It's a Wonderful Life in popular culture

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The following is a list of references to It's a Wonderful Life in popular culture:

Contents

[edit] Film

  • In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey's character throws a pantomimed lasso around the moon and pulls it down, referencing to the famous quote "You want the moon? I'll give ya the moon! I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down." Later in the film, that same scene is playing on a TV. Ironically, neither George nor Bruce counted on one thing: bringing the moon closer causes global tidal patterns to go awry, causing worldwide flooding.
  • The first two Home Alone films featured the movie, first in French while the family is visiting Paris, France, then in Spanish when the family goes to Florida for Christmas.

[edit] Television

[edit] The Simpsons

    • "Natural Born Kissers" showed Bart and Lisa finding and watching an alternate ending to Casablanca. Afterwards, they are ordered to bury it where they found it, and then are asked to bury another old movie reel along with it. On this second reel is affixed the label: "It's a Wonderful Life – Killing Spree Ending".
    • "The PTA Disbands!", Bart causes a bank run by inserting rumors about the bank's insolvency. This causes a Jimmy Stewart-like bank manager to say "I don't have your money here. It's at Bill's house and Fred's house!" referring to the bank run on It's a Wonderful Life. This starts a fistfight among the townspeople, who each want to know what their money is doing in other people's homes.
    • "The Last Temptation of Homer", Homer's guardian angel shows him what life would be like if he hadn't married Marge. We see him living in a huge mansion, while Marge is President of the United States.
    • "Grift of the Magi", it is mentioned at the end of this episode that Moe, in his annual suicide attempt, was shown what the world would be like without him.
    • In "When Flanders Failed", Ned Flanders opens the Leftorium, a store for left-handed people. The store fails and the Flanders are ruined, until Homer tells him to open the store. As Ned starts up the escalator, his wife is at the top telling him: "Hurry Neddy. It's a miracle!" Homer has rounded up every left-handed person he knows and the store, and the Flanders family, is saved. Ned stands with his family and everyone faces him, Homer raises a glass and says to Ned Flanders, the richest left-handed man in town.

