You Can't Take It with You (1938)

Even though I am not crazy about Frank Capra's populist movies, You Can't Take It with You was a surprisingly enjoyable movie experience - a nice comedy with a few funny quirks; I couldn't help being a little charmed by its lively and light take on tough stuff like property and class (the only red flags in this film is one of the characters who though it would look nice to print a few red flags). Capra's films are usually not filled with ambiguous plot developments and in-between characters: right is right and wrong is wrong (and alienated labor is exemplified by a man sitting in a boring room engrossed by an adding machine). This is the case also here, even if the good side comprises a crazy bunch of people who would much rather play than work. And perhaps this was what I liked about the film: at least here we have an all-American film with no particular enthusiasm about work morale. The message, one with which I would not take issue, boils down to this: dancing and crafting home-made fireworks is much funnier than hunting for a business contracts! (But of course one could point out that the contrast between business on the other hand and merry, creative activities on the other are very typical.) I'm not sayin' this is Thoreau or anything like that, but You Can't Take It with You offers one or two healthy handfuls of scepticism towards what is usually considered Serious Adult Stuff. Then again, one can interpret the message of the film from the point of view of one of the goofy characters, who has made up his mind not to pay income tax - one should be allowed to do whatever one pleases, shouldn't one? oh well. One reviewer remarks that the film could be a critique of capitalism for its colonization of utopian spaces. That kind of makes sense here. In this film, there is no innocent acquisition of money, no good capitalism. But the film is confined to a individualist perspective: you should do what you like. If your job is boring, why do it?