Thread by @msbellows

1/ It's the season for me to trot out my personal, fondly-held "It's a Wonderful Life" fanfic theory.

"It's a Wonderful Life" is about George Bailey, who lives in boring Bedford Falls, NY but yearns to see the world. He loves "anchor chains, plane motors, + train whistles."

2/ But ESPECIALLY anchor chains. Boats and water are recurring themes in the film. George plans to work his way to Europe on a cattle boat ("I LIKE cows!"). His brother joins the Navy.

3/ (Drowning's a theme, too. He saves both his brother and Clarence the Angel from drowning. His brother saves an entire troop transport from enemy attack. George gets a suitcase big enough to "use... as a raft in case the boat sunk.")

4/ (Sidenote: there's a cute homage to this scene in the otherwise-forgettable 1990 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film "Joe Versus the Volcano.")

5/ So George yearns to travel, especially by boat, but something ALWAYS goes wrong: his dad dies, his brother marries, a war starts. He can't escape his responsibilities at the Building & Loan. It torments him.

6/ But everyone at the "shabby old Building & Loan" -- everyone in the whole town! -- loves him, right? When it comes to having friends, he's "the richest man in town." And they all know how desperately he yearns to travel.

7/ So when George retires, + finally is free of the Bailey Building & Loan, isn't it reasonable to assume his friends + coworkers all would chip in and send him + Mary somewhere? Like, maybe a nice cruise? Maybe to, I dunno, Athens? He's always wanted to see the Parthenon!

8/ The proposition that when George Bailey retires, his friends would send him + his wonderful Mary on that decades-deferred cruise to Greece is pretty darn consistent with the plot + themes of the movie. Except THIS time, nothing will go wrong, right?!

(Right??)

9/
1907: George Bailey is born.
1972: George turns 65, retirement age at that time. Time for that cruise from NY to Athens!

Now, what movie ship would they take?

Also 1972: The Poseidon Adventure, about a luxury liner that flips over in a tsunami midroute from NY to Athens.

10/ To be clear: I'm not a monster. I'm not saying George and Mary necessarily die. But there is no other movie ship they would be on in the year George turns 65. And his travel plans always turn out badly.

George Bailey was on the Poseidon.THIS SHOULD BE CANON.

11/11 You're welcome, Merry Christmas, and thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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