When It Happened One Night was made, the Great Depression was in full swing, and viewers can catch glimpses of this fact in some of the film's darker scenes—for example, that scene on the bus when a mother faints from hunger. This scene is striking given that the film's leading lady is such a wealthy woman and generally seen wearing fabulous gowns. It Happened One Night is, in the end, "both escapist and egalitarian," in one critic's words: It offers spectacles of wealth but ultimately suggests that love, not money, is what matters most.
Questions about Society and Class
- Which class or classes are shown in It Happened One Night?
- Which class or classes emerge looking better at the end of the film?
- What does it mean to say that It Happened One Night is "both escapist and egalitarian"?
Chew on This
By removing Ellie from her element—taking her away from the rich and famous—It Happened One Night has her find love among the lowly. Humility and love, for Capra, are therefore closely related.
It Happened One Night makes the rich seem as good as the poor, ignoring the injustices of unequal wealth distribution that ravaged the Depression-era United States.