Comparing the Movies 'Wall Street' and 'Boiler Room'
Profit, profit and more profit - the golden pillars of capitalism. In the movies 'Wall Street' and 'Boiler Room' this is the ideology that the characters uphold. While, there are many variances in the two movies, the basic aim of both lead characters i.e. Gordan Gekko (Wall Street) and Seth Davis (Boiler Room) is to make money. Both men are stockbrokers who deal in high finance in the exclusive world of Wall Street. However, with both movies are set in different decades the way they go about doing so differs.
'Wall Street' is set in the 'roaring eighties' - a decade that has become synonymous with greed, the so-called era of plenty. With an economy just recovering from recession, as well as oil crises (which incidentally led to higher gas prices, that in turn led to the introduction of a nationwide speed limit in America). The eighties was the time that Regan took office and instituted his economic policies that were to pull America out of the recession and resuscitate its economy. His approach, known as 'Reganomics' - did in...
West Side Story is a book about two gangs living in a large city. The Outsiders is a book with the same concept, two gangs that are archrivals. Even though two different authors wrote these books during two different time periods, they have the same story line. These books are realistic, because gang rivalry is still going on today. They are different, since they were written separately. Also, both these books have different problems between the main characters. Still, West Side Story and The Outsiders have many similarities.
Frederick Lewis Allen’s book tells in great detail how the average American would have lived in the 1930’s. He covers everything from fashion to politics and everything in between. He opens with a portrait of American life on September 3, 1929, the day before the first major stock market crash. His telling of the events immediately preceding and following this crash, and the ensuing panic describe a scene which was unimaginable before.
The classic novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck was made into a Hollywood Blockbuster in 1992. Directed and acted by Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, Hollywood took a stab at trying to recreate this literary success. The novel, which takes place in the 1930’s, follows the lives of two men, George and Lennie, as they try to attain their dream of owning a farm. George is a smart man who always seems to have things figured out. Lennie is massive, but has the mind of a young child. George looks after him, but it is not easy since Lennie always seems to get himself in some kind of trouble. As they struggle towards their dreams, George and Lennie face obstacles that test their friendship. In the end, with Lennie dead, George finds out that dreams aren’t worth striving for, and eventually, loneliness overcomes everything. The movie, running almost two hours, stays very true to the book, although some things are removed or added. While the movie differs from the book in a few ways, it still gives its audience the same message.
F. Scott Fitzgerald delineated the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby as “the parties were bigger. The pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper.” It was the era marked by social changes and splendous parties and self-made millionaires. However, unprecedented to Fitzgerald and many of his contemporaries was that said glamourous lifestyle was built on a precarious foundation. When the stock market crashed in 1929, it put a period to the beguiling era and opened Americans to a horrid epoch. Yet, in actuality, the Stock market crash is an inexorable consequence of a time so reckless such as the Roaring Twenties. Some identified causes of the eventual crash are margin buying, overproduction of goods, and banks investing in stocks with depositors’ funds.
However prior to 2008, nearly everyone was blind to their impending doom; investors, bankers, government regulators, the general population, and even the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, a man who was considered the economic guru, was fooled into believing the prosperity America had been enjoying would last for the foreseeable future (“Rethinking” 20). By this time there had been only mild economic downturns or, at most, short periods of turmoil. Financial institutions and large corporations had grown accustomed to the decades of economic prosperity resulting from the post-war economic boom, long forgetting the lessons learned from the Great Depression (“Rethinking” 20). In fact, economists concluded that America had entered a new era of calm. After a generation of portfolio managers and investors profiting from decades of favorable returns on stocks they believed the modern economy was impervious to major calamities (“Rethinking” 20). As inflation rates fell from record highs in the late 1970s and early 1980s to the record lows that they are today, interest rates followed enabling Americans to borrow more money from
The American economy seemed to get worse by the end of 1981 and economists throughout the country were getting more and more concerned about it. ...
Of Mice and Men and the Death of a Salesman have different types of dreams which are incorporated in a variety of different ways. In Death of a Salesman, the dreams held by Willy, Happy and Biff have the same traditional American dream where you can become a wealthy, powerful and respected American. Willy is committed to his dream, as Happy Loman states “it’s the only dream you can have” and to be the “number one man”. In contrast, the characters’ dreams in Of Mice and Men, are extremely humble as George and Lennie only desire to have a 2 acre plot of land and a small home and “live off the fatta the land”. Whilst Lennie’s ambition is to have some rabbits and alfalfa,
A human blossoms to succeed in life, they blossom to come to one point where we may look upon life and remember all the times we owned, one blossoms to be someone, great, and one strives to accomplish this with their ability. In further Frankenstein want to succeed. To look upon one’s life without any regrets is a hard assignment to accomplish. The characters mentioned are all different but yet the same in purpose: trying to succeed. The main character of Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman seize similar qualities; wanting to succeed in life, have the same relationship with another key figure in the plot line, and possessing the qualities of a tragic hero.
