Inspiration for would-be Mr. Potters everywhere

Before all the leftover Christmas turkey is gone, there may
still be time to have a look back at the classic Salon.com article from December
2001 concerning the central flaw in It’s a Wonderful Life—that Pottersville, the
supposedly nightmarish town that would have sprung up had George Bailey not
existed, actually looks a hell of a lot more fun than Bedford Falls, which it
replaces in George’s Clarence-inspired hallucinations. Put more succinctly by
the writer, Gary Kamiya: “There’s just one problem: Pottersville rocks!” After
making a hilarious, point-by-point argument (weakened only when he mistakenly
calls the taxi driver Bert—of course, the cabbie is Ernie; Bert is the cop), the writer concludes with this salient point: “In the real world, Potter won.