The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance

Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life is referenced four times in the novel. Initially, the film poster serves as a romantic and colorful contrast to the economist portraits in Sam’s classroom. When Laura asks Sam about it during their first conversation, he says, “That’s exactly where it belongs” (31), even though the movie is famously anti-capitalist. Sam explains later that the movie makes him cry, but also because its models of business are inaccurate: “George is the hero. But he’s probably a lousy businessman [...] because he doesn’t seem to realize that profit keeps a business alive […]. Potter is also a lousy businessman. He’s a vicious and selfish man who would repel customers and employees” (75). The last reference ties the destruction of Bedford Falls to small town America but offers an alternative view that is ultimately positive: “Well there aren’t many Bedford Falls left in America, but they weren’t destroyed by greedy bankers like Potter. They were destroyed by the George Baileys who escaped and found their dreams in bigger cities” (208). The move is a motif of the misunderstandings Sam works to correct and illuminate. While the dichotomy between Potter and Bailey is false, and the vision of the dead town as a