[edit] Other TV

  • In 1977, a scene for scene remake was done for television called It Happened One Christmas with Marlo Thomas playing the Jimmy Stewart role.
  • "It's a Bundyful Life" of Married... with Children had comedian Sam Kinison play the role of Clarence as he showed Al Bundy what his world would've been like had he never been born. Unfortunately it turns out the world would've been much better without him. However, Al is furious his family is happy in the alternate world, so he opts to remain out of sheer spite, and Clarence gets his wings.
  • The second half of the Beavis and Butt-head Christmas special is entitled "It's a Miserable Life", and directly parodies the movie; instead of the townspeople praying for the pair's safety, they pray for their demise. At this point Charlie, Butt-head's guardian angel, shows Butt-head how much better the town of Highland would be without him before trying to get him to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. The episode ends with Charlie himself falling off the bridge and Beavis and Butt-head surviving - Can be viewed here: http://www.dailymotion.com/search/beavis%2Band%2Bbutthead/video/x119p4_beavis-butthead-christmas-special
  • In a Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, Uncle Billy, anxious about the lost money, is urged by his two pet rats to call Granny to help him find it. At one point, Sylvester crashes into a wall. As he lays on the ground in a daze, little angel cats ringing bells circle his head and he comments, "look at me, I'm giving out wings."
  • "It's a Wishful Life" is an episode of The Fairly OddParents that parodies this film. Like the Married... with Children episode, Timmy Turner also gets a glimpse of how different and wonderful things would be for everyone if he hasn't existed.
  • The TV show Saturday Night Live once presented a sketch in which the residents of Bedford Falls, after the closing scenes of the film, discover that Potter is the real villain and proceed as a mob to invade his home and attack him after they also discover that he can walk and doesn't need a wheelchair. (Cast: Dana Carvey as George, Jan Hooks as Mary, Dennis Miller as Harry, Phil Hartman as Uncle Billy and Jon Lovitz as Potter.)
  • The British sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie once presented a sketch entitled, "It a Soaraway Life". In the sketch, the angel Clarence saves the life of Rupert, who had decided that the world would have been better off without him. When it is revealed that without Rupert the world is now a paradise, Rupert decides that he wants to live and make a huge profit by economically taking over paradise. Upon hearing Rupert's plans, Clarence promptly knocks him off a bridge.
  • The story was done as an episode of Rugrats titled "Chuckie's Wonderful Life". After Angelica steals one of his father's CDs, Chuckie believes it's his fault and decides to run away. Chuckie is shown by his guardian angel how, without him, no one would have been told that some things "weren't such a good idea".
  • A Johnny Bravo episode contains an angel Maurice who must earn his halo, a reference to Clarence Oddbody's eagerness to earn his wings.
  • "Conundrum" — the Dallas series finale, has a sequence inspired by the story.
  • The Tiny Toons Christmas special spoofs the film with Buster Bunny acting as the George Bailey of the story and shown by a guardian Toon angel named Harvey (actually Bugs Bunny in disguise) what Acme Acres (or Montyville in the alternate reality) would be like if he was never on Tiny Toons.
  • In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, shortly after Rocko recovers a lost gas cap for his car, a nearby child mentions to his father, "Daddy, daddy! Teacher says whenever a gas cap is found, an angel gets its wings!" to which the father replies, "Your teacher's full of snot!"
  • In the Family Guy Christmas episode, an irate Lois Griffin, on her way to ruin the Christmas cheer, passes George Bailey just as he exclaims "I want to live again!" and shoves him off the bridge.
  • Garfield and Friends spoofed the idea in a U.S. Acres segment titled "It's a Wonderful Wade", in which Wade, upset after letting the farm's vegetable crop seemingly vanish, is shown an alternate reality where he doesn't exist. Surprisingly, it isn't much different from the normal reality, but he does find out how Orson's brothers were stealing the vegetables to begin with.
  • In an episode of the sitcom Friends, "The One Where Old Yeller Dies", Monica advises a depressed Phoebe to watch It's A Wonderful Life to cheer herself up. However, Phoebe stops watching before the ending, claiming that the film ought to be called "It's a Sucky Life and Just When You Think It Can't Suck Any More, It Does".
  • The characters in Mystery Science Theater 3000 frequently use lines from It's a Wonderful Life while riffing the films they watch, such as "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death!" and "This is a very interesting situation!" Perhaps their most frequent reference is the use of "Out you two pixies go, through the door or out the window!" (or variations thereof) whenever characters in a film are being forcibly evicted. Also, in dogging a short entitled "A Case of Spring Fever," a man awakens, sprawled on his broken couch, from an alternate reality where springs never existed, and the characters cry out "Merry Christmas, you wonderful old couch!"
  • In the first episode of Daria, English teacher and self-esteem counselor Timothy O'Neill assigns an essay on how much sadder the world would be if each student hadn't been born.[1] Also in the episode "Depth Takes a Holiday," St. Patrick's Day unexpectedly informs Daria that she "really did have a wonderful life."[2]
  • Also in 2001, Even Stevens did a rewrite of It's a Wonderful Life called "Heck of a Hanukkah," where Louis Stevens wishes he had never been born, and a "perfect" substitue for him takes his place.
  • The 2006 Nicktoon Kappa Mikey has an episode called "A Christmas Mikey", where Mikey, in the role of George Bailey, feels he was never wanted and is about to leave for home. He meets Lawrence, his guardian angel, who shows him what things would've been like if he had never come to Tokyo and had never established the premise of the show. Not only does it spoof this film, but with the premise at stake, this episode is also a crucial one for the show itself.
  • The Fox television show The O.C. indicates that Season 4 Episode 7 (The Christmukk-huh?) will use a similar plot device in which Ryan is shows what life in Newport would be like without him.
  • The WB show Popular featured an episode ("The Consequences of Falling") which paralleled the It's a Wonderful Life plot device.
  • The WB show Smallville featured an episode ("Lexmas" ) where Lex Luthor is shown a life where he had made different choices.
  • The CW show One Tree Hill featured an episode (Songs to Live and Die By) where main character Lucas is shown a world if he died. It also shows a TV airing It's a Wonderful Life.
  • The ABC show Moonlighting included an episode, "It's a Wonderful Job", in which Maddie's guardian angel showed her an alternate reality in which Jonathan and Jennifer Hart from the earlier series Hart to Hart were the owners of the Blue Moon detective agency.
  • In "Stairway To Heaven", a third season episode of the NBC series ALF, the title character is shown what life would have been like for the Tanners if his spaceship had not crashed into the family garage, in accordance with "the Capra Law", after wishing things could be different after another unfortunate dilemma.
  • The animation Pale Force included an episode ("Pale Christmas", shown on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 14, 2006), where Conan O'Brien greets everybody in town with "Merry Christmas!" on Christmas Eve (similar to Jimmy Stewart near the end of the movie). However, he is mocked by everybody (including Jesus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) for his paleness, and fired by boss Jeff Zucker (in a wheelchair a la Mr. Potter) as he says "I'm a Jew, you moron!" With his holiday spirit broken, Conan arrives at a bridge and meets Jimmy Stewart, who greets him with "What's the matter little girl?" and tells him "Why don't you jump off the bridge and kill yourself? That's what I'd do you pale freak." At this moment Conan wishes he had never been pale. Suddenly his skin becomes tanned, and Jim Gaffigan appears to show him what Conan's life would be if he had never been pale. Episode page
  • NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien featured a segment called Christmas Holiday Specials that presented a version of It's a Wonderful Life where the ending goes wrong. The first two scenes are from the original movie, whereas the third and final scene is edited. George is first seen running through the street, followed by Bart taking out his gun and shooting it, ending with a distant view of George dropping to his knees, falling forward, and dying.
  • The TV Show Robot Chicken parodies It's a Wonderful Life and J. Wellington Wimpy. During one of the first season's segments, Wimpy considers suicide after realizing that no one is willing to lend him money for hamburgers. As Wimpy stands at the edge of a bridge, an angel appears and offers to show him what everyone's lives would be like without Wimpy. Popeye and Bluto become successful business partners, Olive Oyl has large breasts, and global peace is declared (among other positive changes).

