Politics and Film: Meet John Doe. And then forget all about him.

Posted On 2021-05-16

I have …almost NO memory whatsoever of watching this one. There’s a rooftop scene I mention of which I have a vague impression, but that’s it. Otherwise this one made no dent at all.

Meet John Doe

• How are questions of class, wealth and poverty dealt with in the film? How is the film influenced by the Great Depression? How are characters motivated by money?

Characterizations clearly delineate classes of characters in the film. The governor speaks in a voice of nasal aristocracy, and Mrs. Brewster insists to the mayor that “John Doe” be given a job, a perspective of entitlement that doesn’t recognize how scarce opportunities can be for the truly needy. The “typical American” the editor is looking for to fill the role is first auditioned for by literally cringeworthy bums – Americans, but so stricken as to be less than a perceived average. Capitalism is a unifier between these classes however- when someone begins to scheme onscreen, their voices take on a fast-paced Brooklyn accent; the pitch, the deal, these are what unify us as the film begins. John himself is a product of the Depression. His unemployment is a given; he’s coincidentally passing through while migrating with his buddy. The Colonel attempts to be John’s conscience in matters financial, and money is portrayed as a gateway to confinement. Ann’s mother on the other hand can’t keep a dollar because she sees so many who could use it more, but Ann herself is perhaps the best example of the corruptive complexity of money. There are levels on which she is trying to do something right, but the underlying desire for money blinds her to the manipulation of her vision.

• How does the film begin and why is this important? How does the change in the newspaper compare to a similar change in Citizen Kane?

After an opening montage of unrelated footage of groups of people set to traditional American musical themes, John Doe opens in the newsroom of The Bulletin with the wordless firing of a handful of veteran journalists. The new editor is on the phone with the new owner, confirming his clearing out of the “dead wood”. Business and profit are incompatible with venerated experience and getting downsized in 1941 was as much of a reality as it is today. In Citizen Kane on the other hand, that experience remains a benefit. Sensationalized headlines produce circulation improvements, but it’s not until the Chronicle’s veteran reporters are co-opted by Kane that their numbers really soar. The experience of those veterans represents credibility to Kane, and he sees them as an asset.

• How does radio influence the ability to speak to the masses? How does the film illustrate the power of mass communications for both good and evil?

Radio was a step up in the ability to reach wider audiences. Voices are more communicative than text, so radio broadcasts invite more investment from their audience than print articles. In a Depression-era setting, radio would rise over disparate levels of literacy in the populace. By adjusting a volume knob, a single reading of an article over the air can reach anyone in earshot; a printed page is limited to one reading at a time. These differences affect the nature of the message. In the film, negative messages are left to the anonymity of newsprint while the medium that will draw the more involved response is reserved for positivity and likeability. The writer of the script however is instrumental. Even as Ann and John fumble through doing a “right” thing, the plan that is paying Ann’s salary is simply waiting for its moment. Mass media is presented by Capra as a tool, though one that invites the viewer to question what Capra leaves off camera if he’s going to encourage us to wonder what’s happening behind the microphone.

• How realistic are the John Doe clubs? Can you think of any historical parallels to the clubs?

In their presentation here, the clubs are certainly unlikely. One sob story, inspiring thousands upon thousands of heartwarming moments of people discovering one another. Certainly some narrative license has been applied. That said, political advocacy through grassroots groups was not new, even in 1941. Americans have been socially self-organizing along ideological lines all along. Prohibition was the end result of social activism, and even 1993’s Tombstone throws in an Old West reference to a ‘Non-Partisan Anti-Chinese League’.

• How does Capra contrast government provision of relief with private (charitable) assistance?

The charitable assistance provided to one another by the John Doe Club members is presented as enriching to the community. Paying work becomes available, and the bonds of community grow stronger. Then as now, government relief is seen as something to be gotten off of, an outcome to be avoided. The government providers of that relief on the other hand become the ones threatened as the relief rolls shrink. The association suggests that civil separation contributes to a poverty that contributes to bureaucratic excess.

• How does Capra treat the ideas of fascism? How is fascism depicted as a threat to liberty and democracy?

Strictly speaking, liberty does not play too great a role in Doe. The Colonel’s poverty makes him as free as George Carlin ever wanted to be. Everyone else however is compelled by something. Democracy on the other hand is being manipulated in a clear assault by the oppressive elements of fascism. DB Norton’s media empire is built on disinformation, and his private police force is suggestive of Mussolini’s Black Shirts in Italy.

• What does the film say about the power of ordinary citizens? What is Capra’s view of populism vs. big institutions?

