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Leftist College Professor Declares This Classic Christmas Movie 'Bigoted'

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  December 25, 2025 1:00 PM

It wouldn't be Christmas if the Left weren't spending their time dumping on and undermining the holiday. Earlier today, we told you how Politico breathlessly warned that "far-right parties are claiming the festive season as their own, recasting Christmas as a marker of Christian civilization that is under threat."

Of course, to the rational person with eyes, we know this is true. And it goes far beyond the nonsense of wishing someone "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas." In Germany, five Islamic terrorists were arrested in a plot to attack a Christmas market. Elsewhere in Germany, Christmas markets and public celebrations were canceled because of the threat of Islamic terrorism. In France, public Christmas and New Year's celebrations were axed for similar "security" reasons.

There's also a reason Christmas and Christianity share the same root word, but Politico can't seem to figure that out.

But the small wars on Christmas continue, including a Leftist professor declaring the beloved Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life is "racist."

Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the 1946 film was directed by Frank Capra. Despite decent reviews and Academy Award nominations, it was essentially a flop.

In the 1970s, a paperwork error let the film's copyright lapse, so television stations could play the movie freely. That's when it took off and became ingrained in American culture. It is now considered one of the best American films ever made.

It tells the story of George Bailey, a man who tries to do what's right in the way he lives, despite making personal sacrifices to do so. When he faces financial ruin on Christmas Eve, thanks to the greedy Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), Bailey wishes he'd never been born. His guardian angel, Clarence, then shows George what the world would've been like if he'd never been in it. 

George realizes his life had tremendous value and at the end, his friends and family show up for George in the same way he'd shown up for them all those years.

It's a genuine, heartfelt story that hits all the right emotional beats. So, of course, Leftists hate it.

According to The College Fix, Professor James Deaville of Carleton University thinks It's a Wonderful Life has "bigoted" messages.

"Some depictions of music and sound beg analysis around how these reflect racist ideas about 'proper' musical, social, and community norms," he wrote.

What are those "bigoted ideas"? Well, according to Deaville (emphasis added), "A key concerning aspect to the music heard in It's a Wonderful Life revolves around the portrayal of Black musical forms and practitioners. Capra's known racism against Blacks, consistent with racist discourses and practices of the era, is reflected in how jazz and other Black musical forms appear and are framed."

He points to the music played at the Beford Falls dance being performed by a White band, and to a podcast featuring journalism professor Sam Freedman who said Bedford Falls is "predominantly White" except for the Bailey family housekeeper.

Deaville hits on an important thing the Left seems to conveniently ignore: It's a Wonderful Life was made in a different era, where cultural norms were different.

We cannot, and should not, look back at those eras through the lenses of society today.

Deaville also takes umbrage with the portrayal of "Pottersville," the alternate Bedford Falls in the world where George Bailey wasn't born. That town "projects a sense of moral degradation," Deaville says, and ties it back to the "Black musical forms" featured in the film.

This is a "solution" in search of a problem. Every single person who sits down with his family and watches It's a Wonderful Life over Christmas will not see this "racism." It's only something a privileged, comfortable college professor can seek.