Viewers Outraged After Amazon Removed Key ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Scene

On By Littum

Censorship, copyright, and numerous other factors often pose a real threat to existing works, from removing certain books from reading lists to cutting scenes from movies. Amazon has faced backlash after it “cut” one of the most important scenes in the classic film It’s a wonderful life.

Viewers who tuned in to the shortened version of the classic, available on Prime, were shocked to see the scene cut. I think we now know what was shortened.

The scene where George Bailey looks at himself and wonders if he would be better off dead is the turning point of the entire film. In this scene, he looks at his life and talks about how he wants to be more valuable dead than alive.

But his guardian angel helps him see the truth. In this crucial scene of It’s a wonderful life, Geroge is shown the light. His angel points out how much he has influenced others. It shows him what life would have been like without him.

The whole point of the movie is to show George that life is worth living and that he is more than he realizes. Without what is known as ‘The Pottersville Scene’, the movie doesn’t really make sense. However, Amazon has released the classic without it, sparking outrage.

It’s worth noting that Prime has the full version of the Christmas classic available on its platform. It has the film in all its glory. So why the shortened version? It all stemmed from an earlier copyright dispute over that scene.

Amazon isn’t even the ones publishing that version, just hosting it on their platform. But that didn’t stop cries of censorship.

Internet reacts to deleted Pottersville scene

Of course, the slaughter of the classic film It’s a wonderful life did not go unnoticed. You can’t rip the heart out of art and expect people not to make a scene. Due to the removal of the Pottersville scene, the film completely changes meaning.

Now, instead of realizing his self-worth, George simply receives cash and is satisfied. It may be an idea that Amazon loves to push, as it is the consumerist version of Vatican City. But that’s not the way the movie originally went.

One X user compares it to a crazy story from South Korea. “I am reminded of the time when South Korean cinema edited all the music and singing in The Sound of Music.” This was actually done because of the popularity of the film. The cinema owner thought they would take advantage of how many times they could play it in a day by removing all the singing!

But others are upset with the abbreviated version of It’s a wonderful life available on Amazon. They note how much of the plot is lost. “So someone who never saw the original thinks he had an epiphany about drinking at the bar and hitting a tree on the way home???”

The film has lost its essence without it. So be careful which version you click on.