No. 155: Speaking of Scrooge
⁂ Nashville's Alt-Daily ⁂ Speak Your Mind · It's A Wonderful Life · The Final Countdown on Lockdowns · Much More!
Good morning, everyone.
Below, we direct your attention to two interviews of interest to Nashvillians, discuss why "It's A Wonderful Life" is the movie that it is, and issue a final, crushing blow to the effectiveness of lockdowns.
We announced the winner of the Titan's Ticket Giveaway earlier this morning. Thank you to everyone who participated. This will not be the last ticket giveaway we run. Our New Year's Eve Ticket Giveaway will run until Thursday. You will have a chance to win 4 tickets to St. Paul & the Broken Bones at the Brooklyn Bowl in Germantown. If that interests you, signup below.
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Thanks for reading.
🎫 OUR END OF YEAR TICKET GIVEAWAYS
Enter to win four tickets to see St. Paul & the Broken Bones at the Brooklyn Bowl on New Year's Eve. The winner will be announced on Thursday, December 23rd.
If you refer people to the contest, you will increase your chances of winning.
🎙 Enter the New Year's Eve Ticket Giveaway Contest (Link)
⤵ IN LIEU OF NEWS
Two illuminating interviews from us here at The Pamphleteer and our contemporaries over at the Nashville Scene got printed yesterday.
- How State Representative Jason Zachary Became a Leader in the Fight Against COVID Tyranny (Pamphleteer) State Rep. Jason Zachary talks with Jerod Hollyfield about some of the behind the scenes politics from the COVID special session.
- Mayor’s Aide Courtney Pogue on Frustrations, Priorities for Nashville Neighborhoods (Scene) Stephen Elliot at the Scene interviews Courtney Pogue, Mayor John Cooper’s director of economic and community development, who expresses frustration with his nine months on the job.
HEADLINES
- UT report finds spending surge among Tennesseans (TNJ) The state’s inflation-adjusted gross domestic product grew 5.6% in 2021. Real GDP is projected to continue growing in 2022 at 4.2%.
- Holiday travel growing since 2020 (WSMV) Around 100 million people are expected to travel this week for the holiday, according to AAA. Locally, BNA says they are expecting two times more passengers this year compared to the same time in 2020.
- Metro police to move to 4-day workweeks next year (Main Street) Starting in February, many Metro Nashville Police officers will work four 10.5-hour shifts instead of the five 8.5-hour shifts they’re working now.
DEVELOPMENT
- The Arcade slated for major facelift (Post)
- Developer pays $1.27M for land near Melrose Publix (Post)
- SomeraRoad expands Gulch presence with $38 million buy (Biz Journal)
- NYC developer pays $38M for Gulch property (Post)
- Antioch industrial property sells for $11.75M (Post)
- Renderings Reveal Concept For Permanent Supportive Housing In Downtown Nashville. (Now Next)
𐂷 A CHRISTMAS MOVIE THAT ALMOST WASN'T
Four acres complete with oak trees and 75 fake storefronts and buildings; the ambitious scope of the set built to film the well-known Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” in 1946. If you’re unfamiliar with how the story goes, the film follows the life of its main character George Bailey. Aching to escape the confines of his quaint home town of Bedford Falls, (similar in weather, appeal, and ruralness to many Upstate New York towns) George dreams of traveling the world. Dreams that are dashed throughout the entire movie.
The major turn in the tale is when George, a family man and hometown character people rely on, gets into some trouble. The depth of his discouragement brings him to the conclusion that he is worth more dead than alive. In enters his guardian angel, Clarence, who gives George the gift of seeing what the world would be like if he was never born.
“It’s a Wonderful Life,” known for its melancholy as much as its popularity as a Christmas tradition, exposes its audience to the reality of human nature. The plot of the movie moves along while the backdrop shifts from idyllic America, to Great Depression era America, to WWII.
A box office flop, critics framed the character of George Bailey as “a figment of simple Pollyanna platitudes” - New York Times. Of course, it didn’t help that the film came out at the beginning of the Cold War when Americans were sensitive to any inclination towards Communist ideals. Even the FBI placed a warning about the movie. In a 1947 memo issued by the FBI it was stated that the film had the potential of being a “Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry,” citing its “rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘Scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.”
Speaking of Scrooge
The film became a popular Christmas classic because networks could air it for free. The movie was such a flop that the copyright was never renewed. Networks would air the film on Christmas Eve every year, royalty free. Ironically, the film’s second chance mirrors the second chance given to George Bailey in the plot.
Despite the fact that the film doesn’t revolve around Christmas, it does mirror some of the values expressed in Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol. A Christmas Carol expresses the struggle of the soul in a greedy miser while It’s a Wonderful Life expresses the struggle of the soul in an altruistic, everyday man. Ultimately, both stories bring the main characters through supernatural experiences that allow them to grasp the value of their lives. This combined with the traditional airing dates might contribute to some of It’s A Wonderful Life’s Christmastime popularity.
