Stratton Oakmont Satire

The Oxford English Dictionary defines satire as the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

But why would a director use satire in a movie? What is the purpose of ridicule?

The British journalist Robert Harris shows that satire intends to be corrective and tries to expose vice and hypocrisy, but also demonstrates the pernicious effects such vices have when allowed to continue. Therefore it can be assumed that satire points out a certain problem without lecturing a person, which makes it very effective, as most people hate it to be lectured and directly start to get angry if done so.

That is why Martin Scorsese uses the power of ridicule, as he speaks of his viewers as victims, who need to get a certain moral message in order to put pressure on politics: ”It's not pleasant, and the ability to see humour in situations that are atrocious is part of our defense mechanism. That's why we laugh at things like this.”

According to Scorsese’s intention, the movie can be seen as merciless satire about serious business.

When Stratton Oakmont is being introduced, it seems like a serious and respectable firm and Belfort even clarifies, that for him, Stratton Oakmont is America. Scorsese then hard-cuts to a dwarf-tossing competition and shows Stratton’s real face: Stratton Oakmont is just a bunch of drugged adults behaving like little children. This is America and these children are going to destroy it, if the people do not try to do something against it. This can be underlined with a statement of DiCaprio, who says in an interview: "He (Belfort) was a minnow in the bigger scheme of things - there are much more powerful people trying to rob America, like all the financial institutions."

(Havis).

Then there is the scene, where Jordan Belfort meets Patrick Denham for the first time in his life. Scorsese refers to it as the key scene in the film, as it is “turning on a sense of manipulation, nuance of language and wary uncertainty of intention” (Olsen). The scene ends with a furious millionaire throwing lobsters at the FBI agent, whose actor embodied the struggle of the middle class on Friday Night Lights: “Hey, you guys want to take some lobsters for your ride home? Fuckin’ miserable pricks; I know you can’t afford them!”.
The cynical message is clear: In our society, there is this attitude of gaining wealth at any cost and these “fat cats” are destroying the whole middle class.
The whole mystique of Belfort and his friends is frequently deflated by Scorsese’s camera. On the one hand he shows how good they are as salesman, while on the other hand he portrays them as clumsy clowns, e.g. the dwarf-tossing competition, or a drugged Donnie Azoff who masturbates on a party in front of dozens of people. This can be seen as a try to disillusion the viewers, as Belfort is seen by many as an ideal, even though he is a criminal. Scorsese uses the power of ridicule to show how money influences a person’s mind and behavior towards others. "The humour gets you through it, and what they do is funny within the context of the truth of their situation. We keep acting as if there are endless resources, and we can keep expanding with any kind of consequences," the director says (Havis).