Who wouldn't like to watch a film on Wall Street, especially when it is released after the stock market crash of 2008 and carries crispy yet apt punches like ‘The mother of all evil is speculation'?
The original and the recent films on ‘Wall Street', directed by Oliver Stone, stirs the concepts behind capitalism and leave some subtle messages behind that spice up the stock market drama even further.
The buzz over the new movie "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" has been intense and perhaps, valid as the movie questions the practices of immoral trading that eventually lead to greed and loss of trust in the world of investment.
The movie also talks about conventional wisdom and reformed wisdom, which are perceived as extreme business philosophies, and have their respective believers and followers.
The original ‘Wall Street' movie was released long after the 1980 stock market crash, while the new one is released when the markets are recovering after the 2008 crash.
The worst-ever-seen stock market crash of 2008 was not only a hard-hitting event for the investment world but also a life-changing event for many of those, who were not directly associated with it.
Let's take a quick glance at the story
In both films, Michael Douglas has played an iconic role of Gordon Gekko, who is assumed to be the notorious corporate despoiler. The sequel begins with Gordon Gekko being released from prison as a result of events from the original film. Gekko, on the back of the recent stock market crash, decides to breakdown the hedge fund corruption tactics with the help of his daughter's fiancé, a character of Jacob Moore played by Shia LaBeou.
The story also revolves around Gekko's efforts to spread his influence by giving lectures to students and writing a book on finance. ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps' also portrays the stock market redemption journey effectively and touches upon extremely relevant subjects like upheavals in the housing markets that are strongly connected to the employment crisis.
The role ensured an Oscar for Douglas.
Good or Bad, Greed is Greed!
Gekko's (fictitious) ‘Greed is good' speech is the most interesting part of the film as it brings the factor of ‘trust' in the limelight. Gekko talks about how human it is to be greedy in today's world, where everything is about desiring ‘more'. In fact, Gekko's character is nothing but a representation of a popular culture of white collar crimes that is based on unrestrained greed.
Investors are smart!
Investors believe that it is hard to figure out ‘the trust factor' in the stock market as trading is very subjective and trends can be confusing at times. Moreover, trading is also about sentiments and not just money. And, there are some extremely hard-working people in the stock market that trade with harmless greed and morality.
Investors secretly admire Gekko, who looks impressive but they know that following him blindly may cause them a big loss in the long term.
The iconic quote...
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
Thus, the impact of the actual drama created by the Wall Street movie has been tremendous. Some believe that it is just a movie made for the sake of sensationalizing the stock market events and building Gekko's charismatic character that may appear bigger than the factor of ‘trading ethics' followed by the ‘good guys'.
However, it is also true that the movie offers a cutting-edge perspective on the rise and fall of the stock market. And believe it or not, it shows the Gekkoish face of the stock market, which is real in some cases.
Stock Market News and Information for Executives specializing in global companies, markets, government responses and more on our online Stock Market Digital Magazine.
Leave a Reply