Is “It’s a Wonderful Life” Really a Reincarnation Trap movie?
Is the Frank Capra Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life an example of Reincarnation Trap or Simulation Theory cinema? There are several hints that this film, like Groundhog Day, The Truman Show and The Matrix may have a subliminal reincarnation/simulation theme.
Consider Capra’s character of the angel named Clarence Oddbody. Clarence is commanded by two entities in the stars named Joseph and Franklin. We assume they are high-ranking angels, but could they actually be agents, like Agent Smith in The Matrix, of an incarnation/reincarnation cycle for human souls? Like Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, Clarence might be thought of as an agent or “archon.” He refers to himself as an Angel Second Class. He has been sent by his superiors to help George Baily, a man struggling with his own existence, who is “discouraged” in the words of Joseph. But discouraged about what, exactly?
Clarence studies George’s life story and as his guardian angel, he is sent down to earth in response to the prayers of George and others. Clarence first appears on earth when he jumps into the river in front of George when he is about to commit suicide. By forcing George to rescue him, Clarence prevents George from killing himself. But apparently it wasn’t enough for Clarence to simply prevent George’s suicide, he must also give him an attitude adjustment. This is important, because Clarence’s work might have been finished at this point and the movie would be over, but Clarence needs to do something more.
When he and Clarence are drying out in the bridge toll-taker’s shed George acknowledges that he wanted to commit suicide. But he quickly agrees that this would be painful for the people he loves and instead wishes that “he had never been born.” Clarence says, “You mustn’t say things like that.”
Clarence realizes at that moment that George has a special problem, i.e. questioning the value of human existence, and asks his superiors for help. They agree to grant George’s wish and let him see what the world would have been like if he had never been born. Clarence, like the ghost of Christmas future in Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol, takes George on a journey into a hypothetical world — one into which George had never been born. George is shown all the misfortune that will come to his town and loved ones because he wasn’t there to, for example, save his brother from drowning or prevent the pharmacist from accidentally poisoning someone or Bedford Falls from becoming a decadent town named Pottersville filled with bars, dance halls and bowling alleys and his former wife Mary Hatch an anxious old spinster.
Clarence’s alternate life review, or “non-life review” only shows the potential bad outcomes from George Bailey’s never being born. It never admits that some things might have worked out for the better. Maybe the brother Harry never goes to the frozen pond and doesn’t drown. Maybe Mary marries Sam Wainwright and lives happily ever after. The alternative Bedford Falls scenario is only a way to persuade George to agree to his incarceration. He can’t be allowed to believe the heresy that he and the world might really be fine or even better if he did not incarnate according to plan. George is persuaded by his own ego to believe that he is indispensable. He is, in reality, a self-righteous, virtue-signaling do-gooder who believes that he is responsible for the well-being of everyone in Bedford Falls. This is Clarence’s trap; he preys upon George’s narcissism. George is thus persuaded to want his life again and when he returns to it his problems are solved as if by magic. In truth, all it took was Mary making a few calls to get enough money to cover the $8,000 bank deposit lost by Uncle Billy and pocketed by mean old Potter. Only a narcissist would attempt suicide over such a small problem instead of asking for help.
Clarence never reveals any alternative to life on earth. The possibility of his not being born implies George’s soul exists outside of his Bedford Falls life. But where and how? Does he really have a choice to be on earth or not? Who, if anyone, really benefits from George’s life? Is George’s soul playing a role in a simulation populated by non-player characters, aka NPCs, portraying the denizens of Bedford Falls? Is this world controlled by the angels/archons like Joseph, Franklin and Clarence in service of a gnostic demiurge, malign AI or intergalactic TV producer?
Clarence, like Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, keeps a soul from leaving the reincarnation cycle. Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey takes the reverse arc of Bill Murray’s Phil Connor. Phil, rather like Scrooge, reforms from his life of selfishness and decadence. He perfects himself to win the heart of Rita and the love and admiration of everyone in Punxsutawney whereas George is made to appreciate the goodness that his lifetime of self-sacrifice and virtuous behavior has brought to Bedford Falls. Ned lassoes a flagrant sinner and puts him in hell while Clarence reels in a doubting saint and returns him to heaven.
In each story, a woman they love at first sight is an important part of the lure. Mary Hatch and Rita may be NPCs. Or perhaps they are also embodied souls who are willing participants, like the actress playing Truman’s wife Meryl, motivated by their own interests — deals they have themselves made with their respective devils and angels. The two love interests in The Truman Show are the twin poles of attraction, Meryl binding him to Sea Haven and Lauren, the fired and free actress luring him out to freedom.
The parallels between Ned and Clarence include the allusions to their each being seemingly incompetent or new at what they do. Clarence gets his wings and Ned has the “greatest day of his life” when each accomplishes the goal of getting their assignment to explicitly agree to the choice that will continue their roles in the reincarnation cycle. Phil must sign the contract for “Single Premium” Life Insurance and George must explicitly demand to be returned to his life. Oddly, Truman sells life insurance and never agrees to life in Sea Haven — but after all, he is the only one who escapes.
Some other peculiar things that these films share:
George, like Truman is frequently immersed in water. Immersion is a symbol of baptism but can also be thought of as a memory wipe, a cleansing of the mind to prevent an awareness of the repeating cycles of entrapment. George gets wet in four scenes.
