Girls, Do Not Let THIS Happen To You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darlings, today the IFC Center in New York commences its annual series of Holiday screenings of the Frank Capra classic "It's A Wonderful Life." For those of you who may never have seen it, or not seen it on the screen, I urge you to visit. However, if like me, you have sat through this ad nasuem since one's teens, you may have some issues with it, as I do, well made a film though it be.

The film starts with someone trying to commit suicide. Now, having lost a friend to that 21 years before, I have a bit of a problem with this. Added to which this particular person is going to jump off a bridge, and after the Story Of The Year, Tyler Clementi, I have more than a problem watching this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But that is not all!!!!!!!!!! If you are a woman, forget it!!!!!!!!!!!! Because the sexism of this film ultimately says that the only way one can be a woman is to be a traditional suburban wife and raise children with a husband. The alternative is to either become a prostitute, as in the case of Gloria Grahame's character, Violet Bick (and we have ALL wanted to be Violet, darlings, because at least she gets to look glamorous) or worse, become what happens to the unmarried Mary Hatch (Donna Reed).

Who can forget the scene??? In the sequence where George Bailey is shown life had he never been born, asking about the outcome of his wife, Mary, he immediately gets told by a horror struck Henry Travers:"You're not gonna like it, George! She never married! She's and old maid!" And then, the greatest horror of all, "SHE'S STARTING TO CLOSE UP THE TOWN LIBRARY!"

Yes, darlings, according to this film, a librarian is the worst thing you can become! God forbid you should be learned and educated; hell that edict still applies today. Librarians have been getting a bad rap in all sorts of places--"The Music Man" comes to mind, too--but the delineation here is the definitive insult to all those who work in the profession and fight every day against this image!!!!!!!!!
Thank God for Parker Posey in "Party Girl."

And look how bad Mary looks as a librarian! Not just the repressed sexuality, girls, but the skin!!!!!!!!!!!! See what happens when you do NOT moisturize!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the first of my Christmas reminders to you is not to let this happen!!!! And you can start by ceasing to view this film!!!!!!!!!! It only serves to compound anxiety and depression, not eliminate it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wash your face with Noxema, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!