July 4, 2012

Allusion

Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary. –G.K. Chesterton

In celebration of Independence Day, today I went to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at the Kentucky Theater (which, incidentally, has become one of my new favorite places). This 1939 Frank Capra film is wonderful for a couple reasons. First, Jimmy Stewart. (Need I say more?) Second, Capra’s characteristic emphasis on the importance of the ordinary person.

The movie is about America, really, and what it means to be American. We get a David vs Goliath setup as our loveable, bumbling Jefferson Smith finds himself in Congress, fighting against a corrupt political machine. He’s just a regular guy, standing for ” plain, decent, every day, common rightness.” Capra knew as well as we do that these are not words we would use to describe the United States Government. But what he shows us through Smith’s uphill battle is that, in the end, that’s what America is about.