1. When rescuing Harry in the frozen pond.
2. Falling into the swimming pool beneath the dance floor at the graduation dance where George meets Mary and notices her adult beauty.
3. In the torrential rainstorm on George and Mary’s wedding night.
4. When jumping into the river to save Clarence.
Phil Connor’s stepping into the icy puddle is his baptism into the hellscape set in motion by Ned.
There are multiple scenes of George almost leaving town and being pulled back. This parallels Phil’s many attempts to leave Punxsutawney in Groundhog Day and Truman’s repeated attempts to leave Sea Haven for Fiji, the last known location of Lauren his romantic alternative to Meryl, the producer’s choice for his wife. Rewatching the film, I was struck by how many times George is frustrated in his attempts to leave Bedford Falls and list them here.
1. George, brandishing travel brochures for exotic destinations, gets a new suitcase at age 21 and is planning to leave town when his dad has a stroke and dies, and he is pulled back to take care of his family.
2. Three months later, after giving up his trip to Europe to help with the family business, George attends a final meeting of the S&L board of directors and resigns from this position to go off to college. But Potter attempts to close the company and George is forced by the board to stay on and manage it. So, Harry goes to college in George’s place.
3. Four years later, George, still carrying his brochures, plans to leave for jobs in faraway places when his younger brother Harry returns home from college, but Harry has gotten married and is offered a job with his new father-in-law, so George sacrifices his future plans and stays on at the S&L.
4. At the end of the celebration of Harry’s marriage, George hears a train whistle and remembers his dreams, but he is drawn back by his mother who tells him about the attraction Mary feels for him and that she otherwise might marry Sam Wainwright. George goes for a walk on which he meets and propositions the hot, flirty Violet Bick who rejects his wildly romantic and racy proposal because she doesn’t want to walk 10 miles out of town to a mountaintop with him. He bashfully walks to Mary’s house where he paces in front of her gate until she invites him in. He again expresses his desire to get out of Bedford Falls, but in a few moments, he looks into her yearning eyes, breaks down crying and the next thing you see is them getting married.
5. George and Mary are in a taxi about to leave on their honeymoon trip when George sees a crowd of people making a run on Potter’s bank and goes back to prevent a run on the S&L. Mary offers their savings to save the business and sacrifice his dreams.
6. Even WW2 can’t get him out of town because Potter classifies him as 4F for the draft.
7. When George tries to kill himself, he goes to the bridge at the end of town and attempts to commit suicide but even then, he can’t get out of Bedford Falls.
Truman’s town of Sea Haven is surrounded by water, and he has a deep fear of crossing water as a result of a childhood boating accident that resulted in his father’s death. Despite that, after many failed attempts to leave he puts a stuffed dummy in his bed, runs from his home, takes out a sailboat and sails away. He defies the show’s creator Christof’s attempt to get him to return by creating a storm. When Truman is tossed overboard, he climbs back aboard, ties himself into the boat and explicitly speaks for the first time to the unseen rulers of his realm; “You’re gonna to have to kill me.” Christof does go all out to actually kill him by raising waves to capsize the boat, but Truman miraculously survives.
In his final attempt to persuade Truman to stay Christof addresses him like God from the clouds announcing that he is the “creator of a television show.” Truman is told that he is the star of a show that “gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions.” Truman, unlike Phil or George, cannot be bribed or guilt-tripped into remaining a captive soul. He defies Christof’s condescending pleas to stay and leaves to the unheard cheers of the TV audience that has been on the edge of their seats. Truman walks through the door marked EXIT to a world he has never known.
Are these the kinds of challenges our own souls will need to overcome after death to escape our own reincarnations traps? This suggests that few souls do escape and those who do must leave on their own and by their own unique exit.
I doubt that the creators of these films deliberately intended them to be about the Reincarnation Trap or Simulation Theory, but there they are, like Dark City, The Adjustment Bureau and They Live movies that suggest that our perceived reality is not the true one. They reveal to us that it may be necessary to escape this realm, like Truman Burbank, to a reality we do not know and can barely imagine.
This website author’s sidebar: the creators of these films may not be aware of the various depths of possible interpretation(s) of their works (for awakened minds), but they definitely intend their work to program on some level.
Apropos of this, here’s a death bed statement of the late film critic Roger Ebert reported by his widow, Chaz Ebert:
“But the day before he passed away, he wrote me a note: ‘This is all an elaborate hoax.’ I asked him, ‘What’s a hoax?’ And he was talking about this world, this place. He said it was all an illusion. I thought he was just confused. But he was not confused. He wasn’t visiting heaven, not the way we think of heaven. He described it as a vastness that you can’t even imagine. It was a place where the past, present, and future were happening all at once.”
References:
I have been inspired by a Reddit post about Groundhog Day by SuperConductiveRabbi, Groundhog Day: Ned Ryerson is the devil and a blog post by Howdie Mickoski Phil’s Deal in the movie Groundhog Day
Here are three excellent related articles:
Film Theory: Groundhog Day is hell and Ned Ryerson is the devil
Groundhog Day’s Most Sinister Theory Casts Ned Ryerson in a Devilish Role
This Goundhog Day fan theory might change how you see the film forever
The seminal contemporary work on the reincarnation trap is the book Exit the Cave: Ending the Reincarnation Trap, Book 1 by Howdie Mickoski.
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