Meet John Doe emphasizes the influence of its ‘common men’ as an electoral bloc. Numerically, the third party math explained to the would-be party bosses illustrates the size – and therefore democratic power – of the group. Both Democratic and Republican parties are shown struggling to understand and court this silent majority. Politically, Capra positions the people as superior to the instruments of their government. Commercially, institutions of business wield far more power. DB Norton’s publishers and security personnel were able to completely undo the confederation of these like-minded clubs. The actions of a commercial few were sufficient to counter the will of thousands of purported believers.

• What are the religious overtones that appear in the film? How do they relate to the overall message?

Not being a religious person, any ‘overtones’ were completely overlooked by me until they were placed in the center of the screen. Positioning Jesus Christ in his speech as a founding Common Man serves to both elevate and ennoble the film’s common men as the prophesied inheritors of the Earth. It also – in a film laden with references to American culture – associates Christianity with Americana. This association suggests compatible virtues, but it’s one that in actual practice has proven to be more problematic.

• Compare Capra’s view of the common man with the portrait shown in Citizen Kane.

The ‘common man’ in both Doe and Kane is a constituency to be manipulated through the presentation of information. Kane devotes more screen time to the exploration of the character and so its masses demonstrate less political agency than those in Doe, but Kane’s defeat at the polls illustrates the ability of the common man to see beyond what he’s been told. Capra’s common man is almost as much a part of the narrative as the main characters, and is influential even in the finale. Both films however by their very use of the “common man” characterization show a recognition for the political power of the otherwise unsung everyday moderates of the real world.

• Discuss Capra’s use of movie making techniques. Do you see any stylistic similarities with other Capra films that you may have seen?

My only other Capra experience was with so many repeat viewings of It’s a Wonderful Life as a child that I haven’t gone anywhere near it in the time since. I remember exaggerated characterizations, but that was inherent of the entire period. Connections to Americana are a commonality as well, the Old West associations of lassoing the moon, the value of community coming together. Close-ups of James Stewart and Gary Cooper that spotlight the mood of the character through the actors’ expressions. These are all just impressions of distant memories however. 

• Is Meet John Doe too corny for today’s audience?

Yes. At least, as presented here by Capra. Its themes however remain relevant and in popular circulation. Even the dystopian adaptations of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books encourage audiences to see how manipulative political leadership and wealth can be.

• Discuss the role of women and minorities in this film (as well as Citizen Kane).

Minorities in both films are paid little attention. I remember a black band member passing in front of a panning camera, another hiding a cigar under his hat while the Important People strode across the floor he was cleaning. Between the two films that was the entire impression made. Women however wield more influence. For their own reasons, both Ann and her mother actively try to look out for others, and Barbara Stanwyck has the credibility to set an entire plot into motion. In Citizen Kane, the question becomes more complex. Charles Kane’s mother spends relatively little time on screen, but his being sold by her for stature over familial love was an experience that shapes the entire film. That phrasing brings to mind another commonality in how the films treat women. As leading characters they are few, and their significance tends to lie in the depth of their influence over the men in the primary roles.

• In his autobiography, director Frank Capra claimed: “It is astonishing but true; Meet John Doe missed becoming a lasting film classic because we couldn’t end it! For seven-eighths of the film…I felt we had made The Great American Motion Picture; but in the last eighth, it fizzled into The Great American Letdown.” Do you agree or disagree?

I don’t disagree, but as the credits rolled I did imagine all the different ways I would have expected the story to end in a modern telling. Norton would not have walked away from that stage, he would have made a play for that stadium full of jilted common men. The convention would have been a spoken-word confrontation of ideas; the common men would have seen their way through Norton’s manipulation and tossed the rabble-rousing security right out. The sequence at the end atop city hall maybe goes away entirely after that drama, or is maybe replaced by one of celebration with John waving down to the newly-bonded crowds below. I don’t know that any of those possibilities would be better, but they would certainly be more suited to the contemporary tropes of film. 

• Would any of the alternate ends that Capra shot been better than the one that was used in the film? How would you have ended the film?

The endings with John’s metaphorical or literal downfall would be depressing, and the Christmas spirit is a venture into the absurd. That said, the setup of Ann convincing him to start over in some fashion holds some potential. The film already goes there to some degree; John Doe is associated with Christ, is brought low by corrupting money, and is restored beginning with the work of a faithful few. Keeping the ending to within Capra’s language, my only change perhaps would be to treat John’s non-suicide as a more triumphal moment for both him and (eventually) the film’s ‘common men’. Maintaining the line drawn between the character and his archetype would be where I would start any search for a thematically-appropriate victory.