It’s a Wonderful Life Vocabulary
- Crummy - dirty, unpleasant, or of poor quality.
- The Charleston - a lively dance of the 1920s that involved turning the knees inward and kicking out the lower legs.
- Lousy - very poor or bad; disgusting.
- Druggist - a pharmacist or retailer of medicinal drugs.
- Local yokel - a naive or gullible inhabitant of a rural area or small town.
- Mossback - an old-fashioned or extremely conservative person.
- Pollyanna - an excessively cheerful or optimistic person.
𝗫 THE FINAL WORD ON LOCKDOWNS
Blanket lockdowns were a disaster. The economy was wrecked, people lost their businesses, their jobs, and their livelihood. Societal ills, real problems that those in power ignore, were exacerbated. Kids, safest from the virus, were the most vulnerable to the lockdowns. Pediatric hospitals and schools around the West reported the damage being done to the youth and pleaded for the unfair policies to stop. While we suffered, Big Tech gorged on our isolation. Wealth surged upwards into the hands of pro-lockdown billionaires. All of this sacrifice at the hands of our overlords for no noticeable effect on the virus. Quarantining the healthy doesn’t work. Thank God for the ever rebellious South, who lifted their lockdowns early despite the furious experts and their models. They were right.
Stay at home orders meant more screen time and more deliveries, the perfect environment for Big Tech companies. While small businesses closed their doors and went into debt, Amazon’s stock soared. While small businesses were forced to fire their employees, Amazon hired hundreds of thousands. In 2020, the combined fortune of the ten wealthiest people grew by $540b and Forbes added 660 people to their billionaires list, 205 new billionaires from China and 98 from the US. No wonder Bezos’s Washington Post took a pro-lockdown stance.
⚔︎ MISSIVES
- Texas has officially started building its own border wall. The first wall panels have gone up in Starr County in the RGV. State land, state money. This particular contractor was building Trump’s wall until Biden canceled them.
- After Biden's employer vaccine mandate passed the sixth circuit court of appeals, it now heads up to the Supreme Court. At present, the OSHA rule threatens fines of up to $13,600 per violation. It also threatens to fine an additional $13,600 per day that an employer doesn’t abate the violation. For a willful or serious violation, OSHA can issue a fine of up to $136,000.
Licorice Pizza, the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights), is opening at the Belcourt on December 24. A potent coming-of-age drama tracking the treacherous waters of first love, set in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Below you’ll find NYE parties and concerts that will likely sell out. Enjoy the Christmas party circuit, everyone.
THINGS TO DO
View the full calendar here.
🎄 It’s a Wonderful Life is playing at the Belcourt from the 17th - 24th.
⭐ Cheekwood’s Christmas lights exhibit is running until January 9.
🖼 At the Frist, Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City is running until January 30 and American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918–1939 until January 2.
TONIGHT
🎸 Honky Tonk Tuesday @ American Legion Post 82, 5p, Free, Info
+ Texas Two Step from 5-7p, The Cowpokes @ 8p.
🐅 Nashville Predators vs. Winnipeg Jets @ Bridgestone Arena, 7p, $40+, Info
NYE
🍻 NYE Party @ The Bold Patriot Brewery, 7p, Free, Info
🐅 Rosemary Jungle Safari NYE Party @ Rosemary & Beauty Queen, $50+, Info
🤠 NYE with Vinyl Ranch @ The Blue Room, 9:30p, $20, Info
🕺 Sparkle City Disco @ Eastside Bowl, 9p, $47+, Info
Get ‘em while you can
🐷 Primus a Farewell to Kings tour (05/09) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $55+, Info
🎸 Buddy Guy (03/26) @ The Ryman, 7:30p, $80, Info
Jerod Ra’Del Hollyfield
William Harwood
Edward Landstreet
Doc Paracelsus
Virgil Davis
Around the Web
✚ Advancing Medical Satire “The Doctor will now see the able-bodied person with a penis who is here because of back pain caused by structural violence.”
↩︎ Why Are So Many Prominent Journalists Abandoning Journalism? We seem to be entering a new era of yellow journalism, in which ad hominem attacks and conspiracy-mongering are more valued than truth and accuracy.
✰ How Chattanooga Reinvented Itself Set in the lush foothills of the Appalachians, the Tennessee city has built a technology infrastructure for the twenty-first century.
Political Theater Highlight Reel
- McDonald's to use packaging to promote COVID-19 vaccines
- Biden to get new German shepherd and cat as current dog gets rehomed
Words of Wisdom
At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to assist you.
Goethe