[edit] Music

[edit] Print

  • It's a Wonderful Life is the favourite movie of Dave Lister, the protagonist of the cult British Sci-Fi sitcom Red Dwarf. In the the book Better than Life, Lister fantasises that he is living in Bedford Falls and is living a life very much like George Bailey's.
  • Don Rosa wrote a Donald Duck comic story for the character's 60th birthday titled "The Duck Who Never Was", in which Donald sees what Duckburg would be like if he never was born. Like Bailey, he feels like a nobody, but realizes that he has indeed made an enormous difference.
  • Cartoon Network Presents issue #16 featured a Top Cat story titled "It's a Wonderful Strife!", in which T.C. and Officer Dibble are shown alternate realities by their guardian angels (played respectively by Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss, where T.C. finds out what life would be like if he never went to the city, and Dibble finds out what would happen if he never joined the police force. The film's story was also parodied, roughly just two months later, in The Flintstones and The Jetsons #18, where Fred is shown what Bedrock would be like if he were never born.

[edit] Computer games

[edit] Other references

  • The webcomic Melonpool parodied the concept in a two-week storyline in December 1999. In dramatic irony, the Bailey character, Ralph, wishes that Mayberry had never been born rather than himself. DeForest Kelley then appears to show Ralph what life would be like without Mayberry. Ralph prefers this alternate reality, though, but eventually caves in because he's broke and needs the crew for the added income.
  • A 2006 TV commercial for Kay Jewelers features a couple watching the scene where George tells Mary that he'll give her the moon, prompting the husband to present his wife with a pair of earrings. The commercial ends with the scene where the man watching George and Mary from his porch urges George to kiss Mary instead of talking to her, prompting the couple watching the scene to kiss.

[edit] ZuZu's petals

  • George's daughter Zuzu has a rose whose petals are an important plot point. The name has been used several times in other mediums.
    • Rock band ZuZu's Petals
    • A character in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is named ZuZu Petals.
    • One strip of "The Far Side" finds a botanical enthusiast boasting about how long it took him to find "the rare... Zuzu's Petals!"
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