen, the Antichrist, is Damien Thorne. Same initials. Donald Trump did have a big profile done of him in the early 70s. Maybe the screenwriter David Seltzer, borrowed from that.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:54 PM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
In The Omen, the Antichrist, is Damien Thorne. Same initials. Donald Trump did have a big profile done of him in the early 70s. Maybe the screenwriter David Seltzer, borrowed from that.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:54 PM on December 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
Eh, It’s a Wonderful Life is pure anti-librarian propaganda.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:57 PM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:57 PM on December 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
Mary's fate worse than death - she never married.
posted by LostInUbe at 7:48 PM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by LostInUbe at 7:48 PM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
It’s a Wonderful Nightlife: In Defense of Pottersville
posted by credulous at 9:06 PM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by credulous at 9:06 PM on December 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
The Pottersville of It's a Wonderful Life has blacks on the streets (not just their black maid)
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:14 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:14 PM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
It’s a Wonderful Nightlife: In Defense of Pottersville
I know you're making a joke, and I do quite appreciate the joke and it should be a musical cabaret evening someplace...
but you'll be shocked how close the implied subject matter of your joke title is covered in Episode Three of this podcast.
posted by hippybear at 9:24 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
I know you're making a joke, and I do quite appreciate the joke and it should be a musical cabaret evening someplace...
but you'll be shocked how close the implied subject matter of your joke title is covered in Episode Three of this podcast.
posted by hippybear at 9:24 PM on December 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
> Mary's fate worse than death - she never married.
Not only that, she becomes a librarian.
I'm going to have to re-watch this movie sometime to see if it hits differently at 50 than it did at 20, because at 20 I thought it was the most depressing shit I'd ever seen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:35 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not only that, she becomes a librarian.
I'm going to have to re-watch this movie sometime to see if it hits differently at 50 than it did at 20, because at 20 I thought it was the most depressing shit I'd ever seen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:35 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
The way that Clarence screams "she's at the library" and the music at that moment are always faintly comical to me, yes, yes, this is the most horrible fate that could befall a woman.
I love this movie and love every deep dive into aspects of it; I think it's a rich text. Great post! Thank you!
posted by punchtothehead at 6:08 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I love this movie and love every deep dive into aspects of it; I think it's a rich text. Great post! Thank you!
posted by punchtothehead at 6:08 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'd love to add this to my podcast player, but I can't seem to find a generic RSS feed for it...anyone see one hiding anywhere?
posted by griffey at 8:45 AM on December 18, 2023
posted by griffey at 8:45 AM on December 18, 2023
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
She is, as much as George, a profoundly unusual person laboring under her own personal destiny. In the world where George does not exist, she has not married not because she couldn’t, but because she does not want to. There is not a Mary-sized man in town, and Mary Hatch does not do anything just because it’s what might be expected of her. Her story in this counterfactual is a sad one, but it is not one of passive submission to circumstance.posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:50 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Here's the rss feed link, found via this page, which was found via too much digging around.
posted by hippybear at 11:36 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 11:36 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Biff Bannon
Biff Tannen.
Steve Bannon.
I mean... Has anyone ever seen them together?
posted by The Bellman at 11:40 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Biff Tannen.
Steve Bannon.
I mean... Has anyone ever seen them together?
posted by The Bellman at 11:40 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Honestly, even as I was typing Biff Bannon into the title of this post, I was thinking, "This is a bit of a Stan Lee name, isn't it? Did Zemeckis really allow this to happen in his movie?" But I was lazy and didn't do any search at all.
Let this be a lesson to all you kiddos out there -- search even the smallest of details before you click Post.
posted by hippybear at 1:25 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Let this be a lesson to all you kiddos out there -- search even the smallest of details before you click Post.
posted by hippybear at 1:25 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
The entirety of Episode 9 is devoted to Mary and her strength and legacy.
posted by hippybear at 3:32 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
The entirety of Episode 9 is devoted to Mary and her strength and legacy.
posted by hippybear at 3:32 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
We...really don't know anything about the Mary in the pocket universe*, whose dialogue is mostly just terrified screaming. Her extreme freak out over George's approach does not seem to imply a terribly strong person whose shit is super together, in my opinion, but on the other hand she is a working woman with independence and, frankly, a terrific sense of personal style.
Pottersville seemed a lot cooler than Bedford Falls, but Nick was such an awful prick that I generally suspect most of the people who lived there were real assholes.
*Watching It's a Wonderful Life recently, I was struck by how closely it prefigured Donnie Darko.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:58 PM on December 18, 2023
Pottersville seemed a lot cooler than Bedford Falls, but Nick was such an awful prick that I generally suspect most of the people who lived there were real assholes.
*Watching It's a Wonderful Life recently, I was struck by how closely it prefigured Donnie Darko.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:58 PM on December 18, 2023
So I got to episode 3. I understand the people who say the main street in Pottersville looks like more fun. Maybe I even agree. But I'll be damned if I'm going to sit through somebody who bleats about "freedum"on their podcast trying to tell me that Ebeneezer Scrooge wasn't a villain.
Episode 4 is infuriating to listen to people using the law to fold time and space, but I didn't fast forward to the end and thumbs down the video.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:34 AM on December 20, 2023
Episode 4 is infuriating to listen to people using the law to fold time and space, but I didn't fast forward to the end and thumbs down the video.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:34 AM on December 20, 2023
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posted by MiraK at 10:29 AM on December 17, 2023 [1 favorite]