The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the life and also the author, Jordan Belfort. Jordan becomes discontent with his everyday life and realizes his talent for selling. As he continuously gains more money, he begins using more drugs. Way more drugs. Jordan starts his own brokerage firm named Stratton-Oakmont. Jordan hires a staff of, well, criminals to help him sell cheap stocks. They would sell all of these cheap stocks to their customers, then Belfort would buy large amounts of these stocks, running up the price, and then dump it. Finally, Jordan begins running into a lot of legal trouble as the FBI is on to the ways his brokerage firm works. Although Belfort has the FBI watching him very closely, he continues to spend huge sums of money on things such as boats, cars, houses, strippers/hookers, and last, but certainly not least, drugs. As Jordan’s already massive drug problem continues to escalate, he has to keep a very large portion of his money in a European account to hide it from the Feds. Belfort ends up going to prison for 22 months for fraud of his
There was general prosperity in America following the Second World War, however in the 1970s inflation rose, productivity decreased, and corporate debt increased. Individual incomes slipped as oil prices raised. Popular dissent surrounding the economic crisis helped Reagan win the 1980 election under promises to lower taxes, deregulate, and bring America out of stagnation. Many New Right supporters put their faith in him to change the system. To start his tenure, Reagan passed significant tax cuts for the rich to encourage investment. Next he passed the Economy Recovery Tax Act that cut tax rates by 25% with special provisions that favored business. Reagan’s economic measures were based on his belief in supply-side economics, which argued that tax cuts for the wealthy and for business stimulates investment, with the benefits eventually tricking down to the popular masses. His supply-side economic policies were generally consistent with the establishment’s support of free market, ...
This report will analyse the leadership style of two main characters, Bud Fox and Gordon Gekko. This movie shows corporate America and the ethical behaviour in the workplace at the Wall Street. Bud Fox a smart, yound and very motivated stock broker has the desier to become the highes salesperson in his company. His main target is centered on big share trading account like Gordon Gekko. He says, “Just once I would like to be on that side” he dreaming of the day when he will be big corporate shot controlling the flow of millions of dollars like his hero Gordon.
In the 1920s the USA had become a mixture of dramatic, social and political change. At this time the cities become larger and there were more people in the cities than in the rural areas. The US economy had more than doubled in strength between 1920 and 1929, this growth in wealth pushed America into the unfamiliar territory of the consumer society. Since Americans had extra money, they spent a lot of it on consumer goods like ready-to-wear cloths, home appliances and cars. However this wealth was only experienced by 40% of the whole population of America. It’s estimated that 60% of all American families lived below the bread-line. Despite this many Americans started to gamble their money in the American stock market. They saw the buying and selling of stocks would be an easy way to make money and because of this, many people bought stocks on the margin’. Buying stock ‘on the margin’ meant that the person couldn’t afford the stocks at full price, the broker could sell the stock to the person at a fraction of the price and the person could pay the broker back with interest at a later stage. The problem with this is that if the selling of the stocks didn’t make a profit, then the person would be in a lot of debt and this happened to many people that where living under the bread-line. Unfortunately despite this many Americans saw the stock mar...
Rothman, Lily.”So, Does The Wolf Of Wall Street Glorify Greed Or Not?.” Time.Com (2014):1.Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
This movie starts off as Jordan Belfort, the main character in the movie, losing his job as a stockbroker in Wall Street. After losing his job, he goes and gets a job in a Long Island brokerage room. In the brokerage room, he sells penny stocks. Thanks to him being aggressive in his selling skills, he was able to make a profit. With the new income, he gives his wife a bracelet and she asked him why doesn’t he go after the people that can afford to lose money, not the middle-class people or lower income people. That is when he gets the idea to get a lot of young people and train them to become the best stock brokers.
During the prologue, it is described that a financial analyst, Meredith Whitney, made national headlines for successfully predicting that Citigroup firm needs to “slash its dividend or go bust.” This book makes gives the impression that Whitney started the beginning of the economic collapse. This seems unlikely; Whitney only made the prediction that she made based off of her analysis of the markets. Fortunately, she gained the nation's ear. She called out all Wall Street firms and told them that their investments and mortgages were worthless. She was bold and truthful when the everyone else doubted her.