One of the best ways to understand a particular society's values is to watch its movies and television shows, with the Christmas season providing a windfall of insight.For many, Christmas would not be complete without watching the 1946 classic, It's a Wonderful Life. For the eight people who haven't seen the movie, it's the life story of George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart. On a bleak Christmas Eve, an angel gives George a glimpse of the world as if he hadn't been born.  The exercise gives him a peek into the positive difference that he has made and how he has improved the lives of many.Would It's a Wonderful Life be made today? I don't think so.Although the basic plotline still works, there is an undercurrent that runs counter to today's way of thinking about the world. George is a frustrated figure. Although anxious to leave his small town and, in modern day parlance, “find himself” by pursuing his passions, his plans are thwarted at every turn.  Loyalty to his family and town force him to remain and take over the family business.  He even has to abandon his honeymoon in order to assist with a crisis in his community.  Although his Christmas Eve experience shows him the benefits of his sacrifice, there is no indication that George will ever achieve any of his deepest hopes and dreams.We don't like to think that way nowadays. Our society tends to be dominated by the concept of “authenticity”. We place great importance on an individual's right to discover who they “truly are” and express it fully, even if it means rejecting the demands and expectations of others - or even society as a whole.Authenticity is central to North American culture. It has launched the careers of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Elizabeth Gilbert.  It guides student's course choices, career goals, and romantic relationships. It can also cause people to quit their jobs, pursue radical career goals and even end marriages in pursuit of a more authentic life.Movies that don't support this value tend not to be made.If you don't believe me, think about a more recent Christmas film that at first glance mirrors It's a Wonderful Life, the 2000 movie The Family Man. Jack Campbell, the hero, is a wealthy Wall Street financier played by Nicholas Cage who undergoes a similar Christmas Eve experience to George Bailey.  An angel allows him to experience first-hand what life would be have been like if he had married a former girlfriend.  We get to see a middle-class Jack, stressed and overworked with two young children. Rather than being a big shot financier, Jack is a tire salesman, having sacrificed a Wall Street career to assist his ailing father-in-law.Just like George Bailey, Jack begins to understand the importance of a life based on putting others first and even catches a glimpse of how easily he was replaced on Wall Street. But unlike George Bailey, he awakes from the middle class family dream and is once again wealthy and powerful. He ends up reuniting with his old girlfriend who is also rich, beautiful and successful and presumably resumes his old life, albeit with a changed attitude.These may be silly Christmas movies but the contrast between the two is telling.  Why were the makers of The Family Man afraid to leave Jack in a world full of self-sacrifice? Why were they afraid of having an ending similar to It's a Wonderful Life where the hero realizes that his personal hopes and dreams needed to come secondary? Has society's obsession with authenticity grown so much over the course of 50 years that no one would have wanted to watch the film?Let me be clear: There is nothing wrong with authenticity as a value.  We all know individuals who were forced to live unauthentic lives of quiet desperation - that relative who chose a safe job instead of pursuing an artistic career or the friend who felt pressured into marrying an “acceptable” partner rather than waiting for true love.It does, however, have its dangers. Politically, this pursuit of authenticity has contributed to agendas that focus on ensuring that everyone has the right and freedom to discover and express their authentic selves in a way that allows us all to celebrate our differences. Although laudable goals, they can quickly overshadow any talk of the common good, our responsibility to each other or the need to be guided by something greater than our own self interest.The challenges we face as a society are huge and complex.  Solving them may involve all of us being more like George Bailey and actually making sacrifices.  Unfortunately I think most of us would rather be like Jack Campbell, someone who gains the insight, but still gets to keep the money and gets the beautiful, successful woman, with no self-sacrifice involved.John Milloy is a former MPP and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister currently serving as the co-director of the Centre for Public Ethics and assistant professor of public ethics at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, and the inaugural practitioner in residence in Wilfrid Laurier University's Political Science department. He is also a lecturer in the University of Waterloo's Master of Public Service Program.  John can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @John_Milloy.